The yin and yang of creativity

Most artists study and practice for decades before creating something truly inspired.

The yang of creativity is the work put in.

But then...

As any experienced athlete knows, when it comes game day, none of the practice and planning will add up to anything spectacular if you don't get in the zone.

Experienced actors know that a play won't move an audience as much as it could if the actor doesn't get herself fully centered and present in the moment.

And experienced inventors and entrepreneurs know that a project doesn't turn into something truly remarkable until they get themselves into a state of flow.

"In the zone", "in the moment", "flow" - these are all terms for that state of mental clarity, focus, physical ease, and peak performance where sense of time disappears and access to physical and mental resources is relatively unencumbered.

If you're a creator who's been there, you know what I mean.

You get there by letting the work go, by turning off the analysis and self-criticism that helped you improve up to that point and creating space for inspiration to arrive.

That's the yin of creativity.

The user can decide where inspiration comes from - the unconscious mind, the collective unconscious, universal intelligence, the divine. But letting the work go is how to receive it.

When I moved to NYC at age eighteen to become an actor, I was fortunate enough to get into class with Meisner-style acting teacher Maggie Flanigan who trained actors such as Sam Rockwell and Calista Flockhart.

Maggie told us, "Every time you walk out on stage, you must embrace the "F*ck It Principle" (excuse my language, Meisner teachers were famous for F-bombs). Performance was the time to let all the preparation and analysis go and say, "F*ck it. I don't care if things go my way or if I'm great or terrible. I'm just going to be in the moment, enjoy myself, and see what happens."

On the flip side, some actors try to embrace the "F*ck It Principle" prematurely. They would rather not do the grueling, humbling work of becoming an artist. They think, "I'll just wing it. I'll get really present, walk out onstage, and receive my divine inspiration."

We all know who those actors are.

It doesn't work like that. Yin and yang need each other.