Schreckstoff etymology
"fright substance" or "scary stuff". A modified version of Schreck became a name you may recognize: Shrek
This recent google search about schreckstoff stemmed from a conversation about whether the sight of blood was an innate ‘fright substance’ to humans. I argued no, that the sight of blood may be surprising based on color and suddenness of appearance, but it was not inherently scary. Do you agree?
In The Artist’s Way, which I am currently reading, the importance of play as an essential practice for creativity pops up again and again. I was struck by the passage below from a different book, and how much it resonated with me.
“…I learned many things: that a childhood talent does not necessarily translate into an adult one; that your craft will die if you don’t nuture it; that your most profound thoughts seem shamefuly thin when they’re at risk of appearing on a page. Above all, I learned what happens when you turn away from play. The most beautiful reaches of you attention degrade within you, leaving behind a residue of bitterness and frustration. In playlessness, your adult self is not nutured, but strangled. And deep play — that play that connects across months and years, that fosters its own arcane missions, that delves into the minutiae of being — is hard to find again.
-Katherine May, from Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
This passage makes me think about how detrimental my fixation on work can be. My mind runs through work-related questions seemingly on loop: Am I working enough? Working ‘hard enough’? Producing a good enough product? Am I getting paid enough? Am I professional enough? Am I taken seriously? Am I respected? Am I balancing it well enough with the rest of my life? Blah blah blah. So much focus on WORK, and so much focus on ENOUGH.
What if I asked myself more often: Can I make this playful? What have I done today that was playful? What sounds fun and ‘pointless’ (read: low-stakes and not for any particular purpose)? Am I playing enough to stay connected with my inner child?
How I’ve been playing lately:
Recently finished: Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May
Currently reading: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (on week 11/12 of the 12 weeks of journaling)