A golden mantra of a passage from David Mack’s KABUKI: The Alchemy:

“I find that to accomplish anything, you need initiative, persistence, discipline and will. And most of all the decision to just do it. And to set it in motion. The conventional idea of talent is an illusion. So many people have a natural talent and do nothing with it. You must do something in order for your talent to show up. You don’t just wait for it to show up and do nothing. And some people know they have a talent and passion for something but do nothing with it because they are waiting for someone to validate them, or to give them a job, or guarantee them some kind of security before they pursue it. So they never do it. It doesn’t work that way. You do the work first. And then you get the ripple effect. Not the other way around. You have to set it in motion for your talent to emerge and shape itself. You start something even if you are not sure how to finish it. You see the first stepping stone and you jump to that. You can only see the next stepping stone after you get to the first one. Not before. At each jump, the next stepping stone comes into view. But every creative endeavor begins with a certain leap of faith.”

Artwork by David Mack