Monday, June 25, 2012

Brain Crushes: Riki Lindhome and Josh Radnor

If we've hung out in the past 10 days, you probably know that I am obsessed with a girl comedy band called Garfunkel and Oates. If I haven't chained you to the nearest fixture and made you watch videos while I laugh like a hyena in your ear, then I strongly encourage you to make your way to YouTube and watch Self Esteem and pretty much all of their clips from The Half Hour before I find you and make you do so against your will. I just think it will be funnier for you this way. (Please note that they are in no way appropriate for kids or work...)

Well, my obsession with them has also turned into a full-blown girl crush on Riki Lindhome. I think she is smart, talented and witty--the best kind of girl crush. She's also real--she puts her flaws, idiosyncrasies and mistakes out there for the world to see and laugh at...booty calls and all.

I have started listening to her podcast show, Making It, and the most recent one was the most interesting thing I have read/heard/seen in a while. She talked for almost an hour and a half with Josh Radnor from How I Met Your Mother. I liked Josh from the show, but this interview introduced me to his brain and now I really like him. (And, as Garfunkel and Oates say: like can lead to like-like, and like-like can lead to love.)

I highly recommend that anyone who considers themselves creative in any way listen to the entire thing, but here are a few highlights that I couldn't wait to share from their conversation:

  • Josh mentions that highly creative personalities are known for starting more projects than they can finish and leaving some dormant for long periods of time. Sound like anyone you know? The interesting thing though, was what his therapist told him about his tendency (one that he thought was a negative trait). He told him to keep doing it. He said it's good to do that because it creates a "'fertile messy terrain" and, because creativity begets more creativity, it is the best thing you can do to create good material. "Whatever is called to be finished," he said, "will be finished." This makes me feel so much better about all of the unfinished craft projects and abandoned drafts on my blogger account.

  • I love what Josh's meditation coach says about self-improvement: "If you're aware of "it", you've already highlighted "it" for deletion. Whatever that defect is. If you're aware of it, you know it and it's on it's way out. It's when you're not aware of something that it's wrecking all it's havoc."

  • Josh and Riki talk a lot about listening to your intuition from early on in your career. I identified with this because I remember how ambitious and determined I was when starting my writing career. I acknowledged the joke about English majors learning to ask "Do you want fries with that?" but I never once thought I had chosen the wrong career or wondered if I'd succeed. I just took the next opportunity, and the next, and the next. What I found interesting about their conversation is that Josh talks about turning acting parts down early on in his career, just letting his gut feelings lead him. I love the idea of how being choosy now and listening what your gut says about what is in front of you can lead to success later on.

  • Another great quote: "That was a big revelation for me...that something can be true, and its opposite can be true at the same time. I think it was a physicist that said, "The opposite of a lesser truth is a falsehood; the opposite of a greater truth is another great truth."

  • I loved Josh's response to Riki asking about how his life has changed since being on HIMYM: "I'm from the midwest... You know, I'm someone who went to college and likes books. I'm not apologizing for that. I'm doing my best to hold on to my soul out here.. and that requires finding a community of people who are really into integrity and who are really honest."
Riki and Josh also discuss using writing as a way to learn more about yourself, the importance and ramifications of having a personal code of ethics, the huge responsibility that comes with having a gift for something, the importance of telling your own story, and how formal training in something you are passionate about can nearly ruin you. If any of those topics interest you, find some time to listen up.

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