“Creativity is getting inspiration and having that lightning bolt idea moment, and then having the hard work ethic to sit down at the desk and write it down.”
Taylor Swift, 73 Questions With Taylor Swift, Vogue
Author Archives: Tess Needham
Yellowstone National Park
The most amazing thing about Yellowstone National Park is its variety of incredible features in a relatively small area. In one day, it’s possible to see bison grazing in the valley, a huge canyon with stunning waterfall, bubbling mud pits, rainbow lakes, geysers, and more.
Monument Valley
Since being the location for many iconic scenes in movies, Monument Valley has long been a place I’ve wanted to see. Although the park was closed due to the pandemic, there are still amazing views to be seen from the road.
The Grand Canyon
In July 2021, I was lucky enough to take a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. It was an incredible way to experience it, giving perspective that is impossible to see from a lookout on the rim. A place that made me involuntarily gasp “Wow!”
Creativity and Flow
I came to Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, thinking that I already knew what it was.
A fairly dense, though canonical and oft-cited academic work on the psychology of the “flow state”: that rare, almost reverent state of creativity in which the practitioner is totally immersed in what they’re doing.
In this “flow state,” as I understood it, skills are perfectly matched with challenges, and a kind of elevated consciousness is achieved that borders on transcendence. I know this state intuitively; it’s what I often experience when “in the zone,” creatively speaking.
After reading the book, I realised that it covers a lot more.
Continue reading