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Creating

Choosing What You Choose

Too many choices? Too little time? “First world problem,” you might say — and often, I agree. Having choices is a privilege. […]

sallyjfoxMay 1, 20253 min read
Change, Creating

Wither art in times of turmoil

“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need […]

sallyjfoxMarch 27, 20253 min read
Creating

Celebrating The Muse—A One Year Anniversary

Candles and Balloons—Celebrating One Year of Meeting the Muse After Midlife As I reflect on the one-year anniversary of publishing Meeting the […]

sallyjfoxOctober 17, 20243 min read
Creating

Expand Your Joy by Listing What You Love

Last week, I mounted my horse for the first time in six weeks. For most equestrians, mounting is second nature—we forget about […]

sallyjfoxOctober 3, 20244 min read
Creating, Uncategorized

Stumbling in the land of too-much-ness

While we’ve kept our national attention on Covid-19 and its variants, another pandemic has slipped into town: too-much-ness. You can see it […]

sallyjfoxJune 13, 20247 min read
Creating, Uncategorized

An Unlikely Path to Humility and Mindfulness

When I taught several groups of Japanese managers near Tokyo, one of the qualities I most admired was their humility and consideration […]

sallyjfoxMay 23, 20243 min read
Creating

Sparking creativity with curiosity and joy

Words from a creative genius Maybe the essence of creativity isn’t complicated. Or maybe we should replace the word “creative” (to help […]

sallyjfoxApril 18, 20249 min read
Creating

The Glory of New Growth (A Pause)

I find it a miracle that despite what is happening in the world (and thanks for the well wishes about the loss […]

sallyjfoxMarch 27, 20241 min read
Creating

Eight Books Someone Should Write

The uber-creative illustrator and drawing coach, Wendy MacNaughton, issued a challenge this week to the folks following her on Substack: come up with imaginary […]

sallyjfoxFebruary 8, 20241 min read
Creating, Flourishing

Coping with (collective) grief during the holidays

The holidays can be challenging when we’re feeling grief, especially after personal losses—even those from long ago. This year many of us […]

sallyjfoxDecember 14, 20233 min read
Creating

Do you need a “mistake pass”?

A vocal coach in Australia described her method of helping the participants in her classes sing more freely: she gives them each […]

sallyjfoxOctober 18, 20233 min read
Creating

When clouds get in the way

Does it ever happen to you that—when things are going great—blue sky and fresh breezes—some small thing derails you and lets a […]

sallyjfoxOctober 12, 20233 min read
Creating

What’s in your manifesto? (Is it time to share what you believe?)

These days, a lot of people are so busy saying what they’re against that we never hear what they’re for. Throughout history, […]

sallyjfoxOctober 5, 20232 min read
Creating

The Courage to Be Mediocre

Does the idea of being mediocre stop you from trying to do the creative thing you’ve always wanted to do? If so, […]

sallyjfoxSeptember 14, 20235 min read
Creating, Flourishing

Overwhelmed? It’s OK to “Cry Uncle!”

I had tea this week with a close friend, one of the most kind, competent, and generous people I know. Also one […]

sallyjfoxSeptember 7, 20234 min read
Creating, Uncategorized

Surviving Mile 19

“Hitting the wall” is the term runners use to describe the moment when the bottom seems to fall out of their stamina, […]

sallyjfoxAugust 31, 20235 min read
Creating

Enjoying the dog days of summer (a pause)

The dog days of summer are here, but as our temperatures in the Northwest head toward 90 (remember, few of us have […]

sallyjfoxAugust 16, 20231 min read
Creating, Flourishing

How to Celebrate a Birthday with 72 Delights

Birthdays are a funny thing. When I was six, a birthday expanded my world. It meant more adventures, a later bedtime, and an allowance. But […]

sallyjfoxAugust 10, 20234 min read
Creating

Let these quotes about the creative process inspire yours

While I know that reading about creativity isn’t the same as making something (and reading about writing isn’t the same as writing), […]

sallyjfoxJuly 27, 20233 min read
Creating

The one tool you need most when you want to create

We’re all creative—and can express our creative spark in endless ways. Yet when it comes to expressing ourselves we’re often handicapped by […]

