StevePavlina.com Podcast #020 - Creative Self-Expression (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

StevePavlina.com Podcast #020 - Creative Self-Expression

[SamBeaven]

Thanks Steve!

I think this is going to join How to Make Money Without A Job as one of my perennial bits of inspirational audio.

[rondon]

Out of curiosity, I checked out the wikipedia entry:
Pablo Picasso - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And this caught my eye:

He maintained a number of mistresses in addition to his wife or primary partner. Picasso was married twice and had four children by three women. In 1918, Picasso married Olga Khokhlova, a ballerina with Sergei Diaghilev's troupe, for whom Picasso was designing a ballet, Parade, in Rome. Khokhlova introduced Picasso to high society, formal dinner parties, and all the social niceties attendant on the life of the rich in 1920s Paris. The two had a son, Paulo, who would grow up to be a dissolute motorcycle racer and chauffeur to his father. Khokhlova's insistence on social propriety clashed with Picasso's bohemian tendencies and the two lived in a state of constant conflict. In 1927 Picasso met 17 year old Marie-Thérèse Walter and began a secret affair with her. Picasso's marriage to Khokhlova soon ended in separation rather than divorce, as French law required an even division of property in the case of divorce, and Picasso did not want Khokhlova to have half his wealth. The two remained legally married until Khokhlova's death in 1955. Picasso carried on a long-standing affair with Marie-Thérèse Walter and fathered a daughter, Maia, with her. Marie-Thérèse lived in the vain hope that Picasso would one day marry her, and hanged herself four years after Picasso's death.

[alpineboarder]

I've been an avid Steve Pavlina fan for a very long time, it's helped me get soooo far with so many aspects of my life. Because of his crystallized posted thought patterns as I like to call them, I've totally re-evaluated by life and goals. I used to be a computer science major doing it just because a) I was good at it and b) because my parents said it would be safe and make me good money to retire. My true passion has always been filmmaking though, and until I came across Steve who introduced me to all this new thinking, I totally ignored it as only a far off commonly held dream. But now I am going to show the world that when you drop everything you have and follow your heart, amazing things do happen! I'm currently going on a nationwide tour to promote my self written, directed, acted, and edited feature film that me and my life-long friend made with only 500 dollars!!!!!!! I have a hard time believing it still, but the power of self and the laws of attraction can accomplish amazing things! I hope someday I can be a shining beacon for others like Steve has been for me. Thanks a bunch Steve and I promise when I'm rich and famous I'll be donating quite a hefty sum of energy to you!!!

If anybodys interested in checking out the finished product of my intentions and dreams you can see the movie trailer at The Official Gallstone Website! - (www.thegallstone.com). It's a quirky medieval comedy, I promise you guys will love it!

Follow your dreams!
-Dominick John

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by alpineboarder

I've been an avid Steve Pavlina fan for a very long time, it's helped me get soooo far with so many aspects of my life. Because of his crystallized posted thought patterns as I like to call them, I've totally re-evaluated by life and goals. I used to be a computer science major doing it just because a) I was good at it and b) because my parents said it would be safe and make me good money to retire. My true passion has always been filmmaking though, and until I came across Steve who introduced me to all this new thinking, I totally ignored it as only a far off commonly held dream. But now I am going to show the world that when you drop everything you have and follow your heart, amazing things do happen! I'm currently going on a nationwide tour to promote my self written, directed, acted, and edited feature film that me and my life-long friend made with only 500 dollars!!!!!!! I have a hard time believing it still, but the power of self and the laws of attraction can accomplish amazing things! I hope someday I can be a shining beacon for others like Steve has been for me. Thanks a bunch Steve and I promise when I'm rich and famous I'll be donating quite a hefty sum of energy to you!!!

If anybodys interested in checking out the finished product of my intentions and dreams you can see the movie trailer at The Official Gallstone Website! - (www.thegallstone.com). It's a quirky medieval comedy, I promise you guys will love it!

Follow your dreams!
-Dominick John

Dude, that's awesome! I have been telling people for a long time now that one day I'm going to be making movies. It's not the right time yet, as I'm currently enjoying expressing myself by other means, but seeing people like you out there is such an inspiration.

Is there an option to purchase the movie and watch it online, kind of like "The Secret"? BTW, did you go to film school? When the time is right, I was thinking about going to film school. I live in Vancouver, and we have a film school here that I think is pretty good. A lot of hollywood movies film in vancouver so that industry is quite developed here.

[seeker5]

yay another podcast!

