Connecting the dots...

This past week I watched multiple speeches for a public speaking class.  Little did I know how much this would impact me!  I watched two speeches that I will never forget:

Elizabeth Gilbert's speech on genius and creativity completely changed my thinking about creativity.  She talked about the stress that artists, writers, musicians, and the like deal with because of the heavy responsibility they have to create new pieces.  What we all often forget that is that creativity doesn't entirely come from within us but from a Higher Power, an outside source.  Gilbert explained how people recognized strokes of genius in ancient times:

“It was like time would stop, and the dancer would sort of step through some kind of portal and he wasn't doing anything different than he had ever done, 1,000 nights before, but everything would align. And all of a sudden, he would no longer appear to be merely human. He would be lit from within, and lit from below and all lit up on fire with divinity. And when this happened, back then, people knew it for what it was, you know, they called it by it's name. They would put their hands together and they would start to chant, 'Allah, Allah, Allah, God God, God.' That's God, you know.” 

Over time, we have taken that "genius" and told ourselves that it only comes from ourselves when our main source of creativity is from God.  Once you understand that concept, I think creativity and productivity come easier.  It puts less stress on the worker.  

"I think that allowing somebody, one mere person to believe that he or she is like, the vessel you know, like the font and the essence and the source of all divine, creative, unknowable, eternal mystery is just a smidge too much responsibility to put on one fragile, human psyche. It's like asking somebody to swallow the sun."

“Don’t be afraid. Don’t be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it whatever that might be. If your job is to dance, do your dance. If the divine cockeyed genius assigned to your case decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed for just one moment through your efforts then Ole. And if not, do your dance anyhow and Ole to you nonetheless. I believe this and I feel like we must teach it. Ole to you nonetheless just for having the sheer human love and stubbornness to keep showing up.”

Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Stanford was another speech I watched that taught me how to live my life.  His thoughts on connecting the dots of the past and not fretting about the future opened my eyes to a new mindset that I know will use from now on.

All of these quotes are so important to me, especially in this time when I am applying for jobs come graduation in July.  I will continue to show up and do my dance, and I will connect the dots of my past will looking forward to more dots in the future that will help me later understand the present circumstances.

Life is GREAT.