Big Magic Review
I remember
when I read Eat Pray Love. It changed my life. As it did for many others. The
book that made Elizabeth Gilbert famous sold over 13 million copies worldwide. And
like most others I wondered how as a writer she would triumph that.
In Big
Magic she teaches us how sometimes it’s okay not to triumph anything but to
pursue on in the light of creativity. In any field this would give you great
solace to know that sometimes your biggest success may never be repeated. But
that doesn’t mean you stop creating. Big Magic is a non fiction book written to
help you develop your creative ideas to the best of your abilities.
Gilbert has
pearls of wisdom for all those who want to do something creative but were never
able to take that first step. From overcoming your fear in beginning a task to
being relaxed enough to be open to ideas that she so vehemently believes are
galloping towards us but we are too lazy to recognise or capture, to working
with a stubbornness even when people want to `stick you into boxes.’
Big Magic is
the coming together of ideas and intention, of overcoming fear and enveloping
enchantment, of persevering and trusting yourself, the Universe and finding
perspective, of not being daunted by people and finishing a creative product
you started.
As Gilbert
writes, creative living can be anything from ice skating to writing, to
painting to doing something that you’ve always wanted to do but never thought
you could because it didn’t make sense. She speaks of how creativity should
never be equated with money or success. And that it requires great sacrifice
while keeping a safety net of a bank balance in mind.
Big Magic is
the kind of book that helps you start when you don’t know how and what to say
to people when they think you’re crazy for starting it. As a nonfiction self-help
book, Big Magic pushes people to wonder more and quit less.
But I wonder
if Elizabeth had not had the success of Eat Pray Love (a title used on the
cover of this book to probably make it sell more copies) would she write on
trusting the faith of creativity. There are too many struggling, creative
people in the world who do capture ideas, and never give up and yet haven’t
found the success that she did.
It is easy to say not to strive for it once you
have it. Would she have written this book before Eat Pray Love sold thirteen
million copies?
And then I
wonder if this book would be picked up by people who have already chosen non-
creative fields and are happy in their worlds. It’s a fantastic read for an
author like me who has Writer’s Block occasionally.
But then I realise that
this book is not just for the already creative, it’s Gilbert’s way of making
everyone creative. And that’s the triumph and success of this book.
As she
says, “We all need an activity that is beyond the mundane and that takes us out
of our established and limiting roles in society. By absorbing our attention
for a short and magical spell, it can relieve us temporarily from the dreadful
burden of being who we are.”
Buy it here and give it a read if you're looking to be inspired and move out of your dead zones! http://www.flipkart.com/big-magic-creative-living-beyond-fear-english/p/itme4jbezjkghg69?pid=9789384898991&ref=L%3A4852034096097345743
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