sallyjfoxJuly 20, 20235 min read
Creating

The Gift of the Ordinary

Grief knocked again—or, more accurately, knocked me off my feet and left me wailing. You’d think after writing about grief, I’d know […]

sallyjfoxJune 14, 20232 min read
Creating, Flourishing

Letting the tulips sing

Can flowers sing? No way to prove this but recently they sang to me. Finding new colors I recently returned from visiting […]

sallyjfoxMay 11, 20232 min read
Creating

To practice receiving

A dear friend living in the shadows of cancer, With death on the horizon, Sat with me and said, “Throughout my life, […]

sallyjfoxApril 20, 20231 min read
Creating

Tiny beautiful acts—a 100-day creative challenge

Could devoting yourself to tiny acts of beauty, gratitude, or creation for 100 days change your life? It did for Suleika Jaouad, […]

sallyjfoxMarch 23, 20234 min read
Creating, Creative aging

Six questions to expand the creative you

Does your creative spirit ever feel tamped down or just-around-the-corner-but-out-of-reach? When that happens to me, I have two approaches to rediscovering my […]

sallyjfoxMarch 9, 20234 min read
Communicating, Creating, Uncategorized

We Don’t Need to Know Before We Go

One of the cool things about artists is that they often start their pieces (and I’m defining artist in the broadest possible […]

sallyjfoxFebruary 3, 20233 min read
Creating, Creative aging

Finding magic in my pencil

There are many ways to get to know someone, even someone we haven’t met, and this week I’ve been playing with one […]

sallyjfoxOctober 26, 20225 min read
Creating

Lessons from the Harvest

I love fall with its colors, coolness, beauty, and the poignancy of knowing that winter is coming and the rains will start. […]

sallyjfoxOctober 13, 20225 min read
Creating

Setting Myself on Fire, or the Power of Moments

Some events in our life stand out like none others–so disorienting that they challenge us to know where we are and maybe […]

sallyjfoxSeptember 22, 20225 min read
Creating

Sing the Song that Wants to Come Through You

Last week, a friend thanked me profusely for a two-word expression I shared with her seven years ago: “both/and.” The words helped […]

sallyjfoxMay 5, 20224 min read
Creating

Finding the Secret to Magic

  Magic was a way, for a moment, of stepping away from what other people taught me, to a place where a different kind […]

sallyjfoxApril 28, 20224 min read
Change, Creating

To care without despair

How to avoid depair as we continue to care? And create without hate? I’ve had to meter my news so that I […]

sallyjfoxMarch 10, 20222 min read
Creating

Using the fire of anger to create beauty

Uncontrolled anger kills. Combined with political motives and manipulation it starts wars. It’s challenging not to be angry and scared by Russia’s […]

sallyjfoxFebruary 24, 20226 min read
Creating

How to invite Beauty into your life

I’ve been craving Beauty as we pass through the darkest time of year. Fortunately, she’s everywhere when we seek her, send her love, […]

sallyjfoxJanuary 20, 20223 min read
Creating

Let your imagination inspire reality

Sometimes what comes out of our imaginations can seem truer than the accurate words the dictionary knows or the facts we’ve held […]

sallyjfoxDecember 2, 20214 min read
Creating

Breaking the grip of self-judgment

Self-judgment is a nasty critter. Under the guise of inviting us to learn, it amplifies any mistakes we’ve made and makes it […]

sallyjfoxNovember 4, 20213 min read
Creating, Creative aging

How to become expert at beginner’s mind

I’m in that lovely stage of discovery, in which I’m not expected to know anything. I have room to play, make mistakes, […]

sallyjfoxSeptember 30, 20215 min read
Creating, Flourishing

How to love what you don’t like (to do)

Doing what you love and loving what you do opens the door to more creativity, insight, and fun. But what happens when […]

sallyjfoxSeptember 23, 20214 min read
Creating

Finding beauty when you’re feeling beastly

  “We respond with joy to the call of beauty because in an instant it can awaken under the layers of the […]

sallyjfoxAugust 26, 20213 min read
Creating

Fail often/fail better

I love the words of Samuel Beckett, inspirational even as they came from a dark piece of his prose: “Ever tried. Ever […]

sallyjfoxJuly 15, 20215 min read
Change, Creating

To gain perspective, turn upside down

The tragedy of George Floyd invited many of us to wake up, to see the world as it is and not what […]

sallyjfoxApril 22, 20212 min read
Creating, Musing

Can we celebrate now?

