Learning important lessons about life on the Playa.

Oh hai!

Today I was chatting with a dear friend about something that happened to me and he said "are you going to blog that?"  See what he did there?  He pointed out something insightful and important that I had totally not seen as blog fodder.  It pays to surround yourself with amazing creative people.  

So.  I am on the Burn2 Art Committee.  The whole experience is something I would like to write about but I probably won't for some time.  For now, I will say Burn2 is shaping up to be a lot of fun and I strongly suggest you head over there and look at the builds and participate in the event when it opens to the public on October 1st.  Read more about Burn2 Rites of Passage here.  I will try to write more about Burn2 over the coming weeks, but given my blogging performance of late I make no promises.

As part of the Art Committee I was asked to create a gift for people who come.  The concept of gifting is one of the 10 core principles of Burning Man, which Burn2 follows.  Please do read about 10 principles here, as it will give you a good understanding of how Burn2 is different from any other SL art and community event. There is a definite philosophy and while it is not one that comes naturally to me, I have been personally challenged to think about things by participating in Burn2.

Which brings me to the experience my friend quietly suggested is blogworthy.  So I was at the Art Committee plot on the playa and I was rezzing various things I have made over the years to see if anything struck me as a good gift for visitors.  One of the super amazing Rangers stopped by and we were chatting so I asked her "is this good enough to be a gift?"  This is where the story gets interesting.  She said to me "Chestnut I don't think you should hold your gift up to some false standard of what is good enough.  The important thing is the act of giving."  cartoon....car.......screech.  I stare at her blankly and for the first time since I have been involved with Burn I think I get it.  Those 10 principles? They teach us things if we open our eyes and our minds to the lessons.

I, like many of you, am very hard on myself.  I never think the things I write or make or do are "good enough."  I hold myself to a ridiculously high standard and I never seem to satisfy my inner critic.  When I apply those same standards to others it is just as bad.  No one, and I do mean no one, could possibly be "good enough" for my inner critic.   I need to be much easier on myself and I need to be easier on those I love when they are not "good enough" for my evil inner critic.

And that, my friends, is lesson number one from the Burn2.  We are all good enough. In fact, we are all fabulous creatures who should rejoice in our creative selves.   

See you on the playa.