In terms of maintaining a positive outlook and productivity with our creative efforts we can tend to get discouraged when things don’t go well.

We may lose confidence in our imaginative and artistic abilities.

We may lose sight of the fact that the path to our previous creative successes was not necessarily an easy one; in fact it was most likely difficult.

Philosopher and social commentator Eric Hoffer reminds us of this:

“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.” (1)

(1) Eric Hoffer, Reflections on the Human Condition, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1973

Dennis Mellersh