think until you can think no more
i have this sentence from jonah lehrer’s "imagine: how creativity works" written down in my notebook:
this is glaser’s fundamental method: he thinks until he can think no more.
it describes milton glaser’s creative process. glaser doesn’t settle for the first idea or a surface level solution. he keeps pushing a concept from every angle. he questions it, refines it, breaks it down, and rebuilds it until he feels he has exhausted every possible thought about it.
this is something i practice too when i know something is bothering me but i can’t quite pinpoint what it is. i write down every thought, every emotion, every what, why, which, and how. you could call it a form of creativity as well, because you keep digging until you finally pull the hidden thought to the surface, and then come up with a creative way of dealing with it.
i noted the quote and then thought: what if living itself is an artistic practice?
artists spend a lot of time sitting with uncertainty. they get frustrated, start over, rethink things, and keep refining their work until something truthful appears. maybe we can do the same with ourselves. perhaps the most important artwork a person ever creates is her own life. and just like artists, we shape it through attention, revision, instinct, and countless small decisions made over time.