[alpineboarder]

Originally Posted by impaul99

Dude, that's awesome! I have been telling people for a long time now that one day I'm going to be making movies. It's not the right time yet, as I'm currently enjoying expressing myself by other means, but seeing people like you out there is such an inspiration.

Is there an option to purchase the movie and watch it online, kind of like "The Secret"? BTW, did you go to film school? When the time is right, I was thinking about going to film school. I live in Vancouver, and we have a film school here that I think is pretty good. A lot of hollywood movies film in vancouver so that industry is quite developed here.

No but I'm definitely looking into it!!! I was contemplating that actually a while ago but wasn't sure how to go about it, guess nothing a little googling cant solve . For now it's just me mailing them out via paypal, but i'll let you know asap!

Actually I never went to film school other than a video production class in a local college, so I pretty much taught myself everything through experience. I've found that when you go out and learn something on your own you have 100 times more passion behind finding all the details out! I used to intern at MTV and whenever I told everyone my dream was to be a filmmaker, they all scoffed and said that they went to film school and look where they are now, copying tapes in a dark room! So instead I took all the money I would have spent on college and I'm putting it away to promote and make my own films in the future. Having a film school on your resume is great, but having 10 of your own self produced films with money is even better! Not to mention all the publicity you can get entering festivals. But alas, to each his own. That's just my perspective for where my path is going in life.

Either way you're totally right, timing is everything. Making sure you take care of all your desires separately giving each the attention it deserves, and not spreading yourself to thin produces works of art and wonder .

[impaul99]

"If you're experiencing a state of financial lack right now, it simply means you're taking value than you're giving. Spend more time in that state of creative expression, expressing who you really are, sharing that with others, and you'll find it's very easy to meet your needs.

This doesn't necessarily mean working harder.

This doesn't necessarily mean working smarter, either.

It just means working with greater alignment, such that your career becomes an expression of who you are. And if your career is NOT an expression of the very best parts of yourself, you're going to have a hard time achieving abundance for yourself though honest means. Because you're not sharing the very best of yourself with the world."

Absolute gold Steve. Absolute gold.

"If they see me happy, that will be enough."

Spoken like a true selfworker. Absolute gold!

[Andrew Brunelle]

All I have to say is, "Wow--synchronicity!" I was just having a conversation with a family member today about this exact topic about how I want to change my major in college to something that "flows naturally to me." Great podcast, Steve.

it took you awhile to crank out another one of these things, but I will have to say that it was well worth the wait. Bravo.

It's not about the money. It truly is about the joy. This is why we all need to embrace our true purposes.

[Savage]

Can't say I did anything unusual for this podcast, although I've been wanting to do one on this topic for several weeks. This was unscripted except for a basic handwritten outline, so I was mostly speaking off the cuff. The only scripted part was the Picasso quotes.

[ellie]

Brilliant!

Timely post. I just replied to the "negativity" thread a few days ago before listening or seeing the podcast- Negativity
and have come to the conclusion of what you just spoke about.

You always seems to write the things I need to hear at the right time, that is something you should be really proud of Steve.

Thanks

[apwbd]

I recently read "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. The character of Howard Roark seems to me a great example of a person who puts create self-expression above all else. However, most parts of Rand's philosophy of objectivism seem fundamentally different from the ideas Steve puts forth. For example, she is for objective reality, rejects putting faith (and perhaps intuition) above reason, argues for selfishness above selflessness, says that man should be an end unto himself, and is against altruism. While all this seems totally "wrong", the Roark character himself didn't seen anti-social to me. He does what Steve says in the podcast: focuses solely on the heart, and simply does not bother about the rest. The other areas of his life do get balanced, but he does not consciously try to do anything about it.

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by apwbd

I recently read "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. The character of Howard Roark seems to me a great example of a person who puts create self-expression above all else. However, most parts of Rand's philosophy of objectivism seem fundamentally different from the ideas Steve puts forth. For example, she is for objective reality, rejects putting faith (and perhaps intuition) above reason, argues for selfishness above selflessness, says that man should be an end unto himself, and is against altruism. While all this seems totally "wrong", the Roark character himself didn't seen anti-social to me. He does what Steve says in the podcast: focuses solely on the heart, and simply does not bother about the rest. The other areas of his life do get balanced, but he does not consciously try to do anything about it.

THat is why I said:

"If they see me happy, that will be enough."

Spoken like a true selfworker. Absolute gold!

