Elizabeth Gilbert on Creativity

Totally captivated by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the New York bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, talking about the process of creativity and how not to lose your mind in the process by externalising it as a thing outside of self, a collaborative with an external muse, so to speak, a kind of paranormal thing. The ending is so inspirational.

I've read and enjoyed reading her journey in the book a while back. After watching the video below, I reached for the book which is collecting dust on the top of my bookshelf. Funnily, this is what I flipped to:

"Two nights in a row now I've had dreams of a snake entering my room. I've read that this is spiritually auspicious (and not just in Eastern religions; Saint Ignatius had serpent visions all throughout his mystical experiences), but it doesn't make the snakes any less vivid or scary." This is in the section on India, the 'pray' part. Immediately it held my attention because I had a dream about reptiles and have wondered since what it meant. Talk about serendipity.

I'm looking forward to reading the sequel which will be out pretty soon I guess. I think her message to writers, dancers, composers, et al,  is important: to not be daunted by naysayers and keep on showing up to do the thing you do.