What story captures your heart? Where does magic comes into your life? Where do you accept fate and not try to contest it?

The artistic creations that we relish, those that we cannot do without – either our own or others – are ones that reinforce the core myth of our lives.

There is an oft-quoted passage in “Walden,” in which Thoreau exhorts his reader to unerringly cling to the life path dictated by their own personal pole star. He says that one’s activities should be limited to half a dozen interests, at most, those that you can keep a record of “on your thumbnail.”

But the narrator in Amor Towles’s novel “Rules of Civility,” points to a core flaw, or maybe just a really high hurdle to this aspiration. Out of the multitude of stars, how do you know which one is your own personal pole star?

Artists sometimes grapple with this challenge. Just where is your pole star? Look to your own constellation of experiences. You will find that there is always a myth tracking you, as you go about your daily life. Identify that central story and you have found your polestar.

The process of artistic creation is all about uncovering this story. What is your own unique creation myth? I am not talking strictly about your conception – although that might be a good jumping off point for some. Did you come about via a lush romance that has somehow colored your life experience? Or was your birth something more challenging, such as being born in a war-torn country? But go even further – what story did your imagination begin to orbit during the awkward years of adolescence, and then how did you emerge as a young adult? How did events, other people, or even personal insight capture your interest and influence the trajectory of you life?

Bring these questions to your workspace, into the corner of the room where you sit in solitude, confronting your own artistic pursuit. This story is a mystery, and with each stroke of the pen or stroke with the brush, that pole star is being revealed.