Inhale and Exhale

There are teachers who say you must read every classic before you touch the pen, and art teachers who say study all great works of painting and sculpture before you dare to lift the brush or chisel, but what if we are filled to bursting and on the verge of dying from our own toxic waste? I do not agree with this approach of having to "earn the right" or beg for permission to be creative. I think that some of us need to empty our buckets of mud and sludge first before filling them with fresh water. Develop your hunger into a healthy appetite. Take in, but you may need to unload for a decade or two before you get there.