Theme 82: Muse

Will people be into this? Will people like it? Will people come? Is this whole plan gonna work? Can I make a passion project a full-time gig?

I had this crazy idea in my head. And I did it. I made it happen and I felt really good about it.

Who of us doesn’t struggle to find our voice and say what really matters to us?

It's all based around storytelling. I ask all the speakers that come to speak at the New Narrative--there's just two big things that I ask them for: be brave and tell a story.

Can I make a passion project a full-time gig? Is it right to make a passion project a full-time gig? Like, I should just go get a job like everybody else and do this on the side, right? Nah, no.

Storytelling can have a bigger utility here. Because I saw how, you know, when we shared our stories with each other, there was something very vulnerable and connecting about that, and it's a very simple thing.

I was using literal dollar-store chalk to create elaborate designs for some of the world's most influential people and brands. Creating beautiful things from simple and unexpected materials is in my blood.

Continue creating beautiful things, even when you feel voiceless, that your resources are limited, or that your well has run dry...The most valuable piece of art I own, a tiny umbrella fashioned out of trash, was made right in the middle of a literal and figurative desert.

With at least half of the camp population made up of children under the age of 17, the adults were determined to provide them with an illusion of normalcy.

create...beautiful things out of the most mundane mediums

Gaman: to endure the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity

I found my muse - it's my family's firsthand pilgrimage through this literal and figurative desert that has taught me so much about the power of beauty and creativity.

I feel like it's really important to teach, to give back, to inspire. To pull something out of somebody else who didn't know they had it. It's sort of like that speech. Work with me here. Bring yourself halfway and I'll bring myself halfway and we'll create something amazing.

We should not take for granted that we are given these gifts. We should be able to share these gifts and do good stuff for people out there. Being creative is a gift. It's an amazing thing that we get to do this.

Za kreativním procesem je mnohem víc, než co pak vidíte ve výsledku.

(Že máte talent) neznamená, že byste dokázali něco dělat hned napoprvé perfektně, ale jen vám to třeba jde rychleji než ostatním.

Talent není nic jiného než to, jak rychle se něčemu učíte.

My si nevybíráme, co je naše vášeň, co nás baví, my jen objevujeme, co nás baví a když máme štěstí, máme šanci to prohloubit a jdeme si za tím.

Nápad je v nějakém ohledu externí.

Kreativita jako taková je princip života, součást života, opak ustrnutí a uzavření se.

Často mám strach něco sdílet, ale přesto to děláme, protože v tom vidíme smysl.

Our character and who we are goes far beyond what we look like and that is a huge relief because realising that releases you from your judement of your image

It doesn't matter one bit what you look like because people always choose to see what they want in you

What makes a good life model isn't how you look per se it's about how much of a blank canvas you can be

I am just a starting point and the final outcome in the end says far more about the artist then it ever does about me

It actually doesn't matter if they are drawing the same subject they will always come out with something different which is usually entertaining

The reason that there is such a variety of work is because everyone is different from the person next to them

This job is the most interesting and varied line of work that I could imagine for myself

I feel far more nervous now than if I was completely naked

So whether you speak the language or not it's always possible to connect with others when you are traveling. It takes very little to see their humanity.

What I like most to do is to walk in the path of everyday people, where they eat where they shop, where they spend time just as I did many times as a kid traveling with my parents. I try to interact with people even if it's super brief. Basically, I'm seeking the mundane because I want to humanize my experience rather than to pass through with a checklist of sights to see.

Visiting them in their homes, experiencing their villiage lives and trying to find a path out of rural poverty. These experiences, like, made every countr more memorable to me and perhaps more importantly, they made every country feel familiar like they were no longer a foreign country to me they became a place I new a bit beyond the surface. And all of those memories have stayed with me today in so much that it changed how I travel today and how I see the world.

When we move in a reactionary way for so long, it becomes this default and you can't create outside of that space.

Photography as a medium allows you to bring your individual voice into a space.

It's important in transitions and processes to understand that our individual stories make us unique and that shouldn't be overshadowed by what's new or more acceptable.

When I get stuck, I wait for things to reveal themselves.

I would tell all my loved ones to breathe, because they are the ones I am creating for.

I'm inspired by the history we've embodied: in every invention, every dance, every rhythm, every Serena Williams with a broken record over and over again.

The black imagination is everlasting, and through will, we survive. Not many people can turn pain into beauty.

I see the lessons and challenges my mother had to reckon with: fear and responsibility.

You are a leader. You are a soldier.

“I implore you, if you ever feel invisible or unheard, just look into yourself and be your own muse.”

Families, gather around the table to tell stories and share life.

I encourage you to recalibrate and find that compass. Allow it to guide you towards your [younger 5 or 50 year old version's] dream.

Remember the dream. Remember what that dream was and why you started in the first place... not the things that dream gets you, not the things that you want the dream to give to you. Remember your original dream. Remember your 10 year old self - what did they want out of life?

