Big Magic

I love that she says, “our artistic instincts have divine and magical origins”. I absolutely believe that our creative self is a divine gift.

The idea that I find most inspiring (and frankly, absolutely glorious) is that ideas are an entity, “they are alive… have a conscious will… (and) move from soul to soul”. Gilbert says, “Ideas have no material body, but they do have a consciousness.” She suggests that they float about and fuse with the people that choose to fuse with them and then they are born into creation. She probes the reader to “cooperate fully, humbly and joyfully with inspiration”, with the understanding that “the work wants to be made, and it wants to be made through you.”

Gilbert also discusses how fear is the main detriment to the manifestation of these ideas and asks, “Do you have the courage? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes.” She also says “You must be willing to take risks if you want to live a creative existence”, implying that it is our fear that holds us back.

I really enjoy the concept of making a contract with the idea, as it creates an investment in the idea to insure that it won’t run away; “If inspiration is allowed to unexpectedly enter you, it is also allowed to unexpectedly exit you.”

The thought that we “have a genius” and are not genius takes away the worry of it all. There are no feelings of being fraudulent in our creativity if it is some higher power doing the work.

Another tip from Gilbert is Einstein’s tactic of combinatory play that “quiets your ego by lowering the stakes”.

I also really enjoy the message that “If you are alive, you are a creative person”. I believe that we are all born innately creative, and that the messages from our society can make us forget this. We are by nature, creators.

Gilbert’s conclusion that creativity is sacred and soulful sums up the book beautifully and repeats that “The treasures are hidden inside of you hoping you will say yes”. I just love this idea and think that it will be so useful in my work with Clients to help them understand that they are innately creative beings working with ideas that want to be released.

Thoroughly recommend!