nurturing talent : page 4......... .Talent Development Resources..home page

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When writers go through writer's block, says Anne Lamott in her book Bird by Bird, they aren't blocked, but empty. Artists often suffer from the same problem. We may have gotten so wrapped up in this blocked feeling that we've stopped allowing anything to come inside our minds except our own misery.  Lamott says her writing students simply have to fill themselves back up again with "observations, flavors, ideas, visions memories."  To entice inspiration, you must first fine-tune your devices for receiving it when it does come. Your five senses are your receiving equipment for inspiration. If you're like me, you sometimes forget that we still have all five of them. Peggy Hadden - from her book The Artist's Quest for Inspiration

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My focus is creativity, and some think that computers and the Internet can be creativity killers. But if you're communicating with people around the U.S. and even the world, it's incredible. I think that anything that gives you access to lots of information can only help your creativity. Children who can e-mail and find information on the Internet will have more raw material from which creativity is made.  Jonathan Plucker, Ph.D., assistant professor of learning, cognition, and instruction at Indiana University School of Education. [Business Journal, Dec 10, 1999]   photo from his website: php.indiana.edu/~jplucker/ Jonathan Plucker is an editor of book:*Commemorating Guilford's 1950 Presidential Address : Creativity Research Journal

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***Georgia O'Keeffe

from article: Spark Your Creativity Via Your Intuitions by Gail McMeekin     /    quotes from her site

author of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women

photo of Georgia O'Keeffe from Scheinbaum and Russek LTD - Fine Art Photography site  /

biography: The Art and Life of Georgia O'Keeffe by Jan Garden Castro
 
 

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Another misconception is that ability automatically leads to high achievement, that compelling talent will overcome all obstacles.  As children, many of us heard inspiring stories about eminent men and women who did just that.  However, the reality is that there are both circumstantial and psychological factors that can adversely affect the actualization of the gifted. from article:  Common Misconceptions About the Gifted by Mary Rocamora

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"Talent isn't enough. You need motivation -- and persistence, too;
what Steinbeck called a blend of faith and arrogance."    Leon Uris
 

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"Whatever else you might need to do, one thing that will help you grow more creative is consciously engaging in new explorations. If we do not explore, we do not get to go anywhere new, and if we do not go anywhere new, we can't be creative."     Eric Maisel, Ph.D. -  from article: Living the Creative Life    [photo from Eric Maisel site]  *books:**A Life in the Arts    The Creativity Book

 

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In my world, excellence means going beyond what the masses think is right or possible or gender-correct.  I have less than 11 seconds to achieve my goals. To have everything gel, you need the belief that you can do it. Then there's intervention from the man above, and that just happens.  Third, you need to put in the work, put in the time. I don't wake up in the morning as the fastest woman in the world. Sure, I was born with talent, but you have to dedicate yourself to what you're doing before you can even think about entering the realm of excellence. Marion Jones -- O, The Oprah Magazine Dec 2003

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.. t-shirt : "Bart Simpson  Underachiever -  And Proud of It, Man" .. .. Underachievement in Adults Kenneth W. Christian, PhD If you are an underachiever, you may seldom, if ever, have executed a plan all the way from an idea to the final result.  Though bright and creative, you may notice that you have not completed a particular course of study leading to a desired degree or certification, or you do get the degree but then donít follow through and practice the occupation or profession. Your employment history may exhibit a "hopscotch" pattern: perhaps you have tried multiple career paths sequentially or simultaneously without sustained devotion and enthusiasm to one in particular. Perhaps you move on to something else just when you are finally getting through the initial start-up period needed for success with an idea or a project....

