## Limitations are Creative Catalysts *Limits are boundaries that enable other immediate resources to become apparent.* Creating within your limitations means recognizing what’s more important: A) Using immediate resources to engage in creative process; using limits as creative stimulus rather than a creative stop sign B) The perpetual chase of “When I have this, I can finally do it” Recognizing limitations while using them to your advantage allows for being in the spontaneous flow of creativity by taking on circumstantial challenges and working within apparent compromises. These limitations cause us to seek out solutions and creative directions to which something [[more unpredictable can emerge]] in-line with present moment resources and in-tune with the momentary cosmic flow being tapped into, rather than waiting for the perfect moment in the future when you have everything you need to do it (by which time the flow may be very different). This need to have everything ready or replicate an unreachable standard stems from the persistent nag of perfectionism - wanting to make something that is so true to your vision, to your integrity, to who you are as an artist, or who you want to be as one. We want to say it all correctly, and we want to hit above our weight and make something that’s just a little beyond “good enough." Limitations give us permission to be messy. When we [[create with the resources at hand]] we begin to follow something that we're not even quite sure how it’s going to manifest in the end. We've begun to dance with the cosmic current. You’re now collaborating with this cosmic creative energy that does not care about comparison as much as you do. You’ve jumped onto the wave, caught the surf, and using whatever medium you have to follow a [[pure electric instinct]] MVP is a new acronym I've learn in the product development world which means -Minimal Viable Product. I think of it has asking myself, "what can you get up and running right now that still serves the purpose, still represents the essence I've come in contact with and want to express? The product might be compromised due to time, resources, uncertain choices that still need to be made but the essence is there. The purpose is there. Even the aesthetic is there. You haven’t lost the energy; you haven’t lost the impulse. Magic happens from the early iterations that inform a more complete rendition later on thta is often better, or more complete, than ever imagined. This can happen on whatever scale—whether you’re working on a single work of art or a song, a single piece of work that you can do in a day or a week or a moment, or a big business plan or a long-term project. **The point is: what can you get going?** How can you feed this energy, enliven it further, understand it better? That’s through the gradual creative flow that doesn't worry about what you don’t have right now, what you can’t do, what you need before you can even start. **Limits are catalysts.** You can impose random limits just for fun to work around like a game, like: only use circles, only write 500 words, it has to fit through a 30" doorway, the progression has to have an Eb7 in it. Then there are limits like equipment. Maybe you don’t have the microphone you need, or that musical instrument with the perfect resonance, or you haven’t taken that course yet, or you need to take another course on it. These are just ways to put it off and stay in the [[daydream of something rather than in the actual manifestation of it]]. We can daydream things perpetually, but if we really want to make those dreams tangible in the three-dimensional world... pull them out of the ether of imagination and make them real and shareable... so they can get feedback from other people, feedback from reality itself....like you’re [[giving form to some inter-dimensional being]], and that inter-dimensional being is this work of art... then you got to get with the process of discovery that happens when you *initiate creative action within the current circumstantial limits.*