Evidence of Living

"everything that cannot be invested in human relationships is invested in objects."

Jean Baudrillard

For reasons known primarily to me, I collect "evidence" of my everyday existence & keep it in a scrapbook the way most people would keep pictures of family. I have books and envelopes full of physical items, like: stamps, ticket stubs, receipts, warning notices, flattened pennies, etc. This, in conjunction with recorded objects, such as dreams, observations, sketches of landscapes, make up my sketchbooks & influence my artwork.

As strange as it may sound, this is not an unusual phenomenon - In fact, it's an ever-growing one. Artists through the ages have collected objects that inspired, intrigued, or made experiences more concrete. They recorded the minutia of their lives, and years later we are still intrigued & craving more. In fact, in today's culture, we're seeing more & more organized movements encouraging the recording and collection of such "evidence."

Why else would we have interest in such things as:

• [Found Magazine] A magazine dedicated solely to the publication of found notes
  
• [Story Corps] mobile recording booths, created for the sole purpose of recording and archiving stories of everyday people
  
• [The Photo Booth Project] Web sites dedicated only to found photo booth pictures
  
• [1000 Journals] waiting lists several years long just to recieve a half used journal so that you may draw or write on one page, then send it on.

There is an intrigue with the stories behind inanimate objects - how & why they were used? who used them? & how did they find their way to this place? And as a collector, we help to perpetuate the story, and in turn become a part of it.

My voice... my action... my proof of existence can all be found in this anonymous, inanimate object.

Evidence: The Art of Candy Jernigan

The works collected here reveal a fierce and funny creative spirit, an artist whose commitment to documenting life as she really found it led her not only to record sample swipes of the food she consumed, but also to stuff a roadkill rat and lovingly arrange it in a diorama. Jernigan's method - using the precision of a scientist to reveal the souls of discarded objects - makes her advocacy of the overlooked at once surprisingly charming and thought-provoking. $29.95 | Buy Now

Alexander Calder

As I was trapped at home by the snow and ice, I spent most of my day trying to find fun Web sites for my students to visit.

The National Gallery of Art has a Virtual Tour of Alexander Calder's work. You can wander your way through the interactive galleries, listening to real audio exerpts as you do. Ain't technology Grand?

More Fun Sites...

• View Cirque du Calder
  
• Paint like Jackson Pollock
  
• Explore the Egyptian Pyramids
  
• Take a virtual tour of Hagia Sophia
  
• Explore the Mona Lisa
  
• Turn the pages of Leonardo da Vinci's sketchbook
  
• Making sense of Marcel Duchamp

A Lesson from Tyler Perry

As the story goes, at the age of 28, Tyler Perry, actor and playwrite, saw an episode of Oprah in which she commented that writing something down can act as a catharsis. Perry, who had grown up impoverished and abused, and spent most of his adulthood being angry about it, decided to give it a try and began keeping a diary. As he wrote, he would change the names of the characters (to protect his privacy more so than their's), and discovered that he had the beginnings of a play.

He decided to turn the events into a play, saved up $12,000 to rent a theater, hire a cast, and market. The play, called I Know I've Been Changed closed after a week, having shown to only 30 people. Perry, having spent all of his money on the production, was broke, and homeless. He would spend the next six years working on the play and saving up money.

Having already decided that if the play was not a success this time around he would quit for good, Perry opened the play in Atlanta at the House of Blues to sold out crowds. It would soon move to a larger venue, continuing to sell out each night.

This was his tipping point. From there he wrote several more plays and started a theatrical troupe which gained a huge following in the Urban Theatre which propelled him into Hollywood, even though no one there had heard of him. His plays have since become large grossing movies (Diary of a Mad Black Woman...).

All through the successes, Perry has been criticized for the style of theater he's created - but not once has he stopped using his authentic voice to tell these stories. And, although the stories may not connect to a universal audience, they have connected, and continue to connect, with (what is termed) the Urban audience.

