Eleanor Catton Quotes

When I write, I wear earplugs. I don't want to be self-conscious. I don't want to be thinking about the fact that I'm thinking about it. I just want to be in it. It's one element of hypnosis.

I used to be really into traditional meditation, but I found that creating new music is the best meditation. When I'm able to get into that space, nothing else matters, and I'm just a vessel for whatever the message is; I feel like I'm not in control. It's like this organic communication, and I feel like that is the quiet, in a way.

Creativity means enjoying any work as meditation; doing any work with deep love.

When the music hits, you feel no pain, to quote Bob Marley. But it’s true. It’s like all art and creation: You’re completely in the moment, and you just feel free.

I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it's a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.

Basically when I'm walking I'm not consciously writing or intending anything. In the manner I have learned from meditation practice, I let things unfold.

Writing is like being in a dream state or under self-directed hypnosis. It induces a state of recall that - while not perfect - is pretty spooky.

The thing about inspiration is that it takes your mind off everything else.

The creative process is not controlled by a switch you can simply turn on or off; it's with you all the time.

Self-awareness is not just relaxation and not just meditation. It must combine relaxation with activity and dynamism. Technology can aid that.

For me, spiritual practice is a lot closer to art than science.

I put myself in a spiritual and physical place where I've learned from experience the synapses are likely to fire and the juices are likely to flow, and simply begin to write.

The roles I think about and can't stop thinking about - on the subway, when I'm riding my bike, when I'm running - are the things I connect to.

If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. It means to think of something over and over.

I only write when I'm in a dark place. I hit 'record' and get it out, writing and playing my guitar at the same time.

Sadly I don't work well under restrictions. I need to forget the world and its rules and laws in order to enter the dreamlike flow of the fictional world. So I may be in some bad trouble.

Music helps me immeasurably in the writing process.

If you think about what you do, if you become self-conscious about it, you've got to be very careful. Because I really like to write without self-awareness of what I'm doing.

When I make a film, I don't watch a lot of other films. I read a lot; I try to read poems, things that can liberate my human condition, that make me go away... I spend a lot of the time doing nothing, just concentrating on the subject. Sometimes I'll sit in my chair for two or three hours without doing anything.

It sometimes happens that you come out of a scene, and you don't even know what happened. It's like you're in the zone.

Writing songs has always been a process where I divulge a lot, just because music is a tool for me to sift through and process intense emotions. But having music be my primary occupation has changed how I interact with art.

There are times where you're in the zone and everything moves in slow motion, and there's sometimes when everything goes really fast and you have to slow yourself down.

I like the hypnosis. Nothing too deep - just enough to keep me clearer and more focused.

And what I love about music and art in general is that you can take something so negative or positive - any emotion, no matter how sad or happy - and turn it into art.

I listen to music because that's such a huge part of my process; not to sound super pretentious, but that's a big part of what helps me get in character.