My Best Work
The goal of my art is not perfection. The goal is to share who I am and how I see the world.
This is a loose paraphrase of a few lines I recently read in Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being.
His words couldn’t have come at a better time. I used to think that my art, my music, would evolve and get better and more perfect with each song. But today I was reminded that isn’t how it works.
As I was recording a few tracks to send to the sound engineer yesterday, I realized that although I have more tools, more knowledge, and more layers of experience, it doesn’t make what I write today better that what I wrote 20-30 years ago. It’s just different, that’s all.
Every song is my best work at the moment it was created. So even though the song I recorded today may be more polished, more commercial, more this or less that, in reality, it’s just a snapshot of who I am and how I see things today, a short chapter in an epic novel. Tomorrow I will show up as a different person creating a different piece of art.
Last night, Mickey and I went to watch some new friends of ours play a show. As we stood at the merch table talking about common threads including friends, places, and pets someone asked which CD was the best (there were about six or so different ones to choose from.) My friend just smiled and said they’re all the best.
As artists, as human beings, our best work isn’t yet to come. It’s here and now. It’s everything we’ve ever brought into the world that wasn’t here before — whether it be a kind word, a delicious meal, a song, or a million things in between. Our lives are a perpetual love offering of ourselves through various forms of self-expression.
Today, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for every person, animal, and incredible display of nature that has ever inspired me. Sometimes it was as simple as a smile or an encouraging word. Other times it was a poem, a song, a musical performance, a line in a movie, a funny story…oh my, this list could go on forever. What I’m trying to say is that gifts of inspiration are everywhere, and it’s a collaboration that makes me want to show up everyday and express myself with a new work of art — maybe I’ll make pancakes, maybe I’ll write a letter, or maybe I’ll create some space to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, a precious gift on this winter day in February. Whatever I choose to create will be my best work. It’s my gift to you, and me.