What can I do to give back to the community that's given me so much?

I wanted to be able to make use of my skills everyday.

I turned to my own internal compass of what success looks like and not what other people define as successful.

It didn't feel like home to me. It didn't feel like I was actually living in my purpose. It felt like I was getting ready to sell my soul.

Living in your purpose creates results. It works if you actually live in your purpose and remember the initial dream.

I recalibrated and readjusted my compass.

Many of us surrender early. Many of us give up on our dreams when we're very close to that breakthrough.

My compass at the time, my muse, was just 'things.'

I had many unspoken expectations of what a successful rapper would look like.

Inside of you right now is a completely unique combination of talents, skills, interests, and experiences.

Good things happen when you're positive.

Pushing our boundaries has led to a lot of great things.

It's beautiful to dream, but you have to have a plan.

No matter where you come from, if you have a positive mindset and you have a passion and you go full-force, something’s going to come out of it.

In life, you’ve got to feel inspired. You’ve got to have hope. You need a reason to live.

A muse is really anything that sparks your creativity: it can be a person, a place or an object.

Drawing makes you stop and really see what’s in front of you, and that makes your life infinitely richer in so many ways.

Running people with fear doesn’t work and never will. And I think that’s quite positive.

Kitchen is a language.

Creating beautiful things from simple yet unexpected materials is in my blood.

Art was a saving grace for my family and I hope to carry on that tradition.

'Gaman' means to endure the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.

I believe—like I really really do believe—that each one of us have something inside, all of us. And the world will miss out if we don't do something about it. Because someone out there needs to see what we need to create.

But the beautiful thing—I think, for this—is that the magic has happened once I stop listening to everybody else and what everything is telling me that I need to do, that I should do, and I start listening to the muse.

It is finding a way—how does your muse speak to you? And try to put yourself more in those situations.

A lot of it comes from somewhere that I have no idea what that is. And we can call it the muse, we can call it inspiration, we can call it our inner voice. But seriously, I feel like there's something else.

I just started filming girls that were friends of friends, and I recorded this audio. I was like, I'm just going to test this microphone. And so I tricked myself with little things like that, like I'm just going to do this little thing. And then things happen.

I remember writing this, "Dear universe: Thank you for sending me so many ideas. Now please send me the time and energy to make them happen."

Every one of you already has a backyard full of creative possibilities and you just need to take the first step.

No matter how hard you try to fight it, you can only really be yourself. The sooner we can find it within ourselves to begin the process of letting go of self-doubt, the sooner we can recognize and celebrate what we do have.

The second I leaned into [what made me different] and embraced them, instead of shying away, unbelievable things started happening.

Embrace who you are. Or just, like, try to. Or just think about it for now.

You need to work hard and commit to the project even when it seems like the world doesn't really care.

I finally said, 'Enough!' to self doubt. It's really hard and it's really worth it.

Let's decide that we are worth it, that our talents have actual value, that our dorky interests can be so much more than dorky interests is the tough nut to crack.

In my experience, taking the first step is the hardest part.

Now is the time to rip the bandaid off and just start.

If you find a way to connect and combine these parts of yourself, the results is almost certainly something very unique, something people won't get anywhere else, and something you're incredibly passionate about.

What interest can I just not stay away from?

What is one ability I feel confident in?

What is something I really love to do, just because?

If you're having trouble finding 'your thing,' ask yourself these questions with an honest and open mind: What is something I really love to do, just because?

People really do respond to passion and authenticity.

The problem is that we fail to see what is already inside of us. If we do see it, we're quick to dismiss or devalue it.

Inside of you right now is a completely unique combination of talents, skills, interests, and experiences. No one else has the combination that you have.

We're so good at comparing ourselves to other people and their talent and skills. We don't spend nearly enough time nurturing and thinking about our own.

You don't need to be the best at everything in order to be completely irreplaceable — be the best at exactly who you are.

It finally dawned on me why my self-doubt was suddenly silent — I was doing something so totally me that so perfectly combined the best parts of myself that no one else was doing in the way I was doing. I finally didn't have anyone else to compare myself to.

Self doubt has prevented me from trying many things in my life.

When your hobby becomes your job, you run the risk of turning something you really love into a slog that makes you queasy.

I had never tried going outside without a destination in mind before with no where to be and no expectations and no time restraints. Letting go of those things and being open to whatever laid before me was nothing short of life changing.

I had been so fixated for so long on getting from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible that I had never taken the time to notice this entire world hanging out right under my nose.

For the first time in my life, I was having fun not knowing. The freedom that came with walking to suddenly feel like I could go anywhere and do anything and see fascinating stuff all along the way was like nothing I had ever experienced.

It was a little tasty mystery waiting to be unraveled.

I discovered the joy of taking long walks.

I'm convinced that everybody has a metaphorical backyard of unique skills and interests already inside of them that when combined can result in major inspiration and give them a new way to think about pursuing their creative passions.