Embracing Challenges: A Philosophy for Artists and Creatives
In the four noble truths of Buddha, we learn that life is suffering. So, often to the point that we sometimes turn a bit negative and think of suffering as a form of normalcy in a career in the arts. It’s not. It’s an opportunity for growth and success.
If we follow the philosophy to its end, however, we learn that by accepting that we have chosen a challenging career, that nothing about it is easy or is going to be given to us, we can put our apprehensions at rest and move forward free of the negative emotions that hold back our creativity and our growth. This change of attitude and change of actions comes down simply to fortitude. We choose to accept rather than lament. We continue forward, knowing that there will be setbacks and failures. And because we are prepared for all of this, it is not a problem in our minds at all. We know what to expect. We get it. No surprises. We achieve so much more with incredible originality and free thinking because our emotions are aligned in expectation rather than apprehension, regret, or frustration.
Humans are tinkerers by trade and psychology. We love solving problems. Yet, when unexpected or unwanted issues occur, we forget our essential nature, which is – simply – to work it out. If we approached everything as an entertaining game, such as we would putting together a jigsaw puzzle, then life itself would be an entertaining game, and all that we are and all who we are would flow freely from us in positive energy that, for writers, finds itself on the page. We want to control. Badly. But we have no control, really. We have influence but no control. How we view a problem is how we will react to it. Keep life as a fun puzzle, even when life is unexpected. This is what creativity is all about.
Expected or not, it is problems that come upon us, or problems of our creating in the achievement of our goals, which give us the opportunity for growth. Instead of lamenting or grumbling, we should welcome these stressors, for within their conflict, we find our abstractions. Problems, if we wish to call them that, are the key to our success if we view them in the correct light, and, if we expect or reframe them, they lose their negative emotional charge because we expected them to arrive anyway as part of the puzzle game. We might, in time, knowing the greatness that these problems produce in their opportunity, look to welcome such problems, awake in the morning excited to solve them.
So, in this light, I’d like to offer an addendum to the four noble truths and say that success is suffering, happiness is suffering, just as life is suffering, for it is in the suffering that all the growth and wonderful things happen. Maybe we change the word “suffering” to “striving.” Welcome all parts of life into your day, reduce judgment from good and bad, fair and unfair, and simply “be,” and watch your creativity flow with the newfound freedom you might not have experienced before. When the perceived walls against the world come down, the individuality of the incredible you can likewise flow freely back out. Problems are opportunities for growth and success. Look at them this way and watch your life begin to flourish as you and your career are propelled forward with new opportunities. Welcome the hard stuff. You knew it wouldn’t be easy. Accept that fact and use it to your advantage.
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