The Experimental Mindset

I've dedicated this year to creative experimentation; that is, I'm going to try to be creative in new ways. And --- today is the first day of Jane Barry's free Creativity Bootcamp for February --- a perfect venue in which I can feel free to experiment. Some of these experiments may appear to be abysmal failures, but even in those times, I know that I will learn. For one thing, I am working with the idea of audio poetry and song combinations on a theme. I've provided a trial run in the Audio Clips section here on the website. What this means... putting my strange little voice out there in public, singing a bit of a tune and reading my own poetry... is risk. Only risk can bring growth. Risk is accompanied by fear, for many of us, but also excitement. The image below is from "Living an Awesome Life" at http://sachachua.com/blog/category/life/experiment/

Last night, I went out to a little place in Orangeburg and ended up singing with the owner, who is also a preacher... so we sang gospel tunes, and it was a blast. I realized how much I'd missed singing. It was exhilirating to open up and use my voice. There was no crowd; I didn't need one. Singing, like every other kind of art, is a primal means of communication between human beings and something supernatural (God, if you believe, or a kind of universal soul).

What risk are you afraid of taking, for fear of looking or sounding foolish, inadequate, inexperienced, untalented? What's the worst that can happen? People laugh, or ridicule, or feel sorry for us... people smile, people discover there is more to us than meets the eye... people ignore us completely? Is that so terrible? One thing is for sure... we will have a story to tell.

What if, with risk, comes rehabilitation --- if the broken pieces of you merge into a new whole form and you better understand yourself or somebody else? What got me started, last October, was Jane Barry's free online creativity bootcamp. A new session started today. Please consider joining us. You'll be glad you did.

This is Jane's blog: http://thatcuriousloveofgreen.com/

You can find the information there on how to sign up for this marvelous adventure.

What if you and I are better prepared to love because we are willing to take risks?

So, I'm risking it...

The image below is by Kerry Ball, but I found it here: http://shinystarrlight.tumblr.com/post/43419175129