Simplicity, Sylphs and Slogans. I have been trying to think, but things get in the way.

I really do not realize how scattered my thinking has become until I try to get into thinking about what I am trying to say or do, I am distracted, and then I come back, and I realize I am on autopilot.

I just have to write and do nothing else. You have to wait, sometimes, for the muse, or the call, and then, once she has summoned you, you really must channel her, or she is gone.

It is probably annoying for other people to wait, expect or plan on my writing as she comes, or they come, when they can, or do, and I am anxious to be summoned, to be led, to be able to voice what I will say, get the opportunity to be creative, create, make art.

Sometimes it is very frustrating and I try to write without her, but she is busy elsewhere and forgets her poor servant. Some people would call this having your finger on the pulse, then losing it. Finding it again is always difficult, but you must try, every day, to be ready.

Living in this world, without a benefactor or a paycheck, can make this process, or endeavor, nearly impossible. It is such a joy to find that silver-tipped tongue and to be able to write, be “in writing”, “in drawing” or “in dancing.” But, I love it, that is what I live for, to be inspired, to express.

It is like when you are at the ballet and fully engaged, then your body has to be controlled (from twitching) and remain glued to your seat, even (at my age) unable to chassee, plie and leap into freedom. As if I could, now, but, once I could, and I did, and until my children, there was no greater joy.

It is somewhere in that moment of dancing, you are lost, and if the foundation is there, and the music is playing, you are dancing, or drawing or making music, and you are in the moment and there is the opportunity for perfection, meaningful communication or expression and possibly, a masterpiece. But you have to feed the muse.

Perhaps there are obstacles in your path to the pursuit of excellence, whatever it is, too. Sometimes things work themselves out and sometimes they don’t, but it is not a mad rush to create, or should not be, but rather an underlying stream, or continuum on which you progress, almost at the same rate, and then you pop up again, into the light.

All along that continuum of life this happens. It does not mean that you are stopping, or have stopped, you are refueling (so to speak), or that another opportunity won’t come along, or a day in which you’ll get back, if you still need to, if you try.

It’s magic, if you believe. It means that even if you go under, briefly, take a dive, look for other things, you will pop up again, when you are ready for air, and be even better than ever.

Renewed.

More hungry, more honed, more intelligent, more informed, healed, rested, and imbued with a new found determination, and maybe with a better plan, for you. Art cannot be rushed-and either can training for ballet.

Opportunities, for whatever you love, do not cease to exist, because you take a hiatus, or sabbatical-you are improving yourself in other ways, or you can, if you try. You have to look for other ways to grow, improve your mind, your instrument, creative ways to succeed. Some people are capable of surfing, others are not, but there is always something to see, to feel, to hear, and to learn on a wave. The waves don’t stop in life, as you know, and life, unlike chess, is not over after “checkmate.”  What would the world be like, without a sea, and waves, allegory and art?

Happy New Year and Keep on Dancing!

More of Nickolay Krusser’s photographs can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/nikolaikrusser