Are you celebrating? It may be long overdue. Life without celebration is like hiking across a snowfield during a whiteout when the […]

sallyjfoxMarch 18, 20214 min read
Creating

How to use anger to fuel your creativity

With a new year, new, very different, President and Vice President, vaccines rolling out, and spring on its way, I thought we’d be done […]

sallyjfoxMarch 4, 20215 min read
Creating, Musing

Confessions of a judge-aholic.

The poet Rumi once wrote: “Out beyond right and wrong, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” How I’d love to […]

sallyjfoxFebruary 18, 20214 min read
Creating, Creative aging

Celebrate the messy ordinary

I just finished Nina RIgg’s uncommonly beautiful and ultimately uplifting memoir of the last year of her life, The Bright Hour. Nina, […]

sallyjfoxAugust 6, 20202 min read
Creating

Fuel your creativity with silence

  As part of my stretch-my-creativity-during-the-pandemic campaign, I’m taking an online course about voice called “Express the Music of Your Soul” from […]

sallyjfoxJuly 1, 20205 min read
Change, Creating

Finding the art of the “new normal”

First of all, it’s OK. Whatever you are feeling, or doing, it’s OK Life today is not normal. How can we hope […]

sallyjfoxApril 2, 20204 min read
Creating

3 steps for handling environmental stress, bird by bird

  On Sept. 19, 2019, the New York Times published a devastating statistic about declines in the bird population across North America, […]

sallyjfoxJanuary 29, 20205 min read
Creating, Musing

How to find Magic in the Ordinary

Last weekend, our furnace quit. That meant no heat and no hot water. We warmed the house by turning on our stove’s […]

sallyjfoxDecember 4, 20193 min read
Creating, Flourishing

Got Rhythm?

We all have rhythm. It’s built into us through our heartbeats and the circadian (24 hour) rhythms that influence when we feel hungry, […]

sallyjfoxSeptember 5, 20194 min read
Creating

Is it time to create your “Joy List?”

This week, I’m balancing writing an article about coping with life’s little losses by remembering all the joys that I’m finding. I’m […]

sallyjfoxJuly 25, 20193 min read
Creating, Flourishing

When good enough beats great

When the late William Stafford, one of my favorite poets, was asked how he managed to write one poem (or more) every […]

sallyjfoxJune 6, 20194 min read
Creating

Does it spark joy? If not, create your own.

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” z_index_tablet=”500″] I fell in love with Marie Kondo, […]

sallyjfoxMay 30, 20193 min read
Creating

How to move your creative potential into practice

We’re all innately creative. Creativity, like love, is a force field that surrounds us and comes through as it’s needed. As writer […]

sallyjfoxMay 16, 20194 min read
Creating, Flourishing, Leading

Find Your Inner Porpoise

The books written about Purpose or “Finding Your Inner Purpose” on Amazon have it almost right. They just spelled it wrong. Change […]

sallyjfoxApril 24, 20193 min read
Creating

Images of imagination

This week, I’ve been thinking about the power of imagination, especially as we age. Imagination provides a spark for creativity. Creativity feeds […]

sallyjfoxApril 10, 20191 min read
Creating

When you’re feeling the weight of the world

Another week, another tragedy. I was up before dawn to drive to a conference when tragic news, from the far side of […]

sallyjfoxMarch 20, 20195 min read
Creating

What are you devoted to?

