Surrounding yourself with encouraging people is really helpful when you are trying to accomplish something. If you are trying to accomplish something creative, it’s also helpful to surround yourself with at least a couple creative individuals, or at least this is what I’ve found.
My friends Darrah and Jason Parker got married last fall. Both of them are very creative individuals, and have careers in an artistic field. Darrah is a professional photographer–it’s a new business, launched within the last year. She’s taken a lot of brave steps to make this happen, including quitting her full time job. Her photos are beautiful, and the way she views life is very prevalent in them. She seems to actually find the humanity in an inanimate object–now that is a gift! You can follow Darrah at her website–her gallery, Etsy store, and blog can all be found there.
Her husband, Jason, is a professional jazz musician. Trumpet player, to be exact. He’s been living as a professional musician for a number of years, and has his hands in a number of projects to make it work. Jason has been patient in creating this path for himself, and that has paid off. His music is tight, he has developed a very good reputation in Seattle and beyond, and he moves in and out of a number of music/jazz circles in the area. He keeps a blog documenting his path, which includes some of his music, as well as many ideas on how to keep the energy flowing.
(Jason playing “Bashert” at their wedding reception, which he wrote after meeting Darrah)
What I’ve noticed is that I love checking out both Darrah’s and Jason’s blogs weekly. I love reading their updates, noticing their progress, and seeing what new ideas they’ve come up with to inspire themselves and others. It reminds me that like all things, creativity is a process, and it’s ok if it doesn’t come all at once. In fact, sometimes it can take quite a while to feel inspired enough to even want to create something. No need to feel awful about that. But no need to let that stall you, either. Sometimes we need to build a habit of creating, or exercising the creative side of the brain. Other times, we simply need a break. We need to dive into something that has nothing to do with obligation, or creating, or a deadline. For me, that usually means watching a movie, or following some TV show (like Lost, or Glee, or Parenthood–other people’s creations!). Sometimes it means reading a book. Sometimes it means doing my spiritual work. And sometimes it means taking a walk or going on a run. If I don’t do that last one for obligatory reasons, I often find myself gaining inspiration as I go. Plus I get to look at pretty things on the way. 
It’s a win-win! A win-win as long as I can get motivated enough to go, that is. 🙂
Last night, after attending my school’s play, I went to Lucid Jazz Lounge in Seattle. The Jason Parker Quartet was doing their final show of a 2 week west coast tour. They sounded tight! Night after night of performing together seriously paid off, and the energy in the room was fantastic. Even though it was late for me, I found myself in a great mood as soon as I walked in. I have to finish a song by Tuesday for a class I’m in right now, and their show inspired me enough to get it basically done today. It was a reminder that it’s important to keep the music playing, and soak in the vibes of those who are doing it and loving it. That’s the kind of contagion I want to nurture!
By the way, since I want to be held accountable, I practiced the guitar 3 times last week. That’s 2 more times a week than I had been for the past month, but about 2 less times than I’d planned on. Here’s hoping for more inspiration this week!
A Living Song 