Follow the Flow

Weekly wisdom to level up your creative life in 3 minutes, for free.

A SHORT STORY

This past week, I listened to a podcast with the writer, Soman Chainani.

He discussed an interesting concept that I've encountered in my own creative life - "Follow the Flow."

He said: "...and what I realize is that your conscious mind can’t actually solve problems. It can execute, it can deliver on the promise of something, but what actually is going to be the next creative force in your life, the next big decision, has to come to you naturally.

So I’ve realized more and more as time goes on that I am just the manager. I’m the manager of the creativity. I’m not the actual creator. I just have to show up."

Reflecting on this in my own life, I think of my work with Theater Mitu. We tend to work on projects for 2-3 years at a time, and I’m always surprised at what we create because we tend to also "follow the flow."

For instance, we’re currently preparing to premiere our latest work, (holy) BLOOD, this May, and where we started and where we are now ending are vastly different. If you would have told me we would end up creating a piece that is part live-scored silent film, part irreverent midnight movie - combined with explosive blood choreography - I would have never imagined it!

And yet, looking back on the past two years, it does make sense. It reminds me that one of the most important things one can do is listen to what life is trying to say to you — and to follow it.

I share this as a reminder to myself, and to all of us, to dare ourselves to follow that flow. And, perhaps, if we show up and do so, we may discover something entirely new about ourselves.

What small changes can you make in your daily routine to go with the flow of life, staying adaptable and focused on what truly matters to you?

A CREATIVE TOOL

This week, I completed teaching a course I was leading with hundreds of creatives around the world who are experimenting with Generative AI in their practice at HUG.

What continues to move me in the emerging technology space is the amount of wonderful people who are willing to share their insights and open source their knowledge. It gives me a lot of hope.

A PIECE OF ART

“Will You?” by Carrie Fountain

When, at the end, the children wanted
to add glitter to their valentines, I said no.

I said nope, no, no glitter, and then,
when they started to fuss, I found myself

saying something my brother’s football coach
used to bark from the sidelines when one

of his players showed signs of being
human: oh come on now, suck it up.

That’s what I said to my children.
Suck what up? my daughter asked,

and, because she is so young, I told her
I didn’t know and never mind, and she took

that for an answer. My children are so young
when I turn off the radio as the news turns

to counting the dead or naming the act,
they aren’t even suspicious. My children

are so young they cannot imagine a world
like the one they live in. Their God is still

a real God, a whole God, a God made wholly
of actions. And I think they think I work

for that God. And I know they will someday soon
see everything and they will know about

everything and they will no longer take
never mind for an answer. The valentines

would’ve been better with glitter, and my son
hurt himself on an envelope, and then, much

later, when we were eating dinner, my daughter
realized she’d forgotten one of the three

Henrys in her class. How can there be three Henrys
in one class? I said, and she said, Because there are.

And so, before bed we took everything out
again—paper and pens and stamps and scissors—

and she sat at the table with her freshly washed hair
parted smartly down the middle and wrote

WILL YOU BE MINE, HENRY T.? and she did it
so carefully, I could hardly stand to watch.

Grateful,

Michael