Why am I writing about a film in a blog about business? Because this is also a story about the movie business. Lately the film business is more about business than film. As Avatar, a cynical, fake spiritual blockbuster threatens to become the highest grossing movie of all time, Crazy Heart is the underdog movie that almost didn’t get made. Crazy Heart was plucked from the scrap heap by the love of its producers, directors, writers and Bridges, who took a serious pay cut to make the movie. And Jeff Berg, an agent, who’s only supposed to care about money, cared enough to make a small film and make it big.

The most powerful creators have the ability to hold their vision and live with the tension of knowing that what they are creating is not yet complete. We can learn the process of creating and the importance of starting with a blank slate. If we can empty our minds of assumptions and preconceived notions, the vision of what is possible will arise gracefully of its own accord.

The journey of Gary Zukov, best selling author of The Seat of the Soul, is an inspiring story of finding purpose and a life of fulfillment. I recently attended the first of several three day intensives that make up the Authentic Power Program at The Seat of the Soul Institute. I’ll be blogging about the experience, which was extraordinary, led by Gary and his partner Linda Francis in a beautifully embodied way.

Janet Maslin, reviewing Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book in the NY Times, shows a lack of appreciation for a writer with a special talent: an extraordinary ability to make extremely technical and complex subjects accessible and fascinating. Gladwell approaches his subjects Gladwell does, with the innocence of a child and the discipline of a scientist. He reveals how you can find the extraordinary in the ordinary and understand what previously seemed beyond understanding.