This is a tale of coincidence.
If you want to learn some great Italian recipes – or just simply want to pick up some great cooking tips, visit Sip-And-Feast. We stumbled on their YouTube channel a year ago and have been desperately hungry ever since. We fantasize about making a trip to Long Island and showing up on their front stoop just in time to taste test their latest recipe. We don’t care what’s cooking since everything they make looks delicious.
I howled with laughter in a recent installment when Tara Delmage suggested whacking mint leaves to release their oil. My current two-pages-a-day-book is called A Whack On The Side Of The Head: How You Can Be More Creative. In an instant I imagined people as mint leaves needing a whack to release their creative-impulse-oil. It was a hilarious image.
It was an accurate image, too.
I’ve coached a lot of people in my life. The pattern is explicit. Erecting barriers against creative impulses comes standard in all human beings. As social animals, conformity is a vital skill. Fitting-in equates to survival. The dark-side of fitting-in is the requirement of walling-off natural expression. It’s why so many people seek their voice or try to find the time but never find the time to write their book or paint their painting. It’s scary to step out of line.
It’s the reason artists are often seen as wild or dangerous: they exercise the muscles of free expression. It’s also why artists are essential: they counter-balance the conformity. They open doors in the wall. They serve as a gravitational pull toward the mint-oil of natural creativity. They know the secrets of a good whack on the side of the head. They know the right moment to deliver the shock. They know when to encourage chaos and when to infuse some order. The push-me-pull-you of progress.
From the wisdom of Sip-And-Feast I can now offer this piece of solid advice: go make yourself a nice limoncello spritzer. The recipe for the spritzer will provide you all the information you need to pop open your creative flow.
Bon appetit!
read Kerri’s blogpost about MINT LEAVES
share. like. support. comment. many thanks!
Filed under: Creativity, Merely A Thought Monday, Metaphor | Tagged: artistry, chaos, conformity, cooking, creativity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, expression, fitting in, free expression, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, order, pattern, Roger von Oech, sip and feast, story, studio melange, the melange |
The Direction of Intention 
Coached a lot of people, eh? I tried that, got kicked to the sideline. Gun shy ever since. Howbeit, my brother in-law often told me how he hated mowing his yard w/an electric mower. Therefore, we bought him a new Toro FWD mower yesterday at Ace. He thought it unusual to be “pulled” along, but otherwise “great!” The moral of the story…
-Cris
P.S. We are now having to live on our Mastercard, but the picture of you and Kerri is precious. This has been a Jackson Pollock-type comment. Come again soon!
Like Jackson Pollock’s paintings, your spatter-commentary is unique and beautiful. Perhaps you’ve just created a new form of comment? 😉
Unique, new? But this is how I ALWAYS communicate. Brenda said it is the Ambien. Bother. Always excellent to read YOUR commentary. We look forward to Kerri’s cd every day at the post office. How are you three doing anyhow? Tell us something REALLY personal, ok? Later!
-Cris (McCartney)