So what's the lesson here? I think you can pick or choose: Persistence, follow your dream, don't give up even when it feels like you should.... More than any of that, Perry found his authentic voice & he let that voice be heard.

I challenge you to find your authentic voice.

Challenge: Find your Authentic Voice
keep a diary or journal & write in it daily. Write about difficulties that you feel keep you from your best self. If you can't find the words, draw, scribble, color - just let it out.

My Favorite Headline

Steam Train Maury, 5-Time Hobo King, Is Dead at 89

Steam Train Maury, who started life as Maurice W. Graham until a train whistle’s timeless lament compelled him to hop a freight to freedom and, much later, fame, as the first and only Grand Patriarch of the Hobos, died on Nov. 18 in Napoleon, Ohio, near Toledo

Source: Douglas Martin, NY Times

How many of us can say we've had such illustrious titles?

Ruminations on Color

Some more light reading, this time from Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses -

At twilight, pink wings tremble along the hilltops, and purlpe does a shadow dance over the lake. When light hits a red car on the streetcorner, only the red rays are reflected into our eyes, and we say "red." The other rays are absorbed by the car's paint job. When light hits a blue mailbox, the blue is reflected, and we say "blue." The color we see is always the one being reflected, the one that doesn't stay put and get absorbed. We see the rejected color, and say "an apple is red." But in truth an apple is everything but red.

Not all languages name all colors. Japanese only recently included a word for "blue." In past ages aoi was an umbrella word that stood for the range of colors from green and blue to violet. Primitive languages first develop words for black and white, then add red, then yellow and green; many lump blue and green together, and some don't bother distinguishing between other colors of the spectrum....

Welsh uses the word glas to describe the color of a mountain lake, which might in fact be blue, gray, or green. In Swahili, nyakundu could mean brown, yellow, or red. The Jalé tribespeople of New Guinea, having no word for green are content to refer to a leaf as dark or light.

A Sign from the Universe?

Photo by Nancy Wombat.

Alright, so you've seen those little colored flags used by construction companies and road workers? The ones that might indicate the location of a gas or water line to ensure that no one dig there? A friend of mine in Grad school decided it'd be part funny & part performance art to go on a road trip and plant those flags along the side of the road - as markers on his journey. He recruited me, and I did the same whenever I took a road trip. (so now if you see little red or blue flags sticking out of the ground along the highway across the U.S. - you can pretty much bet that either S.J. or I put them there).

I was remembering this rather silly folly yesterday as I was walking my dog down an alleyway and came across one of those flags just sort of sticking out of some brush behind someone's garage. It was a slightly bigger flag than the ones I've seen before, bright pink, with the word "Sketch" on it. Sketch? Really?? I have never seen anything like this. I've seen red flags with some sort of Warning printed on them (my favorite was a guy getting hit by lightning, presumably to warn of buried electric lines). I have never seen one that told me to sketch. So, I took this as a sign from the universe.

I also decided that there should be flags that say "Dance," "Create," "Giggle," etc.

Now, I would've never come across this happy little oddity had I not: A. taken the road less travelled, and B. been fully observing my surroundings (as is my duty as a Thing Finder).

Challenge: Take a different path

I challenge you to pull yourself out of your routine and take a different route to work or the grocery store this week. Experience a different part of your neighborhood, town, or city.

I remember once, when I lived in Kansas City, a friend and I were driving around Union Station (before it was renovated) & discovered that a candlemaker had a studio on the lower level (accessible only from the rear of the building) - we found damaged candles and blocks of wax in boxes near the dumpsters. We, of course, could not pass this opportunity up, so we took some home and spent the afternoon making our own crazy candles - all for the cost of exploring.

Cloud's illusions

It is a childhood rite of passage, I think, to sit on the grass looking up at a blue sky filled with billowy clouds that magically take the shape of our imaginations - a bear, lion, cricket, horse.... I found, that while this game was fun, I tended to try to identify the artist that may've painted that particular sky that day: the whispy clouds of Renoir, the open sky of Wyeth, the dramatic sky of Thomas Hart Benton... and as my vocabulary of artists grew, so did my vocabulary of clouds.

