“It was possible that he could care passionately about only one thing at a time. Or that he needed only one passion to feel order and purpose in the universe. But I had difficulty believing that birds and music were just transposable distractions, simple ways of "passing the time," as the musician was now explaining to me. Were they really just different but equal forms of "anti-death medicine"? Was that really what he believed? That our primary impulse in life was to fill the holes left by being human, to divert ourselves from life's central sadness? Did he not need music and birds for reasons beyond solace?” LifeArtPassion Book:Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation Source: Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation
“Or maybe I discovered something more fundamental: worry is a constriction. A mind narrows when it has too much to bear. Art is not born of unwanted constriction. Art wants formless and spacious quiet, anti-social daydreaming, time away from the consumptive volume of everyday life.” LifeArtCreativityWorryAnxietyMindfulness Book:Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation Source: Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation
“If you pour everything into the tiny vessel of a song and wear out your heart, what is that? Is that small or big? If you choose to put yourself out there on a small stage, singing for the small somebody inside of you, knowing how quickly songs wane, is that modest or gargantuan?” ArtProcessMusicEgoPerformanceSmallness Book:Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation Source: Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation
“The birders I encountered in books and in the world shared little in common except this simple secret: if you listen to birds, every day will have a song in it.” LifeArtSongBirds Author:Kyo Maclear
