It's a kind of magic

“The ability to look deeply is the root of creativity. To see past the ordinary and the mundane to get to what might be invisible.”

I love this quote by Rick Rubin in The Creative Act for three reasons.

First of all comes the idea that creativity surrounds us every day of our lives, lying just beyond the ‘ordinary and mundane.’ There’s no need to venture into the wilderness, to look for inspiration in special places. Creativity can be found in the sublime, yes, in dramatic landscapes and remote locations, but it can also be found halfway down the high street, in the supermarket queue, or riding the number 41 into town. 

Like love and - if you believe Billy Mack — Christmas, creativity is all around. We just can’t always see it.

Which brings me to the second thing I love about Rubin’s quote: that the invisible can become visible. It can be drawn into the world by anyone with the ability to tap into it. To quote Highlander and/or Freddie Mercury: it’s a kind of magic.

It’s the Force, pulsating through all things, the fae world existing alongside us, glimpsed in the corner of our eye. Take that thought to its logical conclusion, and we realise that artists are wizards. I mean, that shouldn’t be a surprise, should it? Any act of creation is a small miracle, the artist willing something into being that wasn’t there before. Making the invisible visible. 

The art of looking deeper

And how do you get the ability? Well,  here’s the clincher — it’s not something that just happens. Yes, there are sometimes flashes of inspiration, bolts from the blue that often take you by surprise. But usually those happen because you’re already in the flow. It’s why a shiny new idea will come out of nowhere while you’re in the middle of a project. But to get there, to see what might be invisible, you need to ‘look deeply’. To focus. To filter out all the noise and clutter of the world to actually see it. Tap into it. To make it real. It’s something that can be learned, an ability that can be nurtured — but the more you look, the more often you’ll see. 

That’s why remote places are so good for creativity, why writing retreats are so popular. They’re a break from the norm. But most of us don’t have the luxury of disappearing to the back of beyond every time we want to make something.

We’re busy. We’re juggling. The world is loud - and social media doesn’t help. It fills every spare second with static, overwhelming and disorienting.

The trick isn’t escaping the noise forever. It’s learning to lower the volume. To carve out small pockets of attention in the middle of ordinary life. A walk without headphones. Leaving your phone in your pocket. Sitting in the barbers and really noticing what’s around you.

That’s the practice. Not waiting for magic — but training yourself to see it.

The more you look, the more you’ll find. And once you start seeing it, you’ll realise it was there all along.

So yes — go make magic. But remember: you don’t have to travel far to find it. It’s already waiting for you.