Bloom

feels
like I'm
dreaming

*inner bloom*

Inner

feels
like I'm
waiting

*inner bloom*

Slow

Each

slow

word

is

a 

stitch

I

place

carefully

into

this

loose-woven

cloth.

Weirdness

Your weirdness will make you stronger. 

Your dark side will keep you whole.

Your vulnerability will connect you to
the rest of our suffering world.

Your creativity will set you free.

~ Andrea Balt 

Truth tellers

Our bodies are truth tellers. 


Whether or not we're paying attention, they tell the truth, constantly - to ourselves, and to other people.  

Our words tumble out in a constant stream, sometimes sparkling with skillful clarity, but often clumsy, poorly aimed, or deliberately unclear. 

But the reality of our experience is lived and felt in our bodies, and traces itself across this fluent tableau of energy and movement, moment by moment. All of our truths, spoken and unspoken, are written there, subtly, in the fleeting language of our faces and gestures, and more revealingly in the vibrant, vital energy that surrounds and animates us. 

To have insight into the powerful untold stories that people carry about with them, or even to hear our own quiet, unadorned truths, we need to listen carefully, respectfully, compassionately. We need to look beyond the surface of things into the spacious reality that lies within each of us. By bringing this quality of intent and awareness to our attention, we share a gift that is both sacred and profoundly human: our understanding. 

Deeper

The state of not knowing 

is the most important state you can be in 

because that opens you up to

the deeper dimensions. 

~ Eckhart Tolle 

Motivation

In the midst of the battle between inspiration and exhaustion, an insight:

 creative work = a challenge I set for myself

 creative satisfaction = meeting that challenge

 creative output = a by-product

First came the insight, and then recognition:  this is how I've always done my best work – back when my best work came effortlessly, and won success wherever I placed it.

The paradox is that the best work is never about ‘work’ at all. It’s about the mindset that fuels me – so that I'm simply unwinding a long spool of energy, charged by my own curiosity, inspiration, and authentic self-defined challenge.  

True of the creative process and its results, it applies equally to any endeavour, big or small: 

 work = a challenge I set for myself

satisfaction = meeting that challenge

output = a by-product

  

The output, the outcome that is usually thought of as the goal, is only ever an incidental by-product of the real task: the meaningful, energising challenge that I’ve given myself.

It’s been a long time since this has been my default approach.  The dislocation of illness and the disorientation of recovery stripped away so many things I had done and known, and it seems I must learn them again.

This (re-)discovery is, then, powerful and empowering.

I remember now. I will not forget this again.