How to turn the "pain you can't get rid of" into creativity
Plus: Are creativity and melancholy mysterious twins? What does the science say?
“Whatever pain you can’t get rid of, make it your creative offering.”
I first wrote about this idea in BITTERSWEET—the notion that your heartache can become the fuel for your creativity, your deepest work, your connection to others.
But how, exactly, does this transformation happen? Why have some of the greatest artists, poets, and thinkers been touched by melancholy? And might your own blue states of mind hold this power too?
Today, I’d like to share eight ways to turn pain into creativity (whether or not you happen to have artistic talents) — plus, what ancient philosophers and modern scientists have discovered about the bittersweet nature of art. (I’ll also tell you what the great musicians Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen have known, all along.)