[Today’s post is part of a new series of short parables about the creative life, chosen from my almost forty years as a creativity coach. Please enjoy! To be in touch, you can reach me at [email protected]. To subscribe to my Craft of Coaching weekly newsletter, please visit here. To subscribe to “Tales of the Creative Life,” please visit here.]
Lydia, who had once played the clarinet professionally and now composed electronic music, spent her days toiling away as a personal assistant to a digital nomad. But she still got a little composing in; and one evening, she invited her friend Maryanne over to listen to her latest five-minute electronic composition.
“It’s meant to invoke a rainy day in the forest,” Lydia said proudly. She commenced to play the piece on her computer.
Maryanne listened thoughtfully. When the music had ended, Maryanne said, “It sounds to me like the theme music from a mafia movie.”
Lydia, rocked to her core, said nothing.
“Not that I don’t like it!” Maryanne added hurriedly. “It’s just … it sounds like The Godfather to me. Oh, and I love The Godfather!”
“Well, of course,” Lydia said after a moment, “everyone hears what they hear.”
“Exactly!” Maryann exclaimed, feeling that she had been let off the hook. “Exactly! Everyone hears what they hear!”
Lydia, now feeling unwell, cut the visit short. The next morning, she tried returning to her composing. But she found that she couldn’t. She’d had some exciting ideas for her next piece, a companion to her rainy-day piece, but now she felt nothing, heard nothing, and cared for nothing.
After a bit, Lydia’s muse arrived uninvited. “Feeling down?” the Muse inquired. “Maryanne’s opinion knock you for a loop?”
“How could she hear Mafia theme music?” Lydia replied, shaking her head mournfully. “I mean, Mafia theme music?”
“Maybe everything sounds like Mafia theme music to her.”
Lydia brightened. “Maybe so!”
“But that isn’t the point,” the Muse scolded. “Not at all.”
“The point?”
“The point is that someone’s casual opinion rocked you. That will not do. That is a deal-breaker. Unacceptable.”
“Opinions matter,” Lydia replied huffily. “They carry information.”
“Bah, humbug!”
“Bah, humbug?”
“Do you know how many artists I’ve known who were flummoxed by some opinion? Millions! Billions! Trillions!”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“I’m annoyed. What if your music had reminded her of pickle juice? Or daffodils? Or a rocket launch? I’m sorry … you don’t understand friendship.”
Lydia felt tears welling up. “Maryanne and I have been friends for years.”
“Not Maryanne! I mean friendship with your music! You loved that piece … and then zap! No more love. No more friendship. Just like that.”
“You’re pretty unpleasant,” Lydia said through her tears.
“Muse is not derived from amused,” Lydia’s Muse said, rising. With that she floated away, hoping against hope that she had provoked Lydia to never again trust another person’s opinion over her own.
**
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Eric Maisel is an internationally-respected diplomat coach who specializes in creativity coaching, existential wellness coaching, and relationship coaching. He trains coaches and provides workshops and webinars nationally and internationally.
Dr. Maisel is the author of 50+ books, writes the “Rethinking Mental Health” blog for Psychology Today (with 3.5 million views), blogs for The Good Men Project and Fine Art America, serves as lead editor for the Ethics International Press Critical Psychology and Critical Psychiatry series, and is co-founder of Purposely, the life navigation app.
Dr. Maisel’s books include Fearless Creating, Rethinking Depression, Coaching the Artist Within, The Van Gogh Blues, The Power of Daily Practice, Redesign Your Mind, and scores of other titles. He has been published by Penguin Random House, McGraw Hill, Rodale, Harper San Francisco, Shambhala, New World Library, and Conari/Mango, among many others.
Dr. Maisel has created three certificate programs with Noble-Manhattan Coaching, a Creativity Coach Certificate and Diploma Program, an Existential Wellness Coach Certificate Program, and a Certified Relationship Coach program. With Lynda Monk of the International Association for Journal Writing, Dr. Maisel has created an Art of Journal Coaching Self-Study Plus program.
Dr. Maisel’s most recent books are Why Smart, Creative and Highly Sensitive People Hurt (2023), Affirmations for Self-Love (with Lynda Monk, 2024), Parents Who Bully (2024), and Choose Your Life Purposes (2024). Dr. Maisel lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and maintains a thriving international coaching practice.
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This Post is republished on Medium.
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