I had just returned from a trip to the west coast and had fallen sick there and was tired and disoriented. Still, a friend’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to send her Suzhen Liu’s new book. “It will be good for her,” I told myself so I got up and headed to the post office. As I was at the check out counter one clerk said to the other, “Tomorrow is Valentine’s!” “Not my favorite day,” the other woman responded, “I date myself!”
Due to the trip and the illness I had completely lost track of Valentine’s. A look at my watch told me that I had exactly one hour to go to my favorite card store. Just enough to make it to Cambridge and back to pick up my wife from work, assuming I would find parking on one of the busiest streets in that town. Well, I did and picked out a nice card. I was thinking to myself how one act of kindness leads to the other, just as one creative act begets the next.
Have you ever observed how the ego works? The ego is just like tunnel vision. You zoom into the object or the person of your desire and you block out everything else that seems to distract from this goal. Love and creativity have just the opposite effect. With every net we throw out, the following aims branch out wider and further. The only catch is that you can’t plan or will yourself to be loving and creative. It has to be born out of the magic of the moment.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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