.. .. People who fail to live up to their potential frequently feel a chronic vague uneasiness and dissatisfaction with their lives.  They feel a little fraudulent and as if they are about to be discovered. They feel that something is missing, that somehow they have never quite expressed themselves fully in terms of work and other significant activities. ... Not surprisingly, underachievers feel frustrated, disappointed, and discontented. ... from Underachievement in Adults page - part of  the Maximum Potential Project ~ ~ Pulling back from your potential, at the most fundamental level, is a kind of abdication, an abandoment of your own best interests.  Achieving self-development, on the other hand, is not only life's central mission -- it can also be the most thrilling odyssey there is. Kenneth W. Christian, PhD - in his book Your Own Worst Enemy: Breaking the Habit  of Adult Underachievement

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Resilience is a trifold process of recognizing and resisting the intrinsic and extrinsic obstacles that inhibit the development of one's potential... the way you go about enhancing resilience is to first of all recognize how critical a psychological factor it is.  A woman has to look at her life objectively in terms of the kinds of obstacles she confronts, has confronted, perhaps will confront. You've got to know what you're up against. Kathleen Noble, Ph.D. - from article Gifted Women: Identity and Expression

....related pages:......nurturing mental health........

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Virginia Woolf talks about how she best appreciates the genius of Shakespeare when she herself is writing -- she feels more intensely his incredible caoacity for language and metaphor.  I think that's what an education does -- it lends us proximity to genius. That's what's so dazzling about being in a class with a brilliant professor, discussing Goethe.  We tend to shy away from such encounters with genius. We go to a museum, but only once in a while. We read Shakespeare for class but not for pleasure. Instead we read a newspaper because it's easier.  But to truly find excellence in our own lives, we must do the more difficult things. We must be willing to encounter genius. Lee C. Bollinger - President of Columbia University  [O, The Oprah Magazine, Dec 2003]

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South African writer Nadine Gordimer's children understood that when they came home and saw her door closed, they must not bother her, and not turn on the radio loud.  "My children don't hold it against me," Gordimer said. ... "I think writers, artists are very ruthless, and they have to be. It's unpleasant for other people, but I don't know how else we can manage. Because the world will never make a place for you."  from book My Teeming Brain: Understanding Creative Writers - by Jane Piirto  /   Nadine Gordimer books

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.. .. You're talking about the difference between the muscular West and the more relaxed East.  Our Calvinistic theology is: Try! Try! "I will labor in the vineyard of the Lord to know if I'm worthy or not," or, "Am I among the 144,000 elect? I can only prove it by trying harder and harder."  It's a cultural lensing. Look at the stories that make up our culture's mythic structures: Horatio Alger. Sail over the sea! Cut down the forest! Build! Push! Those are the words of a frontier psychology.  ...  Whereas the other [approach] is surrender: Surrender into love, surrender into being.  The great mystics say, "My God, my Love, Thou art all mine and I am all Thine!" They talk about the intensity of loving; theirs is a culture of love. You see, the union with the Beloved is a different perspective.

What happens in either case is an alchemy, no question. It is an alchemy in which the human being attempts to become what he or she truly is, and in which they perhaps experience and express the greater life for which we have all been coded.  You see, I believe that we've all been deeply coded for a much larger life.  And I believe that what we're calling "enlightenment" is coded in us as part of our inheritance.  For different people from different parts of the world, there are certain patterns of journeys and stages of unfolding -- not unlike the unfolding of the coding of the DNA structures in the genes. My problem with those who will themselves to a certain end is that they lose access to the coding, and then they only gain the culture's notion of what is good and best and bright and beautiful.  You just have to look at Vanity Fair or Vogue magazine to see what I'm talking about. I think our potential is much richer than that, and I think that the Easterners have a deeper and more subtle and perhaps even a truer grasp of it.  from interview article "Orchestrating Our Many Selves -  Jean Houston on the Fallacy ofÝSelf-Mastery -  by Amy Edelstein, What Is Enlightenment? Magazine related interview with Jean Houston by Douglas Eby  related page: spirituality

