DOING THE WORK

When an idea 'comes together', it may appear as if by magic. It is not. ~ It begins as a sudden inspiration or a response to a need, and may start off almost 'doing itself'. But whatever its media, before it achieves substance, the time will have been spent and the work will have been done behind the scenes. Only then will it emerge as something of merit and beauty. Time and work investments are required.

Within the creative process, other inspirations may dramatically re-think it, so that it evolves into something different from the idea as first conceived. That is part of the process, because creativity permeates the working stages, as well as its inception, so that, as finished, nothing 'shows' but what it has become, seeming as if instantly.

Thomas Edison is attributed with saying “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration”, which he did say around 1902, when he may have been perspiring.

Not a new or original concept, however:

In about 1803, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, a French naturalist, mathematician, encyclopedic author, and cosmologist, wrote: “Genius is only a greater aptitude for patience.”

Thomas Carlyle is credited with the term “Genius is an innate capacity for taking pains”; and more accurately, “’Genius’ means a transcendent capacity of taking trouble, first of all.”

John Ruskin also had something to say on the subject in 1878: “I know of no genius but the genius of hard work.”

Albert Einstein had a slightly different slant on it when he said, "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." He knew that nothing is totally original and it’s in combining unrelated things in unique ways which results in ‘original thought’. I love that, because I realize that one of my better talents is coordinating.

He went on to say ~ “It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.” Oh, yeah!

And ~ "You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.” Exceeding especially yourself!

~ “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." Perhaps another way of saying, 'if you keep doing the same thing the same way, you'll keep getting the same results!'

What is this ragged noise?

Numbed inspiration, it seems,

Soul shut off from source

Must pause and be reborn.

From the muse it’s torn.

But from the silence

Comes forth a surge of vigor,

Less polished, poised,

Less serene, a spark

Emerges, ignites.

Doing the work excites.

Now it will survive,

Energetic and alive.

Then comes polished poise.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

My dad had a saying:

"If tears don't help . . .

. . . try sweat!"