Steve has realized that even if his work didn't contribute to the world, but it made him absolutely happy, that would be enough. Because if you make yourself happy, that's contribution enough. Pardoxically, the more happy you make yourself, the more you contribute to the world anyways. We're just wired that way.

[Adelina]

Originally Posted by impaul99

THat is why I said:

Steve has realized that even if his work didn't contribute to the world, but it made him absolutely happy, that would be enough. Because if you make yourself happy, that's contribution enough. Pardoxically, the more happy you make yourself, the more you contribute to the world anyways. We're just wired that way.

I think that, we should keep an eye both our own happiness, our own self-actualization, AND the actualization of humanity. They can go hand in hand, but the strongest contributions can synergize those two elements. You become one with spirit of humanity, and your self expression and actualization helps the rest of society as well.
Often these will go together, not always necessarily the case at first, but if you sharpen your objectives and values, and get your work into line with both what makes you happy AND the rest of society, you have the strongest contribution there.

Originally Posted by apwbd

I recently read "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. The character of Howard Roark seems to me a great example of a person who puts create self-expression above all else. However, most parts of Rand's philosophy of objectivism seem fundamentally different from the ideas Steve puts forth. For example, she is for objective reality, rejects putting faith (and perhaps intuition) above reason, argues for selfishness above selflessness, says that man should be an end unto himself, and is against altruism. While all this seems totally "wrong", the Roark character himself didn't seen anti-social to me. He does what Steve says in the podcast: focuses solely on the heart, and simply does not bother about the rest. The other areas of his life do get balanced, but he does not consciously try to do anything about it.

again, this is often, but not always the case-
when you're sharpening your objectives and deciding what is the best medium to channel your energy to the world, you should know what both makes you happy AND makes the greatest positive contribution to the world.


You can have the 4 areas in positive territory, but not be making a positive contribution to society.
For instance, there are plenty of artists and creatives who think that making negative or violent art is the best outlet for them, because it makes them feel better and because it sells. This satisfies their house- wealth is made, heart- they feel good with this psychic release, mind- they have the skills to do so, and spirit- creative expression, though with a limited perspective.

Think for instance about the movie industry. There are plenty of successful hollywood movies centred on low consciousness and violence. The production of these movies makes the producers happy because it sells to millions, they get critical acclaim within their creative circle, and they make money from it.
But this is a short-sighted kind of happiness, which does not ultimately contribute positive value to society.


To remedy this, add the 5th category- societal actualization- see your work from the top down- do that which makes you happy, AND contributes positive value to the greatest number. If everyone in the world acted with the kind of values that your work displays, would the world be a better place?
To make a truly valuable contribution, you must look both at your own happiness and actualization, AND that of society.

[yeikow]

Steve, congratulations.

You have made tremendous progress in the sound of your voice.

This podcast sounds way better than the previous ones. The pace is also a lot more natural.

Listening to your message is now not only interesting but also enjoyable

[yinhong]

What a moving experience. Normally inspiration reigns over me after I've read a Steve Pavlina article; but this experience was unique. It resonated with me to the point where I suddenly found myself in tears, around the part where Steve starts talking about joy without the money, talent or contribution. I'm quite a sensitive, empathic person usually but I never thought I would cry over 'just' a podcast.

It was an unusual crying experience i.e. I wasn't crying because I was sad. Whilst I was crying I didn't have any sad thoughts. In fact, I remember thinking to myself, "This is really odd. Why am I suddenly crying? My life is pretty good at the moment.". I couldn't help it. I think the act of crying was actually my true self yearning to be in balance in the four quadrants.

The podcast really made me think about what I'm doing (University student studying for a Computer Science degree), and why I'm doing it. I don't know for certain yet what my true values are, I just know that this podcast has made me realise that I don't want to go into a career where I'm motivated solely by money. Its clear to me that I need to discover what my personal values are but I don't know how. I'm worried that if I don't clarify what my heart really wants, and soon, then I'll just end up numbing the experience out and forgetting its yearning.

One odd thing I noticed: normally when I'm listening to an audio file, especially a spoken podcast, during the podcast, something triggers off a thought. During the moments when this thought is running through my mind, I find that I can concentrate only on that thought; Its like inside my head the audio file's volume has been turned down and my thought volume turned to max. This happens in a lot of scenarios like working whilst listening to music, listening to other audio programs, when watching tv etc. However, during this podcast I found myself again thinking about other things but oddly I realised that I was, at the same time, still able to completely listen and take in every word that Steve was saying.

[supertom]

I have to say that this is my favorite SP article/podcast. Its flows smoothly, and it inspires.