Remember the Everly Brothers hit “Devoted to You?* Darlin’, you can count on me Till the sun dries up the sea Until […]

sallyjfoxMarch 14, 20194 min read
Creating

How to rebound from rejection

Got Rejection? One of my writing buddies inspires me with her ability to not let rejection stop her. We’re part of an online […]

sallyjfoxFebruary 27, 20194 min read
Creating, Flourishing

Improve your day a click at a time

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″] What if one click of acknowledgment could reinforce the skill, craft, or project you’re working […]

sallyjfoxJanuary 29, 20195 min read
Communicating, Creating

Sweat your way to community

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”] Sometimes you build community by talking, finding common interests, and […]

sallyjfoxNovember 27, 20184 min read
Creating, Creative aging, Musing

When Grief comes to call

Grief is a tough master. When you don't run from him, he's can show you a way to your deeper creativity.

sallyjfoxNovember 5, 20186 min read
Creating

When wonder beats words

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”] After a productive day writing, I was burnt out on […]

sallyjfoxOctober 23, 20182 min read
Creating, Creative aging

Ask a better question…create a better world

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_layout=”light”] Whenever I lose my glasses, which, I’m […]

sallyjfoxOctober 18, 20183 min read
Creating

12 Great Quotes on Creativity (with a few you haven’t heard)

When I was moving into my fifties, I was consumed by an enormous hunger to express myself creatively. It wasn’t that I […]

sallyjfoxAugust 16, 20184 min read
Creating, Flourishing, Musing

Does your work make you better?

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_layout=”light”] In her stunning collection of essays (highly recommended) This […]

sallyjfoxAugust 2, 20185 min read
Communicating, Creating

The Secret Key to IGNITING Performance

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.106″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_layout=”light”]       Picture this: a lively […]

sallyjfoxMay 23, 20183 min read
Creating, Flourishing

How to start that big project (or how to get the camel to stick his nose under your tent)

Do you have a big project waiting in the wings that you can’t get started? Maybe it’s de-cluttering part of your house, […]

sallyjfoxApril 5, 20183 min read
Communicating, Creating

What to say when you don’t want to say anything

  I woke up this morning thinking about what to write and…and my brain was empty. What do you say when your […]

sallyjfoxFebruary 15, 20181 min read
Creating, Musing

Is patience your key to moving ahead?

Patience Is NOT my middle name. As I age and am aware of the years passing, I still want to do so […]

sallyjfoxJanuary 25, 20183 min read
Creating, Musing

A surefire way to add joy to your life

I usually love the turn of the year, when I set time aside to do visioning and planning, think about the big […]

sallyjfoxJanuary 4, 20183 min read
Communicating, Creating

Finding Lightfulness

‘Tis the season of light in many faiths. But not all of us are feeling jolly. This is also a time of […]

pnhd6December 20, 20174 min read
Creating, Musing

Cultivate the space for creativity

  You know the adage: “The past is the past,” often spoken as if the past is over and no longer a dynamic force […]

pnhd6October 10, 20172 min read
Creating, Musing

How to plan a staycation that will make you want to stay home

        Update: I wrote this during a summer when the smoke from fires was such we had to stay […]

pnhd6September 7, 20175 min read
Creating, Musing

When One is More than Enough

Did you know that Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime, and it was to his brother? Throughout Van Gogh’s […]

pnhd6June 27, 20173 min read
Creating, Musing

Is this it?

  Sometimes I open the door to my mind to write and there’s nothing there. Depending on how I’m sitting (or what I’m hoping to do), […]

pnhd6June 13, 20171 min read
Creating

What is your creative work?

What does it mean to work creatively, and to know that you are doing the creative work that is uniquely yours to […]

pnhd6June 1, 20174 min read
Creating, Musing

A chance to live dangerously

Since you’re going to get older, why not get a bit bolder? I heard those words last week from Dr. Bill Thomas […]

pnhd6May 11, 20172 min read
Creating, Leading

Finding the essential in aerospace and art

I recently had an opportunity to tour Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ privately-funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company. Tucked in an industrial area […]

pnhd6April 27, 20174 min read
Creating, Flourishing, Leading

How to Birth a Dream—Gently

Before a dream can be transformed into a project in the world, it has to be born. We talk about “making” dreams come true, but […]

pnhd6April 20, 20175 min read
Creating, Leading

Ten Leadership Lessons to Steal from Springsteen

Creative Commons photo by GabboT Steal if you want to, but I think Springsteen would let you drive away with any insight you’d like from his […]

