Director, painter, and visionary David Lynch passed away yesterday (January 16, 2025).
I had originally started writing a post on another topic, but. Mr. Lynch’s passing made me pause. I deeply respected his passion and vision. I oddly came to be a fan of David Lynch through his movie adaptation of Dune. While not widely praised as a success, I’m a fan of the movie and his artistic style. To be fair, I have been a fan of science fiction since an early age.
I took his Masterclass last year on “Creativity and Film.” You cannot help but admire his vision, surreal imagery, and genius. Lynch had a long time practice of transcendental meditation. While I do not practice transcendental meditation, I am a practitioner of meditation and deeply believe in the benefits of a daily meditation practice.
Another thing I’ve thought about as being important is having time—which is so difficult in today’s world—having time to daydream, to sit by yourself and daydream. - David Lynch
His Masterclass had many wonderful moments and insights into creativity and the creative process. Most important among those ideas was the reminder that we need to have time to daydream and imagine. He also emphasized the importance of catching and collecting your ideas.
It’s super important to write down your ideas so you don’t forget them. I think I’ve forgotten three incredible ideas in my life. … it’s a horrible thing to lose. You keep trying to get it back, but you’ve lost it. - David Lynch
His belief in daydreaming and continuous recording of ideas really stuck with me.
I have often written and spoken about the importance of keeping a sketchbook or notebook to capture your ideas and sketches. While I do enjoy my digital tools like the iPhone and iPad Pro, I really love the power of analog tools like pen and paper to capture ideas. The nature of engaging in a physical and tactile manner helps add weight to your ideas.
Find time to daydream. Write down your dreams. Draw your dreams, or both. Just capture them. Ideas are a fragile thing that must be preserved and saved.
Be kind to yourself on your creative journey.
Here are some of my past posts about sketchbooks:
Embracing Imperfection: Boosting Creativity with Cheap Tools
You can unlock your creativity with inexpensive tools. Often, I hesitate to put ideas into my sketchbook, fearing they are not good enough. Yet, a sketchbook is the very place for exploring and developing ideas. Sometimes using cheaper materials and tools can reduce the fear of making “mistakes.”
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You have reached the end of the newsletter. Here is an animated video on creativity and capturing creativity by David Lynch, created by The Atlantic.
Loved the sentence- Be kind to yourself in your creative journey!