Alan
Cohen's Frozone  Posted
Jun-21-2005
I ran across an interesting article by Alan Cohen
in the June 2005 print issue of The Monthly Aspectarian titled "Stay
Out of the Frozone."
"Frozone" is Cohen's wordplay combination of frozen and zone;
his definition noted in the first paragraph: "If you do
something that gets you into the Zone and you cling to that
behavior beyond the time it is ripe, you end up frozen in the
Zone, trapped, we might say, in 'the Frozone.' "
To illustrate the point, one of Cohen's examples was of a
woman he met at a conference in the nineties. She introduced
herself to the group and "identified herself as the writer
of a hit song from the sixties." He wondered if she had
done anything else during the last thirty years or if she was "fixated
on an identity that brought her fame and glory a long time
ago." If so, Cohen tags her as someone trapped in the
Frozone.
The encouragement in this article was towards *not* getting
stuck in the Frozone by clinging to past successes or by creating
your identity out of them. The advice was to be progressive
and keep moving forward — not being afraid of trying
or accomplishing new, unexpected things. Even if they never
measure up to the success of a one-hit-wonder.
Two more of Cohen's thoughts on creativity really spoke to
me, and I find them quoteworthy affirmations for living a progressively
creative life. One is:
Truly creative people care a little about what they
have done, and a lot about what they are doing. Their driving
focus is the life force that surges in them now.
I've often wondered if my own "moving on" after
finishing a creative project should be a place of concern.
It's not that I'm always looking for the next best thing and
forsaking the NOW. I relish and enjoy the fruits of my labor
and affirm my creative genius <grin> with plenty of self-rewarding
pats on the back.
But once a creative process cycle has served me well, I always
feel the urge to move on. To forwardly progress. To experience
another new thing or manifest a new idea. It keeps me motivated
and excited in life. My wheels are always turning and I have
scraps of jotted notes all over the place to prove it.
Occasionally I have creative droughts and flashes of fear
that "I'll never be creative again." That usually
balances out again after I stock my creative pond or attend
to other deficiencies occurring in my life. (I really wanted
to write that word as deFISHencies after the pond-stocking
thought. See, my wheels are ALWAYS turning.) <>>>><
Secondly, if you ever fear that your creativity will dry up
once your "best" ideas have been manifested, Cohen
shares this comforting visual that I loved:
Will you ever run out of creative ideas and expressions?
Ha! The more creative ideas you have, the more you will discover.
Creativity is a tree with countless branches that never stop
blossoming.
If you've ever been in your non-Frozone, you know that's the
truth. (© 2005 Chris Dunmire) • |
