You Have to Plant a Foot

If you’ve listened to any of my shows before, you know that I spend a fair bit of time talking about creativity, both in the literal and in the abstract. I’m fascinated by how and why we create. Why for some, the need to express who they — we — are is as important to the human experience as taking a breath. Questions around creativity inform many of the conversations I have — whether or not I’m rolling tape — what I read and even some of the things I watch. For example, this morning I watched a TED Talk by Ethan Hawke. Now, I wouldn’t call myself a FAN of Ethan Hawke, per se, although I’ve seen Gattaca a half-dozen times and he was great in Training Day with Denzel Washington. Anyway, like I said, I’m not a huge fan but I do have massive respect for the choices he makes as an artist. I mean, just scanning through his filmography reminds you of some of the often unexpected and occasionally brilliant left turns he’s made in his career. And whether or not a project did well at the box office or was acclaimed by the critics, he seems to get something out of everything he does and watching this TED Talk sort of reaffirmed that notion and it might even give you something to think about as you try to go deeper into your own creative process and self-expression as an artist and frankly as a human. At one point in the talk , he says, “To express ourselves we have to know ourselves. What do you love? And if you get close to what you love who you are is revealed to you and it expands.”

LINKS

Give Yourself Permission to be Creative | Ethan Hawke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9Gek4V5Q

David Bowie on why you should never play to the gallery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNbnef_eXBM

David Bowie - Blackstar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0