Ted Tuesday: Elizabeth Gilbert (part two) -- "Your Elusive Creative Genius"

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

Good Morning Folks,

"Eat, Pray, Love" Author Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

Her talk is titled “Your Elusive Creative Genius”. This talk was given right after she found tremendous success with Eat, Pray, Love. She was feeling a lot of anxiety over the fact that she might never see that type of success again in her lifetime.

She talks about how this pressure to continuously perform can sometimes get the most of people (especially those in the creative fields). She compares this way of thinking to the ancient times in Rome and in Greece when people believed creativity came from the gods or spirits who would visit whenever they wanted. Humans were only vessels for the creativity. This way of thinking took the pressure off of the writers because whether their work was good or bad (or simply non-existent), they were not to be blamed.  I had never thought of creativity like that before – It was just such a strange concept to me!

Of course nowadays, we don’t think like that. People owned their creativity and if we were caught talking to the invisible creative gods in the corner, we would probably get some weird looks.

But it got me thinking (as most Ted Talks do) – even if I don’t believe in these spirits, I do believe that we need to be open to creativity. I think it’s so important to keep our eyes open and be accustomed to finding inspiration from the smallest and most mundane things. I love working on this blog because it has opened my eyes to so many great ideas and it keeps my mind open and curious.

So, while I do think Elizabeth’s idea is a bit of a wacky one, I’m glad I watched her talk.  

Please enjoy eminent writer Elizabeth Gilbert's passionately talk about about not giving up, about pursuing what you love, about no longer thinking in terms of successes & failures, but in outcomes. This talk gives us enormous hope and that's life-affirming. Highly recommended. and… eye-opening.  



With help from Cecillia's "My Marketing Diary" and thanks to Ted, I thank you for watching.

Have a fabulous, sunny, productive day filled with love and inspiration.  

Hugs all around.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.