Sense Of Ease/Time to Spare

There is a popular belief -- captured in the image of the struggling artist -- that one needs to be tortured to be creative. Whereas pain and despair provide fertile material for the creative process, the Muse is liberated more by joy and celebration, more by ease and true integrity than by dogged suffering. (See the Principle of Creativity and Invention/Creative Destruction.)

The instant you lose your ease you know your integrity is in trouble. The physical signs are clear: a tightening in the chest, a shortness of breath, a loss of pliancy of the muscles, and dryness everywhere. Dryness and rushing, trying too hard and relentless pressure, all go together.

When you reclaim your ease, the Muse, your creativity will appear standing beside you, as Athena stood by Odysseus on the dusty fields of Troy.

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