“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell
This quote is from: A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living. It comes out of a workshop at the Esalen Institute celebrating the scholar’s eightieth birthday.
The Search, watercolor and pencil on paper, by Mary GowThis week’s MarieTV featured Steven Pressfield, (author of one of my favorite books, “The War of Art) now releasing his new book, Turning Pro.
You can find Forleo’s interview of Pressfield here.
Let me back up a few steps.
Marie Forleo is the star of MarieTV. I first heard about her through a webinar hosted by the master of LinkedIN, Lewis Howes.
I didn’t sign up for her course but a friend of a friend did. And I went to Forleo’s website and found myself liking the content and watching some of her videos. I signed up for her weekly installment of wisdom mixed with her fashionable flair delivered on MarieTV.
I believe Forleo is definitely a woman of influence to watch. She impresses me as an intelligent, confident woman with a humanitarian heart.
Oprah Winfrey believes so and she’s featuring her with Mastin Kipp and Gabrielle Bernstein on her Super Soul Sunday show tomorrow about “The New Generation of Spiritual Thinkers,” at 11am Eastern Standard Time and 11am Pacific Standard Time.
You can tune into Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday tomorrow via live stream!
My painting today is along the lines of the Super Soul energy. You can see how I’m inspired by Wassily Kandinsky‘s lines.
Who do you believe is a spiritual thinker to watch?
“Arise,” watercolor and pencil on paper by Mary GowThose were the words of highly admired teacher, author, mythologist, Joseph Campbell.
The other day I heard author Neil Strauss mention this quote when Timothy Ferriss interviewed him on Creative Live.
I had to write it down because it reminded me of a session I once had with an adviser who said the best career path for me wouldn’t be “secure.” And this baffled me.
The way the adviser (who will remain anonymous but she has advised the rich and famous in New York) explained it, my steady day job at that time bored me but created structure.
If my home environment was also “secure,” then I would feel boxed in.
So as she saw it, I was the kind of person who needs some element of challenge and having two stable structures I would feel “boxed in,” depriving me of the change and variety I thrive on.
Surprisingly, her advice was for me to go with what wasn’t safe and secure, which was to work pursue painting and photography and work for myself. It would be changing all the time. Which would then make me appreciate and want stability in other parts of my life.
Isn’t it refreshing to hear that Joseph Campbell promoted that attitude?
It’s the “Leap and the net will appear,” (John Burroughs) kind of trust.
Campbell chose an insecure way during the Great Depression when he decided not to continue his doctoral studies at Columbia and spent some time on a farm in upstate New York. (The Joseph Campbell Foundation website has a full description).
“[I]f you follow your bliss, you’ll have your bliss whether you have money or not. If you follow money, you may lose the money, and then you don’t have even that. The secure way is really the insecure way and the way in which the richness of the quest accumulates is the right way.” — Joseph Campbell (An Open Life, 1990)
“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.” -Joseph Campbell
The House on the Hill, watercolor & pencil on paper, by Mary GowHave you been feeling like you’re receiving many messages coming through like an avalanche?
Today’s painting depicts this feeling of a special time, as though we are a house on the edge of the horizon, making a ceremonious passage.
While painting today I saw parts of Timothy Ferriss on Creative Live.
It was day two of a two day workshop that highlighted Ferriss’ new book, The Four Hour Chef, and included quite an assortment of lifestyle insights from cooking, basketball, archery, to entrepreneurship and how to get to your first dollar on your new idea.
I found the section with Rick Torbett about eye dominance and progression of sequence of movements in basketball fascinating!
“All that’s between you and a great shot is repetition,” said Torbett.
That applies with most anything doesn’t it?
What’s between us and anything great is to keep going after the first rejections, first mistakes, first drafts.
Keep going. “You’re better than you think,” said Ferriss.
