Patti Smith was called the “high priestess of punk” in the 70s, but in a recent interview she admits, “I didn’t feel that I was growing as an artist at that point. All of my energy was being put into peripheral things – interviews and getting my picture taken. Constantly. And concerts and touring and [...]

In George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion” [and the musical “My Fair Lady”] Professor Henry Higgins claims he can transform Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a duchess.
Eliza realizes “the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves but how she’s treated.” [From article The Pygmalion Effect by Eric Garner.]
Dr. Robert [...]

Honestly looking at what we are on the inside, in our souls, is necessary for substantial personal growth and creative excellence. It is a hero’s journey and heroine’s journey, not to be undertaken without courage. What lies within us can be chaotic and threatening, at least until we know ourselves enough to embrace who we [...]

School can incubate our passions to achieve. Like these valedictorians. But it can also instill self-limiting patterns of thinking and behavior.
Robert Kiyosaki recalls his early school years: “Today I don’t use much of what I learned after the fifth grade. But that’s not to say school didn’t leave its permanent mark on me. The fact [...]

Making use of our talents and creative abilities depends on being relatively unhampered by constricting or distorting emotions, and gaining a more fluid and open awareness.
As writer Susan K. Perry, PhD notes, “I don’t believe that when you get into a creative place, you’re giving up thinking. You’re super-thinking — better and with more parts [...]