Creative Solutions and Inspirations from the Modern Day Muses

Muse Profile: Audacity

Excerpted from the book The Nine Modern Day Muses and a Bodyguard: 10 Guides to Creative Inspiration for Artists, Poets, Lovers, and Other Mortals Wanting to Live a Dazzling Existence by Jill Badonsky, M.Ed.

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Audacity

MUSE OF
Courage & uninhibited uniqueness

MEANING OF NAME
Liberation from the opinion of others

DOMAIN
Teaching self-confidence and freedom to be one's self — being true to oneself

SYMBOL

HOW AUDACITY CAN MUSE YOU
Five Ways to Believe in Yourself: From the Muse, Audacity

THE SELECTION of AUDACITY

It took very little deliberation for the Muses to come up with this new modern day equivalent. Trying to stay non-judgmental, the Muses kept correcting themselves when they referred to mortals as “those wimps.” “Oops, I mean mortals,” they would correct themselves time after time. Muses are compassionate beings, but they often err on the side of being a little too brazen. They just cannot believe how many mortals sell out their creative brilliance because they are afraid of what other mortals might think.

Because look, here is the reality — mortals think judgmental thoughts toward another mortal’s creative expression substantially less than imagined. If another mortal does think something judgmental, that thought process usually takes up about 30 seconds. Think about it — these self-conscious mortals hold back their destined creative exaltation, often their entire life, because they fear a 30-second judgment from other mortals who don’t deserve that much power in the first place. They just need a little more moxie, a little more … audacity. And when the Muses reached that conclusion, Aha-phrodite said “Yes, … audacity is exactly what they need, so let’s make ‘audacity’ a Muse.” The others concurred unanimously with catcalls, a few “whoops,” and one somersault.

BOTTOM LINE

As expressions of God, we have the ability to manifest our divine authenticity and unique form of creative brilliance. Through our willingness to share our originality we share with the world the beauty, insight, and ingenuity our creator has given us. We must share with audacious courage, believing that as we do, we make a sweeping statement that can change the world around us. •

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Copyright © Jill Badonsky, 2001. All rights reserved.

About the Author | More by Jill Badonsky
Jill Badonsky, M.Ed. is a nationally recognized workshop leader, artist, performer, humorist, and author of the book, The Nine Modern Day Muses (and a Bodyguard): 10 Guides to Creative Inspiration for Artists, Poets, Lovers and Other Mortals Wanting to Live a Dazzling Existence. She teaches creativity lovers to facilitate classes and workshops based on her book and along with UCLA psychologist, Robert Maurer, she trains people to be Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaches. She can be found lurking at www.themuseisin.com.

04/14/07