Last night, standing at my living room window I watched the sunset over the mountains and, as with most days, was in absolute awe as vibrant oranges, reds, violets, and indigos splashed across a rather Dante-esque sky. At one point, my perspective was inverted and the clouds looked as if they were wet sand being revealed by a receeding tide. Pure Magic! At moments like these, there is an understanding of how the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Mayans, Mesopotamians... all felt when looking up at such an amazing sight.

I know I'm not the only one completely awed by the ever changing palette of the sky. Yesterday I came across the Web site of the Cloud Appreciation Society, whose slogan is "look up and marvel." How often do we actually do this? The act of looking up is no big deal, but how often do we look up and marvel? -How often are we filled with wonder or astonishment?

Challenge: Marvel at something today

Look up and marvel at the sky, look down and marvel at the inchworm. Marvel at your cats persistence... etc.

Activity: Look Marvel up in the dictionary

List as many marvelous synonyms for Marvel as you can. Write each word in a new Marvelous way. Hang your list in a Marvelous location, so that you may marvel at it.

The Holiday Stress-O-Meter

As the holidays approach, stress levels rise. I never quite understood this phenomenon. I mean, I know the logistics behind it - lots to do, lots to clean, have to make sure everything's just right - the perfect meal, the perfect gifts, etc, so-on, & so forth. But why do we do this to ourselves? Is it out of love? shame? pride?

Every year my mom asks me if I have a christmas list, and every year (of my adult life, at least), other than the obligatory "socks and underwear" I tell her no. At this point in my life, its a gift to just be around them - no gimicks or ploys necessary. Now I realize that not everyone feels the same way about their family members & certain enticements (such as the promise of presents during the holidays) are needed. so be it, but the simpler you can make your holidays the better for the ol' stress-O-meter.

Why not make your holiday presents this year?

Challenge: Make at least one present for the holidays

You don't have to be Martha Stewart to make a nice little gift for someone. It can be as simple as a batch of cookies, or as complicated as a quilt. You can write a poem, take a photograph, etc. Use your skills and your creative sense to make something that is special.

If you need ideas, you can pop over to 101 Handmade Gift Ideas for projects, inspiration, and instructions.

Old-Fashioned Christmas Favorites
	A Heart-Warming Collection of Treasured Recipes, Memories, Handmade Gifts, Cozy Decorating Tips & Easy How To's for the Joyous Days of Christmas $24.95 | Buy Now

Heffalumps beware

Have you ever had "one of those days," where, no matter what you tried, you couldn't get past whatever the thing was that was keeping you from getting past it? It's not a bad day, and it's certainly not the type of day in which you might hear someone say in a rather Eeyore-like voice, "it's just one of those days," as if there was no hope for the day at all. No, instead it ends up being one of those days in which you almost got "there" (wherever there happens to be).

For me, I almost got the door at work unlocked without the alarm system going off & the alarm company having to call for clearance. I almost remembered to bring my lunch to work. I almost got the bill in the mail to be paid in time.

And I almost had a really great idea for a blog post, but as it happens the idea escaped me just as I sat down to write. And I sat glued to the computer screen, as if somehow, magically, the words would appear without me having to type them. After an hour of nothing, I decided to play a little game with myself. I decided to peruse my bookshelves until something popped out at me. When it did, I took it off the shelf and randomly opened to a page & read. If nothing spurred my creative sense, I put the book back and found another. The last book I pulled off the shelf, turning to a random page said this:

Tra-la-la, tra-la-la
Tra-la-la, tra-la-la
Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um

Heffalump or no, I think that sums it up quite nicely.

More mouse-capades

It wasn't enough to have a midnight adventure with cat and mouse, now I have to have an afternoon adventure with mouse and coffee.

This afternoon one of my cats was rather insistent upon being on the kitchen counter. This is highly frowned upon at my house. We love our cats on the floor and in the lap, but in no way, shape, or form are they allowed onto such surfaces as the kitchen counter. Strict rules.

