I woke up this morning giggling when a cosmic joke crossed my mind…
It’s that the harder you try to create something meaningful,
the more meaningless it becomes.
And that’s such a cruel joke we're trapped in!
Because the moment you “try” too hard you split the world in two.
There’s you: the controller, the fixer, the one who wants approval.
And there’s the art: something outside you that needs to be wrestled into shape.
That "split" is the problem.
Most people think their worst art comes from lack of skill.
It doesn’t.
It comes from the size of the gap between that split.
It comes from standing outside the work and asking:
“How do I make this better? How do I make this impressive? How do I make this worth something?”
It comes from trying too hard...
But great art is not constructed.
It's received.
At your best, you are not the creator, you are the instrument.
The work already exists as creative potential.
Your job is not to invent it, but to get out of its way.
A bird doesn’t try to sing beautifully.
It doesn’t evaluate its song.
It doesn’t compare itself to other birds.
It doesn’t wonder if its melody will be loved by others.
It simply sings…and the beauty is inherent in the act.
Singing is just what happens when breath moves through a bird.
And when you create at your best, that’s what’s happening to you.
The moment you stop trying to make meaning and instead let meaning move through you, the work stops feeling forced and starts feeling inevitable.
And this isn’t just how creation works. It’s how everything works.
Relationships fall apart when you try to control them.
Purpose disappears when you try to chase it.
Peace vanishes the moment you try to hold onto it.
Life, like art, only opens when you stop trying to dominate it and start moving with it.
This is why over-planning rarely produces truth. And why the work you make that feels too honest, too strange, or too unpolished is usually the work that matters most to you.
Because real art isn’t something you decide to make.
It’s something that asks to be made through you.
So when you’re creating and feel stuck, lower the effort to stop interfering.
Move toward the energy that feels alive, not what feels impressive.
And trust inevitability. Because the right move feels obvious after you make it, not before.
If you feel fear, awkwardness, or vulnerability…you’re close.
If you feel clever, safe, or polished…you’re probably performing.
There’s a time and place for both.
But if your goal it to create something meaningful….
The less you try to make meaning, the more meaning appears.
Because meaning was never something you had to create.
It was something you had to allow.
Stay creative,
