Interviews with The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard)

Interview with Muse Song

Muse of Nurturing, Encouragement, and Good Company

By Molly Anderson-Childers & Jill Badonsky

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Muse Song, The Muse of Nurturing, Encouragement, and Good Company. She reminds us to reach out, to connect, and to ask for help when we need it most desperately. Sometimes, it’s a lonely life, being an artist. When the characters on the page start to seem more real than your family and friends, and your head won’t leave your head alone, it’s time to reach out. Call upon the Muses — or a good girlfriend — and get inspired together!

One thing I’m learning is that, as an artist and writer, community is very important to me. The society of these Muses — especially Muse Song — have been good company, but I’m also enjoying being part of a vibrant women’s writing group, an online community of artists, and meeting writing buddies for lunch! It’s amazing what we can do with a little help. I think that my main lesson in working with Muse Song has been this — my connections to the Muses, and to other artists and writers — are what truly fuel my creative fires!

Q: How is self-love and nurturing related to creative expression?

A: The art of self-nourishment has a profound effect on mortals’ creative productivity. Pampering has not gotten the attention and publicity it deserves since the days of Cleopatra. Both underrated and underused, the act of nurturing ourselves for the intention of self-expression is one of the secrets to an enchanting surge of creative brilliance. If we generously take care of ourselves, we will be more effortlessly inclined to want to express and share ourselves with others. If you are always verbally haranguing yourself, why would you want to share that beat up side of you with anyone? It seems that the harangued side is in control of our creativity and can shut down when it is not receiving compassionate care.

Q: What’s your favorite way to spoil yourself?

A: Since I'm a Muse I have a plethora of ways to answer this depending on my mood, my resources, the lighting and the fluency of pampering-ingenuity (p.i.) in the moment. Pampering can mean a massage, followed by a delicious facial, followed by a walk in an art gallery gift shop, giving myself $25 to spend however I like, and then dinner with friends who cook really well and adore me. Or it can be taking a nap.

I encourage mortals to ask themselves frequently, "How can I be kind to myself in this moment?" Even without the massage and the pasta with vodka sauce, in each moment there is a potential for self-kindness: a relaxing breath, an appreciative thought about who we are, shifting our position to a more comfortable one, removing ourselves from exposure to things that don't serve us, taking off a tight piece of clothing, hanging up the phone, saying no.

Finding ways to be kind to yourself energizes the part of you that is responsible for your creativity…and it wants to create in exchange for these acts of self-consideration. When you are inconsiderate and harsh with yourself, you can be sure you'll feel resistance to being creative. It's a Muse law.

Q: What is your most unusual, shocking, top-secret guilty pleasure?

A: Withholding juicy information about my guilty pleasures. And big girl underwear.

Q: What are some surefire ways that mortals can nurture their creative selves on a tight budget?

A: The best nurturing costs nothing. It is opening your heart to yourself, believing you deserve to spend time creating, paying attention to the joy possible in every moment, appreciating connections made to kindred spirits, accepting compliments, being authentically yourself. A gentle stretch, a cleansing breath, reframing fear to trust, reframing dread to eagerness, reframing your high school graduation photo, thinking up an idea and thinking about a time to play with it, laughing at yourselves and your species, eating a papaya. Buying a new pair of comfy socks doesn't hurt either.

Q: When in need of some creative, cuddly, nurturing energy, how can mortals summon Muse Song?

A: You can read quotes that nurture your spirit, allow yourself to indulge in your creative passion 3 times longer than you were planning, have the intention to be good to yourself so you can more easily plug into your higher purpose.

Undo your negative inner-talk. Surround yourself with people who inspire and support you. Support others. Stand for a cause, or, make a cause for celebration.

Q: What is the importance of the “Good Witch” for an artist?

A: In her book, The Captive Muse, Susan Kolondy explains that almost every individual who ventures into the creative realm is inflicted with voices that try to torment and discourage them. It is the successful artists, poets, writers, and expressers of creative passions that replace the critical, chiding or discouraging voices with voices that applaud, praise and encourage. We have that choice. The benevolent new voices come from mentors, teachers, or other guides from the creative individual’s past or present. And if encouraging voices cannot be recalled, successful artists invent them. Creating a new, reassuring voice to replace the inner-critic, will make the difference between quitting and triumphing.

My voice can replace the voices of discouraging fear, criticism and mockery. Learning to use the same nurturing voice for yourselves that you often use for others is a skill that takes practice and results in progress unequal to its effort. Find voices that work for you. Hear the benevolent voice in a form that comforts you. It could be an auditory visualization of a creative advocate, a friend, a mentor, from your past or present. If you choose to exercise the power of your imagination, your mechanism for encouragement could be a protective and nurturing image like an angel, a spirit guide, or a big Italian Mama showing pride in her offspring with grand gestures and gushing. Find what works for you, and make it a voice from the Spirit inside of you.

Q: What is the role of music in creativity? What is your favorite music to inspire, delight, and make you feel like dancing?

A: Music is creativity. Its very existence is proof that the human spirit in motion is capable of miracles. Listening to it also unleashes more creativity in the areas of writing, art, movement, film, and thinking. Music opens the doors to our deepest centers of imagination, gives us rhythm in our thinking, unearths stuck emotions that can then be melted into writing and art, and brings forth stories that might be hiding when there's no music. Music makes our bodies move and thus frees up creativity related to movement.

Muses like all kinds of music because variety's potential is inspiration in a creative myriad of ways….

Music can lure suppressed feelings out of hiding behind mortals' everyday default thinking, keeping them numb and distracted. Music can change a stuck mood to a mood that flows in verse and poetry, images and intentions, violet and peach. Music can connect you to yourselves others in a manner that's way more creative than when there's no music.

Q: Any last words of support and encouragement for our readers?

A: Develop an inner circle of your own creative angels: people who support, believe in and encourage you. If you don’t have these people, find them by taking classes or joining creative support groups and notice which people you gravitate towards. Wake up when you spot people who are encouraging to you and make an effort to bring them into your inner circle. Have a mutual admiration club. Find people who are easy for you to encourage and praise, as well.

Watch over your ideas until you feel strong enough to be undaunted in the face of anything from a questioning look to downright harsh criticism. Spend more time, thought and energy on the people who can see your brilliance and can encourage it.

And chill. •

You can chill 24/7 with Jill and the Nine Modern-Day Muses online, at www.themuseisin.com. Pick up a deck of Muse Cards, and take some inspiration home for tea; sign up for a free inspirational online newsletter; find out more about Jill’s upcoming projects and events; and check out other Muse Happenings! Stay tuned — next month I’ll be chatting with Spills, The Imp — Muse of Practice, Process, and Imperfection!

© 2010 Molly Anderson-Childers and Jill Badonsky. All rights reserved.

About the Author | More by Molly Anderson-Childers
Molly Anderson-Childers is a writer, artist, and creativity consultant living in Durango, Colorado. She's published work locally, nationally, and online and welcomes inquiries about freelance writing assignments. Learn more about Molly at her blogs: stealingplums.blogspot.com and addictivefiction.blogspot.com.

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