Good morning, I am grateful to be able to spend a few minutes with you today to send over some thoughts about what I’ve learned this week.
I’ve been enjoying working on some new music which is always satisfying when you get some sort of alignment between your motivation and your workspace. It doesn’t always work out this way as many months of the year for me can be spent in a bit of creative limbo. But onwards we march to get back on track.
Here are three ideas I’ve been chewing on this week that I wanted to run by you:
1. In my dream prior to writing this newsletter, I told a small group of people that they need to be less afraid to tell the truth that is on their mind and speak it out loud. I told them to stop sugarcoating and beating around the bush with everything they are trying to communicate. I then proposed that we go around in a circle and let everyone speak bold statements.
2. Once in a while we can remind ourselves that perfectionism is a horrible disease or affliction, but it’s easy to forget. Perfectionism is a drain on being able to do basic work, complex work, handling social situations, and the stress that accompanies being a human thrown into a chaotic world every week. The sooner you’re ok with things not being perfect, the better off you will be for that period of time to get through the situation at hand.
3. Creative work is a mitzvah (good deed). This idea came to me with a bit of shock because rigid, goal-based communities like the one I grew up in treat the arts as a fun hobby which is essentially a form of shaming the practice. So it wouldn’t be far off for people to feel a sense of guilt when they paint or play music as it’s not always earning money for a family. If someone can tell themselves that doing their most creative work is a good thing for the world, that would be a step in the right direction.
I now write more about the mindset of a creator and the act of getting your work out to the world over on the Most Creative Newsletter, so subscribe there if you want more of these types of thought bubbles.
Music Recommendation: Domenique Dumont
I enjoyed hearing this track by Dominique Dumont came into my playlist this week. It’s from an album called People on Sunday so I think it’s perfect for today.
Listen on YouTube or Bandcamp.
In other arts wandering, I was happy to catch Frame by Frame, a National Ballet of Canada production in homage to legendary stop-motion animator Norman McLaren.
I had fomo last year when I missed it so I made sure to not let that happen again. It was a very “Montreal” type production reminding me of all the visual effects I had seen at Mutek over many years. My favourite part is hearing the early bloopy synths that were common in McLaren’s films.
Yesterday I had a Montreal bagel with my dad. If you’re unfamiliar, they look small but they are quite dense.
That means if I were to go looking for a leftover today it would feel like a hockey puck. Time for a fresh batch.
Lots of love!
Elliott