No sooner had I repremanded her, then a mouse jumped out from behind the microwave and scurried past my coffee cup, behind the utensil jar and in Kamakaze form, threw himself into the void between my stove and wall. I, of course, screamed bloody Mary, high stepped it into the other room and made several convulsive motions to indicate my utter grossed-outedness.

Once I recovered, I quite loudly stomped back into the kitchen (so's to scare off any other mice in waiting), took EVERYTHING off the counters and cleaned them like they've never been cleaned before. Strict rules be damned! If there is a mouse on my counter, you better believe, from this point out, that my cat is WELCOME up there!

I have to say that if it weren't for the mouse-capades, I don't think my kitchen would've gotten so clean. Sometimes all we need is that little incentive to get the work done.

Your challenge is to find that incentive.

Buried Treasure, an Aesop Fable

Antonius Pinto was the owner of a great olive orchard. He was also the father of three strong, but lazy sons.

Antonius tended his olive trees with very little help from his sons. Every morning before the sun grew hot, he could be found on the hillside, digging about the roots, loosening the soil, or pruning the old trees and propping the young ones; or, in harvest time, picking the ripe fruit.

And every afternoon at sunset, he could be found sitting on the hillside, resting in the shade of his trees. Then Antonius would look at the fine old trees; and he would sigh to think that he was growing old and could no longer give them all the care that they needed.

"Ah, yes," he would say to himself, "if my sons would but work as I have done, the yield from this orchard would bring us a fortune."

There came a time when Antonius no longer worked among his olive trees, for he was at rest from his labors.

His three sons met to hear the reading of the will, and the words filled them with astonishment: "I bequeath to my sons my olive orchard and equal shares in the treasure that lies buried there."

The three sons stared at one another. "Treasure!" they exclaimed. "Treasure buried in the orchard! If we hire others to dig there, our treasure may be stolen from us. We ourselves must work in the orchard until we find it."

So the sons divided the orchard into three parts and began to work as they had never worked before. They turned up the soil from one end of the orchard to the other, around the roots of each tree and between the rows. But no treasure was to be found.

That year, however, the olive trees bore so much fruit that the limbs were bent to the ground. Never was such a harvest of olives seen before! The three sons sold the fruit for a good price, and each received what seemed to him a fortune.

As they were dividing the money into three shares, one of them said, "Truly, our digging has brought us a treasure. Our father was very wise."

And so each year the three sons dug in the orchard, as their father had wished; and each year the orchard yielded its treasure.

Source Ongoing Tales

If you liked this...

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Procrastination, meet Roadblock...

There are some days (or weeks) when all I want to do is the one thing I really shouldn't be doing that day (or week). I compare the feeling to those Saturday afternoons growing up, when all I wanted to do was to go out and play - but my chores weren't done. And the deal was, I could go out and play just as soon as I finished my chores. I, of course, did not like this deal as I hated chores and I loved playing.

So, instead of doing my chores, I would put up a fuss, drag my feet, try to convince my parents that I could go play now & do my chores later, this followed by a tantrum when they said "no." An hour or two would pass, and still pouting, I would come out of my room, reluctantly do the chores (making sure to slam things as much as possible to show my displeasure). 30 minutes later I would be outside playing. 30 minutes! If I had just sucked it up, spent 30 minutes doing the drudgery of those chores, I could've been outside doing what I wanted to do! Instead I created roadblocks for myself.

The more frustrated or angry I became, the more roadblocks I would throw up, and the more I could blame someone else (my parents) for my displeasure.

So here's the deal, for 30 minutes a day, you need to deal with the drudgery that stands between you and what you want. As Aesop was fond of telling us, if you don't put in the work, then you're not going to reap the rewards.

If you want to be more creative, then for 30 minutes a day work on the exercises that help you be more creative. If you want to be less stressed, then meditate, exercise, sing! whatever it takes to de-stress you. Or you can be like me at age 10 & sit and pout in your room, waiting for someone to come in and hand it to you (good luck with that).

