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Not knowing

There is a place within creativity that is inherently risky. We feel it when we begin, we feel it when we come to a natural pause in our work, we feel it when we can't tell what our work is trying to become. Creative courage develops like muscle memory; we have to keep going to learn more about it. We need to practice and explore those edges. Doubt must be allowed to coexist with certainty, fear must be able to dance with hope as we keep going toward the idea that wants form. When old business seems to cloud the process, we are allowed to say, "Not now, I'm busy."  The creative life is a courageous one, because the inner journey is just as fraught as the outer journey might be with cliffs, tangled paths, bear caves and sudden storms. We need to know what to pack for such a journey. We need to know how to read our most subtle signs within. It is good to claim our right to make mistakes in service to something we may not even understand.  It helps to keep going. It help...
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Always Learning

Sometimes it feels like we are never finished becoming, in a culture full of possibilities. There is always more to learn, there are always new places to travel to and more experiences to seek. As an artist, I am sometimes overwhelmed with the variety of ways that I might create. Anxiety can overshadow the creative impulse when the process triggers too many emotional responses and possibilities.  I have always enjoyed the creative search for expression and exploration, and yet there are days in which I feel overwhelmed with a sense of unprocessed insights. I look around me and see the way that my belongings mirror my collection of possibilities, and this can feel simultaneously enriching and cluttered. I do not like feeling cluttered within, and have sought ways of organizing my inner world for as long as I can remember. And yet this too is rife with too many potentialities. Simplicity becomes a mantra I seek as an antidote.   Today I am grateful for an inner richness, and yet...
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Recognizing the moment

There are times when I catch myself in a moment. Sometimes when I am waiting for something, or in a natural pause, there emerges a sense of how big the moment truly is. I can watch a hummingbird without any sense of time; I can delight in a sunny day silhouette against a wall, or in the sound of a delighted laugh. In that accented moment comes from deep within a sense of the big "YES", and I breathe it in with satisfaction. Sometimes we just exist with a larger sense of the how life just IS, right now, right here. Nothing more needs to be figured out, in this moment, nothing more needs to shift toward our ideals. I like to take that lively present-ness and put it in my heart, like a gift that I can open again and again. Sometimes, just remembering a summer day can bring appreciation for the fullness of just being. Today, I embody my creativity with a simple YES and see where it takes me.
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Valuing your gifts

 Sometimes it might seem as though the things that you do are just that, "things that you do." And yet, to others, your gift brings them joy, insight or much needed inspiration. There have been so many times when I have witnessed someone doing something so amazing that they in fact undervalue. I have listened to writers with deep sensitivity and eloquence belittle their own writing as something that doesn't seem "enough"; I have listened to music that made my heart delight and witnessed the singer/musician doubt their own right to give voice to such beauty. I have observed so many truly talented people question themselves to the point of withdrawal from creative endeavors, and wondered, "How can we keep going when the very act of being creative makes us question our worthiness to share?"  I think there is a deep paradox between being a talented, sensitive person and stepping into the shared arena. Many creative gifts are held in quiet, deep places and ...
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