Tell Me Your Story of Storytelling

The last chapter in Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being is titled “What We Tell Ourselves.”Rubin says:

We have stories about ourselves,
And those are not who we are.
We have stories about the work,
And those are not what the work is.

Most creative people and honestly, maybe all people, know about those stories. The negative self-talk, the nearly constant critique of what we're doing and how we're doing it, looking at someone else's art and wondering if ours measure up. In our stories we too often cast ourselves as a bit player, the down-and-out protagonist who can't catch a break, or a passive observer powerless in our own narrative. It can be a sad story indeed.

To make art is to be vulnerable, exposing our expressions and offering up our curiosity made manifest in what is created. To be creative can be weird and it can be wonderful. When we tell stories about who we are and what the work is about we risk preempting the process and preventing authenticity. Being in “the flow” is more than a description of process, it’s a way of being—free from preconceived ideas or, another way to frame that, free from our stories—and letting ourselves and our art be expansive, grow, and surprise us.

In her book “Beyond God the Father”, philosopher and theologian Mary Daly says “it is the creative potential itself in human beings that is the image of God.” She maintains that humanity reflects the divine through the active power to create, imagine, and bring new things into existence.

I feel connected to the universe and a power greater than myself when I let go of self-talk and move into creating. This doesn’t mean I don’t make plans or have goals for my paintings or my life, just that I can be in the moment and have faith that I’m where I’m supposed to be. The process can be trusted without a story to shore me up and make me feel safe or negative self-talk that stops me from even trying.

Reminders are everywhere to be in the moment open to the mystery and meaning unfolding in front of me.  As Rubin writes “the universe never explains why” and I don’t need to hold on to a story to try and understand. I just need to keep showing up and make the work.