#2: A gem of a quote by Patti Smith to inspire your creative life force

Patti Smith is one of my favourites writers. Her writing is a whole mood; both melancholic and atmospheric and just simply, Patti. My journey with her writing began with her autobiographical, Just Kids. I was mesmerised by her life story and the poetic nuance in which she shared it.

I happened to be travelling through NYC for the first time while reading the book and basically walked those pavements imagining the heady streets of early 1970's New York, rather than absorbing my reality; it was December 2015. Still, her words 'narrating' my NY moment made for an unforgettable trip.

The book is littered with gems that speak to the creative heart, but this passage has stuck with me, since it so intimately touches our intuitive knowing about the balance between where we draw our inspiration from and what we need to do to conjure it into existence.

The artist seeks contact with his intuitive sense of the gods, but in order to create his work, he cannot stay in this seductive and incorporeal realm. He must return to the material world in order to do his work. It's the artist's responsibility to balance mystical communication and the labor of creation. ~ Patti Smith, Just Kids

An idea without action is just a dream, as they say. These words represent a gentle reality check. A reminder that we can't get lost in ideas, become overwhelmed - or over-indulged - by the fantasy of our creative pursuits. The tortured artist myth, anyone?

We must always return fully to the present and land into the reality of the work; the toil of the craft, the mess, confusion and uncertainty that is the very grit of creating something worthwhile.

On that cool December day, hunting down the Chelsea Hotel, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Patti, Andy or Janis smoking casually on the steps outside. Another lifetime perhaps.

Today is a good day to create your life.

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