On Becoming an Artist Quotes

“No matter how proficient we are at what we do, most of us are able to find a way to draw comparisons with some ideal or existing yardstick that keeps us from recognizing the value of what we are doing.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“it’s the fear that their creative endeavors won’t live up to some external standard that keeps them from living a more creative life.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“We tend to overemphasize how a negative outcome will affect us. In reality, people are much more resilient than they realize, and “bad outcomes” often are not nearly as bad as people thought they would be. In short, we can take more risks knowing that our “mistakes” (if that’s even what they turn out to be) won’t be as negative as we imagine they will be.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“When we are first learning to do anything, we ought to expect to make mistakes and we should see our mistakes as steps along the way to competence.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“Mistakes are the portals of discovery. JAMES JOYCE”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“The most common reason we hesitate when presented with the opportunity to express ourselves creatively is our fear of other people’s negative opinions.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“Writing is finally a series of permissions you give yourself to be expressive in certain ways. To invent. To leap. To fly. To fall. SUSAN SONTAG”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“A painting is never finished—it simply stops in interesting places. PAUL GARDNER”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“most of us move through the day without recognizing the alternatives we have and actively deciding among them. As a result, we give up the feeling of control and mastery that would be ours were we to mindfully create options and then select among them. When we passively move through our day, we set ourselves up to feel like victims. All too often people feel as though they have no choice in situations where others, although no different except in their outlook, actively create their world. It’s a powerful advantage to feel in control, especially in the face of entirely new and different situations, where uncertainty is likely to be greatest. What is the difference between a guess, a prediction, a choice, and a decision? Each characterizes the same process of considering alternatives and selecting one, although a guess deems the affair unimportant, whereas a decision indicates that the outcome is grave. When we are aware that we don’t know how to choose or if we don’t really care what will happen or if we don’t want the responsibility for the outcome, we guess. “I guess I’ll take the prize hidden under the box on the left.” Consider how odd it would sound if one were to say, “Oh well, I guess I’ll get married” or “What the heck, I guess I’ll get divorced.” Our choice of words also clearly conveys an assessment”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“Put a frog into a pot of water and gradually turn up the heat. The frog will keep adjusting to the increasing temperature until, finally, it dies. Put a frog into a pot of boiling water, though, and the frog will immediately try to jump out of the pot. We too notice the difference when things change drastically.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“The reason to engage in any creative activity is that to do so is to feel alive and in turn to become enlivened.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“when the accomplishments of others seem attainable, they will inspire us; when they seem unattainable, they may be undermining.1”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“I am, instead, suggesting that we let rules and routines guide our behavior but question them as we find ourselves in new and different contexts.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“To not make a mistake we have to err on the side of caution and not try anything new. Such a life would be deadening, literally and figuratively. What’s more, we limit ourselves if we play it too safe.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“Rarely will we be able to make it just as we thought it would be. But by struggling to do so, we often miss what it is—or could have been—if we had just left it alone, without trying to fix our mistakes, and went somewhere new and off plan.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“If we don’t begin with a rigid plan, it is hard to make a mistake.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“to be positive would be to accept positive statements by others, that is, compliments, but as we’ve seen, to do so sets us up for negative punishment.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“It’s harder to begin something new if we focus on what it is going to be, and in doing so cut ourselves off from the possibilities that arise in the doing.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“As soon as we agree to accept a positive evaluation as reason to feel good about ourselves, however, we open the door for the damaging consequences of perceived failure.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. ALBERT EINSTEIN”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity

“If you don’t know where you are going, you keep doing something because you enjoy it. You keep doing it, making choices, and noticing the consequences until it’s pleasing to you and you want to stop.”
― Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity