TED Talks : Finding our Genius

For more than two years now, I’ve been in a creative line, and I must say, the stress level has never gone down. I always feel this fear that my “creative juice” would run dry, so to speak.

So, while idling surfing for some TV to watch (I don’t watch anything on the real TV nowadays), I found this interesting video by Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity, and it struck a chord.

She mentioned about the origins of the word Genius, very interesting. Genius is like a spirit guide, or a deity, and it is believed that there every human being has a Genius attached to him/her. Here’s what I found about the word Genius on Wikipedia :-


Genius in Roman mythology is the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place or thing

Every nameable mythological figure was a genius of some sort; but further, the rational powers and abilitiies of each and every human being were attributed to his soul, which was a genius.
(Source : Wikipedia)

So Elizabeth Gilbert proposes that all artists try to put their burdens as well as their ego on this disembodied entity, their genius, and let it take claim or credit for the magnificence or failure of their work. Aha…

By the way, I’ve tried. Though it was a little silly, I actually spoke out loud and said, “It’s now up to you”, especially since I was under a very tight editing schedule for my last wedding shoot, and you know what? It was one of my better works. So maybe it works, huh?

Here are some of my shots from a wedding my genius helped at:-
Brandon And Samantha - Little KidsBrandon and Samantha - Laugh

A Little Sore

I’ve been working non stop for the past week, and now feeling under the weather *.
Had a very clogged nose and bad cough for days. Surprisingly, I’ve got through two full
day weddings with morning trailer trailer editings, and in fact felt slightly better through
it all! I guess the positive energy from weddings and the adrenaline helps.

Actually, I couldn’t have survived as a full time wedding videographer without my dear
Hwei Min, drowning me with “Liang Cha” (Herbal Cooling Tea), and helping me man the
computer while I’m converting tapes, which allows me a half an hour nap. But most of
all, by being my first audience for every single wedding video I complete!

Anyway, I went to find the origins of the phrase “under the weather” and this was what
I found. Google is wonderful! Total time to find answer? 1 minute… 🙂

* Under the weather.
To feel ill. Originally it meant to feel seasick or to be adversely affected by bad weather.
The term is correctly ‘under the weather bow’ which is a gloomy prospect; the weather
bow is the side upon which all the rotten weather is blowing.

– from Salty Dog Talk: The Nautical Origins of Everyday Expressions
by Bill Beavis and Richard G. McCloskey (Sheridan House,
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., 1995. First published in Great Britain, 1983).