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This book [The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing] was very important to my growth as a novelist because it told the story of a woman whose various selves -- political, psychological and sexual -- are equally represented. Anna Wulf is a novelist trying to write a novel about contemporary women, but she is blocked. I had never before read a story about a woman who was seeking a way of integrating the disparate parts of her life.  The journey of the book is a woman's struggle to harmonize all her passions. I read it when I was writing Fear of Flying and found it fiercely inspiring.  Erica Jong ... [O the Oprah Mag. Aug. 2003] ...by Erica Jong:  Sappho's Leap: A Novel  //  Fear of Flying

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When I was 25... my friend gave me this book. ... I was searching for my own reasons for being an actress and wanted to see myself as an artist, but it all seemed a little pretentious.  The book [Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke] helped me see that making art is about the search, the questions, not the answers. ... Since I'd struggled with a fear of being alone, it helped me to see solitude as invaluable if I was to express myself.    Elisabeth Shue***[O - The Oprah Mag., Mar.2001]

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"Go back to your desk. Settle down. Focus. And catch up!"   dialogue and photo of Josh Kornbluth from his movie Haiku Tunnel [site]

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All of my advice circles back to: write every day, write in whatever form interests you, walk through every door that opens. I think Joseph Campbell was very right when he said that when we follow our bliss, there are a thousand unseen helping hands.  You don't need to strategize your career - you need to experiment, knock on doors and see what opens. Julia Cameron***[writersmarket.com interview]*** book: *The Right to Write

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"[In my personal space] there are lots of photographs of my son, my friends,
our animals, mementos from my travels, wildflowers, found rocks and bits
from my walks in the arroyo. I think that all of us, men and women, need
a tiny spot of total privacy, of stillness, to reconnect with our own souls.

I know that the ability to regenerate, to get away a bit, enhances not only
my mental health but my ability to work and create and, probably, to
navigate the complicated relationships that make up the rest of my life."

Ali MacGraw  from book: A Room of Her Own : Women's Personal Spaces
  by Chris Casson Madden (Introduction), Jennifer Lévy (Photographer)
 
 

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"Talented young women have to learn that to plan for themselves is essential and not a selfish act. Many females, regardless of age, try to minimize their differences. Finding environments in which success is celebrated and individual differences are respected is crucial - so they can produce creative work and find personal happiness.   If women do not recognize their potential, they usually will not fulfill it."    from book by Sally Reis, PhD:  Work Left Undone: Choices and Compromises of Talented Women

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"I learned not to be ashamed of a real hunger for knowledge, something I had always tried to hide." Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-94) - in her essay for Vogue writing contest, 1951   video: Intimate Portrait: Jackie Onassis

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"Latifah was born when I was eight years old... I loved the name my parents gave me,
Dana Elaine Owens. But I knew then that something as simple as picking a new name
for myself would be my first act of defining who I was -- for myself and for the world."
  Queen Latifah

**book:**Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman
 

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"Foolish modesty lags behind while brazen impudence goes forth and eats the pudding."

     Eleanor Brackenridge

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'Stella Bowen observed in her memoir: "Any artist knows that after a good bout of work,
one is both too tired and too excited to be of use to anyone. To be obliged to tackle other
people's problems, or merely to cook their meals, the moment one lays down pen or brush,
is intolerably hard... a man painter or writer always manages to get some woman to look after him...
since female devotion... is a glut on the market... A professional woman, however, seldom gets this
cushioning unless she can pay for it."'

from NY Times review of book:  Drusilla Modjeska. Stravinsky's Lunch -
"a study of two women painters and how they coped with the often conflicting claims of life and art."
 

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"When they were young, the women in my study heard the message they could do anything, but they weren't
necessarily offered the skills to do it.... Unfortunately, we tend to downplay our visions, dreams, gifts,
and talents. Why is it so hard for us to believe we are as competent as we truly are?"

 Alice Ann Rowe, Ph.D. - from her book: Where Have All the Smart Women Gone?
 

*related page:**self-esteem / self concept

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 "When a gifted young woman shies away from full development of her gift, we must ask why.
Why would someone leave an important resource untapped? We have looked for answers in education,
culture, economics, biology. We have found doors closed; opportunities lacking; society saying,
'Girls can't do that.' ... Why do we go along with status quo feminine roles? Why do we believe
the stereotypes?... We need to know how and why forces external to ourselves can squelch vital parts
of our true selves."

