/ Ruminations

Our Own Worst Enemy

From Jonathan Mead comes the question “why do we avoid doing what we love:”

When we create, we come alive; we’re making love to life. We use our unique talents, perception and skills and make the intangible tangible. Most of us generally know what we want in life. For every person, the answer to what brings us joy will be unique. For some it’s playing guitar or dancing. For others it’s writing, hiking, spending time with family, photography, or drawing.

So if we know what makes us feel alive, why do we resist it? Why do we avoid doing what we love to do?

[Motivation and Self Improvement | PickTheBrain]

I know that I experience this way more than I should . . . Knowing that I always feel better about myself and the world when I’m writing regularly and playing my guitar and making music, but somehow not doing those things enough or as often as I ought to. And maybe that’s the key, or at least one of the keys: I feel that I ought to be doing those things, that they are somehow an obligation instead of a pleasure, a fun and challenging opportunity. I think some of Mead’s explanations are overly simple, but he does provide a good starting place to begin thinking about why we might block our creative and/or joyful selves from emerging more fully or often.


On this day..