How to become expert at beginner’s mind
Last year, I switched from saying “I can’t do art” to “I am a beginner.” I’m in that lovely stage of discovery, in which I’m not expected to know anything. I have room to play, make mistakes, be curious, and ask questions (even “dumb” ones). This honeymoon period, however, won’t last forever. At some point, […]
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 we need to do a task that we’re not in love with…like taxes. I’ve been having a ball recently with my creative work. Writing a lot. Dabbling in art. Singing as I go […]
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 heart a forgotten brightness.” John O’Donohue Since writing my blog last week, I’ve heard several friends say that they, too, are feeling the weight of the world. Sometimes I find it hard to […]
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 failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Today’s tech designers have their own version: Fail early and often. To fail is to fall short of a goal or what you set […]
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 we believed it to be. To see the world of systemic discrimination, inequities, and violence that have been hidden in plain sight for years. As for the outcome of the trial, I’m […]
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 sky and the snow merge together and you can barely see your next step. Chilly and dangerous. Everything becomes a blur. Like the past twelve months. With the pandemic, lots of celebrations have been […]
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 with anger. Don’t you wish? Rather than hope for the unlikely, I’m looking at how to make positive use of my anger, asking, “How can I turn my anger into fuel for my […]
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 visit! I only wish he’d left directions. Hint: The kids in the video below found it. Me, I’m a judge-aholic.** I grew up with self-judgmentalism. A condition that may be inherited. I wish […]
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, a great-great-great-granddaughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, weaves reflections on Emerson and Michel de Montaigne into this tale of family and cancer. Although living while dying might sound morbid, it isn’t. It’s a challenge […]
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 Chloë Goodchild, a teacher in England. She coaches students from around the globe on how they can access their “Naked” (authentic-soul) voices. I hoped the course might help me confront my I-can’t-sing-in-front-of-people phobia. […]