Carolyn Weyand, PhD in book Girls, Women and Giftedness

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"Be bold. I kiddingly say that I give chutzpah lessons. So much of this is about having the wherewithal
and the confidence to believe that you can do it. Women tend to spend way too much time preparing
instead of just winging it. And the fact is, we can succeed by just winging it. There are times when
taking a leap is better for you than taking another course."   Denise Brosseau

  cofounder: Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, about her "most basic message
  to first-time entrepreneurs" [fastcompany.com Dec.00]

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Linda Nochlin: "Thus women and their situation in the arts, as in other realms of endeavor,
are not a 'problem' to be viewed through the eyes of the dominant male power elite. Instead,
women must conceive of themselves as potentially, if not actually, equal subjects . . . Thus
the question of women's equality--in art as in any other realm--devolves not upon the relative
benevolence or ill-will of individual men, nor the self-confidence or abjectness of individual
women, but rather on the very nature of our institutional structures themselves and the view
of reality which they impose on the human beings who are part of them."

[from Linda Nochlin, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" ArtNews Jan. 1971: 22-39]
[NYU Professor of Modern Art]  [author: Women, Art, and Power]

  << related page: social reactions

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When she was young, her father did not allow Vera Wang to study fashion design,
saying it was "too frivolous." [CNN profile, Apr, 2000]

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Gloria Steinem : "I'm looking forward to trading moderation for excess,
defiance for openness, and planning for the unknown.... Once we realize
there is no such thing as adequacy or perfection, it sets us free to say:
'We might as well be who we really are.'"

from her book: Moving Beyond Words

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"I am blessed. ... I come from a place where I have been an original thinker,
and I won't let Hollywood dictate what is going to happen to me... [that] takes
a lot of thought and prayer and a lot of listening times. What I mean by that
is getting quiet by myself and making sure the voice I hear is my own and not yours."

  Dyan Cannon [America Online chat, May 18.99]

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After 28 years of marriage, during which she supported her husband through graduate school, raised two sons and worked as a writer, Cheryl Jarvis decided she could squelch her dream of escape from the daily rigors of family care-taking no longer. In 1996, the St. Louis-based freelance journalist, then 48, departed (with her husband's blessing) for a long-awaited sabbatical. Jarvis spent three months away... Upon her return, Jarvis was inspired to write "The Marriage Sabbatical" ... which asks the radical question: What happens when married women take some time and space away?

The answers are told through the solo journeys of 55 women: all educated, middle- to upper-middle classand ranging in age from 29 to 74. ... Many women said that they learned about self-reliance, resiliency and the deeper workings of the self. They rediscovered what they valued about their families. Perhaps most important, Jarvis said, she and many of the women returned with something more. "I came back with a commitment to honor my own needs."' from "Birds & Bees" -weekly column by Kathleen Kelleher   [LA Times 4/23/01]   **book:**Cheryl Jarvis.  The Marriage Sabbatical: The Journey that Brings You Home

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        << Resilience

Most, if not all, people have the capacity to be resilient, no matter how difficult the circumstances...
However , resilience [extraordinary competence] neither comes easily nor effortlessly. It requires
practice and persistence, the refinement of psychological attitudes and skills, the cultivation of
inner resources and the discovery, expression, and contribution of one's talents and gifts.

Yet for gifted women who seek to overturn the psychosocial, religious and historical forces
that limit all women's potential as persons and citizens, resilience is essential, however arduous
its achievement might be.