pnhd6March 15, 20175 min read
Communicating, Creating

The Subversive Pile Next to My Bed

Words can be dangerous, sentences subversive. At a time when many of us are asking, “What can I do,” I’m starting a very undercover […]

pnhd6March 3, 20173 min read
Creating, Flourishing

Structuring Your Time Without Killing Your Muse

As a creative entrepreneur, I often wrestle with how to manage my time, get things done, and nurture my creative zeal. I […]

pnhd6February 15, 20174 min read
Communicating, Creating

Why Music is Subversive

As I was mid-way through the Women’s March Olympia, (capitol of the other Washington), a woman near me burst into song: “This little […]

pnhd6January 26, 20173 min read
Creating

Dreaming Big: Daring to want what you want

A friend of mine recently confided that she hasn’t been able to do the artistic work that fills her spirit because of […]

pnhd6January 12, 20174 min read
Creating, Flourishing

Why Positive Thinking Can Have Negative Results (and what to do about it)

    In last week’s post I wrote: “Wishful thinking actually decreases our possibility of meaningful action,” as I explored why dedicating ourselves to what […]

pnhd6January 5, 20174 min read
Creating

Forget New Year’s Resolutions…try this instead

The fact that resolutions are made by Congress should make them suspect. (I wouldn’t choose Congress as a role-model of effectiveness …) The […]

pnhd6December 28, 20164 min read
Creating

Seven Great Last Minute Gift Ideas—for those who are broke or tired of buying stuff

  With Christmas, Hanukah and Kwanzaa on the near horizon, I want to offer some support in case you, like me, suffer from seasonal I-don’t-know-what-to […]

pnhd6December 21, 20164 min read
Creating, Leading

The Perils of Working from Passion

  Do you ever get so excited by a project that you can’t wait to work on it? You bounce out of […]

pnhd6July 27, 20163 min read
Creating

Discover Your Stuff-Handling Personality with This Free Test

It’s fashionable these days to talk about giving away stuff, thanks in part to the wisdom of Japanese tidying fanatic, Marie Kondo. […]

pnhd6July 20, 20167 min read
Communicating, Creating

Honoring our true colors in a violent world

Black lives matter. White lives matter. Pantone* shade 316 – 6C  lives matter. *a system printers use for matching colors Like you, I’m […]

pnhd6July 13, 20163 min read
Creating

8 new words that will open up your world (warning: they’re more than 2 syllables)

I heard recently that on-line copywriters should write at a third grade level. That’s five grades down from the 8th grade level recommended to […]

pnhd6June 12, 20164 min read
Creating, Flourishing

Try a magic wand that can shift your perspective

  Despite calling myself, at times, a “change agent,” I still stumble on one irrefutable fact: most of life is outside of my […]

pnhd6May 25, 20166 min read
Creating, Storytelling

Learning to love the in-between

A story has a beginning, middle and end. But in the roadmap for our life’s stories, how do you describe the space […]

pnhd6April 4, 20166 min read
Creating, Flourishing

5 ways to tame your inner critic

I just heard a quote by actor, author, teacher, impresario, Michael Port: “You can be a performer or a critic but you can’t […]

pnhd6March 29, 20166 min read
Creating, Storytelling

Living, for a moment, in the small stories

Last month, I described a path towards finding your big story, the narrative you can use to make your career or business […]

pnhd6March 10, 20162 min read
Creating, Leading

Looking behind to step ahead

To start my new year, I took a day of looking back to step ahead. Unlike the vision day I took last […]

pnhd6January 19, 20162 min read
Creating, Flourishing

My favorite fall things

Raindrops on dahlias and nuzzling my horses Leaves that go crackle and new on-line courses, Wearing yummy old sweaters and starting to […]

pnhd6October 20, 20153 min read
Communicating, Creating, Flourishing

Are you ready to unmask from “appropriate”?

Did anyone ever tell you, as a kid, that you needed to be appropriate? Sure, it’s important in our civil culture to […]

pnhd6October 6, 20153 min read
Communicating, Creating, Leading

In praise of an audience of one

Despite the buzz about content marketing, and writing for your audience, the words of Kurt Vonnegut, as quoted by the brilliant Maria Popova, live on: "write for an audience of one".

pnhd6September 1, 20155 min read
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