One of the best ways to find a good book is often to have it recommended to you by a friend. I received such a recommendation as a Christmas present and I would like to share it with you today.
The book is by author Charlotte Wood, titled, The Luminous Solution.
Every once in a while a book comes along that is a great pleasure to read as well as containing wonderful information. This is such a book.
I think what grabbed me from the get-go was title, there's something about the word luminous that is beautiful and mysterious.
In the book Charlotte shares with us, many of the insights that she has gained during the course of her creative career. These insights were gained by paying close attention to the way she and others work, her own mind and also the world around her.
It is a book that is for creatives of all stripes I think. She tackles issues that many creators have in common. I love the title of Chapter 3 - The grumpy struggle, despair and the luminous solution. Now if that doesn't get your curiosity going I don't know what will. And then of course, there is - Chapter 8 - Cat and baby - on intuition versus pragmatism.
Not only does she tackle difficult topics, she succeeds in doing so using beautiful language, and inspiring the reader to greater heights of their own creativity at the same time.
I'd like to share a couple of quotes.
" To make use of what you have and who you are. Even a limited Talent brings an obligation to explore it, develop it, exercise it, be grateful for it". This is part of a list that she created, a list of reasons to keep going when she was stuck.
A little further on she says, "In the midst of this gloom, to create is an act of enlargement, of affirmation. It lights a candle in the darkness, offering solace, illumination - maybe even the possibility of transformation - not just for the maker but for the reader or viewer, which is to say all of us.
In other words, no matter who you are, she is not letting you off the hook of exploring your creative gifts and we all have them, the challenge being for some people to recognize what form creativity takes in their own lives. It is so much easier to deny that you have any kind of creative ability rather than take up the challenge of exploring it.
I highly recommend this book as an aid to exploring your own creativity and I have so much gratitude to my friend for giving it to me.