Resilience is not a static or unidimensional trait, but a trifold process of recognizing and resisting
the intrinsic and extrinsic obstacles that inhibit the development of one's potential and taking
responsibility for the evolution of ourselves, our cultures and our world. It takes tremendous
courage to live one's life from this perspective.... The road to resilience begins when a woman
confronts anything that disregards or denies her talents and gifts.

from book: Kathleen Noble , PhD. Remarkable Women - Perspectives on Female Talent Development

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[What obstacles do we create for ourselves and other women...?] Linda Ellerbee: "Lack of esteem and self-respect. Fear of success... low self-expectation levels, lack of assertiveness, lack of internal validation..of risk taking. The need to be perfect, or to do it all."  [Lifetime Women's Summit, 1997]   related article: Gifted Women: Identity and Expression

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In your scene visualize a pathway that leads from the distance directly to you.
You see a figure moving on the path, towards you. When the figure gets close
you notice the person is radiating wisdom, peace and love.

The face could belong to someone you deeply admire and respect, living or
passed on. Maybe it's an artist, a philosopher, a saint, or mystic. Or it could be
the face of someone you have not yet met on this plane. The face you see
could even be your own!

This person is here to guide you deeply into your own divine, creative self.
You are now going to ask her questions about your creativity, your work and
your life.

   Examples of questions could be:
What is my reason for wanting to create?
What is it I really want to accomplish? Why?
How does this serve my divine purpose here on earth?
What must I change about my thoughts and attitudes to help me live more creatively?
Can my gift make the world a better place? How?

from Accessing Your Creative Guide on site: womenscreativity.com

 

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"Do not doubt that you are born to create. Do not believe for a minute that the realm of art
belongs only to others... Find what brings you joy and go there. That is your place to create,
to move with the spirit, for the Muse lingers near the home of our joy."  Jan Phillips

...book: Marry Your Muse

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The Dance of Life - an excerpt from book: Strength of Character and Grace In my first week I was assigned to mop the main corridor [of an exclusive Catholic boarding school in El Salvador]. While I was waiting for inspection, the Mother Superior, Sor Maria del la Cruz, walked by. "Come here," she said. "Look at this floor and tell me what you see." I was sixteen years old, loving my life and very romantic. I promptly begain, "I see the reflections of the sky and clouds and the foliage of the trees..." "Look again."   Silence. She did the talking. "If you look at the floor carefully, you will see several dozen streaks you have made with your mop. There is an eight-streak maximum. You will have to do it again."

"Yes, Mother," I said. So I did it again. And again.  ...  I was taking famenco classes on the weekends, and I was very conscious of the constant movement of the dance. I tried to apply the same sense of rhythm to my mopping. ... I checked my work. No streaks. "How did you do it?" asked Mother Superior. "It is pefect." I showed her my flamenco-style mopping method. "This has never happened before. You have taken this to mastery. From now on," she declared, "you are the Master Mopper. I now give you responsibility to teach this to all the other girls. They will train the new ones next year. There will never again be streaks on this floor." This would be a pivotal moment in my life. The exhilaration of taking something to mastery awoke in my a great hunger to experience it over and over again everywhere I could. I did not know then that mastery is brilliance, but the appetite to taste it again opened a new world for me.... excerpt posted on JeffAndrus.com from book:  Strength of Character and Grace: The Courage to be Brilliant by Marta Monahan with Jeff Andrus

*related page:**the child self / playing

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Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi This book is about creativity, based on histories of contemporary people who know about it firsthand. It starts with a description of what creativity is, it reviews the way creative people work and live, and it ends with ideas about how to make your life more like that of the creative exemplars I studied.  There are no simple solutions in these pages and a few unfamiliar ideas. The real story of creativity in more difficult and strange than many overly optimistic accounts have claimed. [excerpt from the book]

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The Soul of Creativity: Insights into the Creative Process - by Tona Pearce Myers Assortment of essays offers personal stories about what creativity means to each of these renowned teachers, artists, and spiritual leaders. Don Campbell shows how attentive listening has fostered his creativity. Sark tells of her home's "Magic Cottage" (once a tool shed) where she writes all her books while lying on a futon mattress. Michelle Cassou speaks to her dream of "erasing the fine line between creator and creation." ... Five chapters: Brush with Inspiration, The Creative Process, The Dark Side, The Healing Power, and The Spiritual Practice.

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