Creativity, Spirituality, and Making a Buck

David Nichtern

Oct 2019 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

A friendly, funny, practical guide for creatives and entrepreneurs, written by a four-time Emmy award-winning and two-time Grammy-nominated composer-guitarist-producer who has worked with Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Jerry Garcia, Lana Del Rey, and Krishna Das, among many others. Also a beloved and highly regarded Buddhist teacher, David teaches readers how to integrate their creative process with their spiritual practice and livelihood.

“How do I make a living doing what I love?”
“Am I a sellout as an artist if I want to be successful?”
“How do I integrate my spiritual principles with the art of running a business? And actually, um, how do I run a business?”

Wondering how to reconcile your calling with your need to make a living wage, or what to do once your art starts selling, or how to achieve success in your field, or what it even means to be successful? David Nichtern offers his lived, learned experience as an entrepreneur, musician, and Buddhist teacher to first help you figure out what “success” means to you and then show you how to get there. He offers advice on the creative process and principles of business and ethics—everything from “listen to the muse!” to “protect your intellectual property!”—and provides mindfulness exercises to help you integrate inspiration and aspiration, vocation and avocation—to go from surviving to thriving.

Whether you’re a baker trying to grow from the farmer’s market to a brick-and-mortar or a CEO exploring how taking care of your employees can be the same as taking care of your business—if you’re trying to align your spiritual, creative, and financial pursuits and discover what it means to truly live well, this book is for you.

About the author

David Nichtern is a senior teacher in the lineage of renowned Tibetan Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. David was one of the initial American students of Trungpa Rinpoche and studied closely with him soon after his arrival in the United States in 1970. David has been co-director of the Dharmadhatu Meditation Center (Los Angeles) and the Karmê Chöling Meditation Center (Vermont), as well as director of Buddhist practice and study for OM Yoga (New York City). His work has been featured at the Huffington Post, and he leads meditation workshops around the world and online. David Nichtern is also a well-known composer, producer, and guitarist. A four-time Emmy winner and a two-time Grammy nominee, he is the founder of Dharma Moon and 5 Points Records. David has recorded and played with Stevie Wonder, Jerry Garcia, Lana Del Rey, Maria Muldaur, Paul Simon, and many others, and has also produced multiple records for and toured with Grammy-nominated kirtan performer Krishna Das.