I also have to ask did steve use a program or training to improve his voice ???

[Jonathan Mead]

This is my favorite podcast by far. If I could only choose one of Steve's podcasts to recommend to someone, this would be it.

Great work Steve, I'm sure you inspired many people (including me) with this podcast. =)

[Paul C]

I also remember this podcast being a favorite of mine as well. And seeing this thread again reminds me to listen to it again. See if there's something that I would understand differently this time around.

[davidtopi]

This is my first post, and it could not be a better one for me. It has been long time trying to put in words what I thought I had to do with my life, and it has been after listening to the podcast and doing a serious meditation about each of the four areas that I have come to something really nice for me, a kind of a purpose long time searched.
Maybe it is not relevant, but I just wanted to share what it has come directly from my heart and that it resonates perfectly with me:
"Help others achieve their goals by explaining, directing, mentoring, leading, coaching and advising…

by learning, discovering, reading and teaching to improve my skills and knowledge…

using one to one coversation, public speaking and writing….

in a way that I contribute to the world by inspiring others to create what they want, and achieve what they wish, motivating and guiding the people in their activities."

thanks Steve for the inspiration! :-)

[garym]

Thank you Steve for an inspiring message, I really needed to hear that at this time. Ever since reading The Alchemist, I've been wanting to pursue my purpose, and have a passion for life rather than just living.

My dilemma is that I don't know what I want. I really have little I desire or am passionate about. My whole life seems to be just going through the motions. I read and listen to a lot of personal development audio, books, and articles, yet am not really driven to totally follow through with most of it. I'll get a little bit of initial enthusiasm in something, such as going to the gym, and then quickly find that I don't care. I want to care, but I find nothing much to truly care about.

So, how do I actually find that place of creative self-expression? What can I do to get on the road of passion?

[Andrew Brunelle]

I love it when I get in these flow states, be it writing, thinking, or performing comedy, it is something that is unmistakable. One problem I'm having, however, is it seems like I have too many passions. I like to write, speak, perform comedy, nutrition, and I'm also getting deep into Zen right now. They say the jack of all trades is a master of none, so if I can find a way to align all these interests into one career, I think I could be on my way. I just need to listen for the answer. Time will tell, I know, and these podcasts/articles help to clarify. All I really need to do is be myself and get paid for it. Wish me luck

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

I love it when I get in these flow states, be it writing, thinking, or performing comedy, it is something that is unmistakable. One problem I'm having, however, is it seems like I have too many passions. I like to write, speak, perform comedy, nutrition, and I'm also getting deep into Zen right now. They say the jack of all trades is a master of none, so if I can find a way to align all these interests into one career, I think I could be on my way. I just need to listen for the answer. Time will tell, I know, and these podcasts/articles help to clarify. All I really need to do is be myself and get paid for it. Wish me luck

I just launched my blog which will pretty much help people like you make money do what you love. It's called Inspired Money Maker. It might help you out a bit once I get all these articles in my head typed up. I'm a scanner just like you so I know exactly what you mean about the "jack of all trades" problem.

[uberinquisitive]

Steve, this podcast contained some of the most practical bits of info I've EVER received.

I've used the "do what you love and the money will follow" argument before, but I secretly believed it was just self-motivating hype. This podcast very clearly laid out the reasoning, and basically squashed all the "yea, but..." arguments I had been harboring for years.

On top of that, I could feel the conviction in your voice. That made a big difference for me. The way the words flowed out, how ideas were expressed with such clarity and authenticity - I needed that to smoke bomb out all the remaining cockroaches in my beliefs.

This podcast, plus the courage article, have been extremely helpful. Thank you.

[Douglas Eby]

Thanks for a stimulating reminder that we can creatively express multiple talents through many different forms. And within many time frames.

In her article What is a Scanner?, Barbara Sher writes about people who "love to read and write, to fix and invent things, to design projects and businesses, to cook and sing, and to create the perfect dinner party. (They don’t love to do one thing or the other; they love them all.)

"To Scanners the world is like a big candy store full of fascinating opportunities, and all they want is to reach out and stuff their pockets."

But, she warns, "Scanners are starving in the candy store. They believe they’re allowed to pursue only one path. But they want them all. If they force themselves to make a choice, they are forever discontented."

[supertom]

im sooo a scanner, glad i found that article, i think the best thing for me to do is to have financial freedom, do i can persue other things, like for one, i love to study specific cities,(dont know what the field is called) and i awnt to spend like a year living in different cities that would be cool