Little Voice

Photo by koster79.

My 14 year old cat, Migs, has a spectrum of voices - most of which we'll hear on any given day: beginning with her sweet little "I like it when you pet me there" mew. 2. her, "but I really want to be on your lap NOW" meoww. 3. her repititious, rather staccato "My bowl is empty & I won't stop meowing until it's full" m' Ow. 4. the "I just woke up from a bad dream & am not quite sure where I am," meOWWW. 5. her rather guteral, "I have a bug trapped in your shoe" meROW, and 6. the still guteral yet muffled Operatic "I've caught a mouse and am carrying around in my mouth" meRWOWuh.

It was the latter that woke me up at 2:46 this morning as she paraded into the bedroom mouse in hand (or mouth as it were).

Now, I'm not generally a squeamish person, yet when mice are involved I tend to mimick those Saturday morning cartoons, where the woman of the house, upon seeing the mouse, shrieks and hops up onto the kitchen chair. It's true. As Migs "played" with the poor creature, letting it go, then chasing and catching it again, I was playing "the floor is made of lava" game - hopping from one piece of furniture to the next.

Finally able to shoo her out onto the sun porch, and freezing my toes off, I (rather bravely, in my mind) picked her up by the scruff, opened the front door, and held her like that until she complained so loudly that she dropped the mouse into the yard where it scurried away (probably making its way back into the house at some weak point along the foundation).

Thus was my late night adventure. (I liked it better when the cats just chased leaves).

I would suggest that just as my cat has voice to match every mood, so do you. I challenge you to find these voices & become aware of them.

Challenge: Find Your Many Voices

If you're not aware of your many voices, ask friends and family. Do you have a sleepy voice? an angry voice? an "I just want to have fun" voice? a sexy voice? a singing in the car voice? how about an "I didn't think anyone was listening" voice? I think you get the idea.

As you're discovering them, write about them. How does your voice change? Write down how your friends or family describe them.... List key descriptive words.

and more fun than anything, Illustrate them! You can make fun of yourself or you can take it quite seriously. - Remember, no one but you has to see your sketchbook/journal, so don't be timid about it. This is an adventure in discovering more about yourself. Remember, the more we learn (even if it's about ourselves) the more neural connections we make & the better able we are to observe and understand our world.

And you may just want to try out some of those voices, when no one's listening, to hear for yourself how they sound and resonate in your body (how do they make you feel?).

(every once in a while, I'll get into my car, close the door, take a deep breath & just scream at the top of my lungs - for no other reason than to scream. My muscles tense, my breathing gets focused, and the sound vibrates through each cell of my body. When I'm through, I feel relaxed and awake. It's very cathartic, you should really try it.)

Your Inner Child

Strange as it may sound, last night I dreamt in flip book images. You remember flip books? the things we used to make in Social Studies class when we got board? We'd draw some little stick figure guy on the lower corner of each page of our notebooks, and when you flipped the pages, he began walking rather disjointedly to some unknown destination?

Okay, well, last night I dreamt in flip book images. I dreamt of a very crudely | simply drawn boy leaping over a bull in much the same manner as the ancient Aegeans. Except rather than a bronze skinned, narrow waisted Aegean figure, the boy was drawn as if a 6 year old, crayon in hand, tongue sticking out in concentration, had drawn it. I remember being rather impressed by this child's artistic ability.

Now Carl Jung would probably point out that this "child" most likely represented an aspect of my inner self (I'd hate to think what Freud would ascribe to the symbols of my dream). As I woke and began writing about the dream, I decided that I was observing and acknowledging my inner child.

How long has it been since you acknowledged your inner child?

Challenge: Let your Inner Child out to play

You can start out slowly, if you like, by just reminiscing about the fonder memories of your childhood. Once done with that, why not write about them? What was your favorite toy as a child? how did it make you feel? How does it make you feel to remember it now?

Activity: Play

List your favorite childhood toys/activities. Once you're done listing &/or writing about them, pick one and either find the toy and play with it, or do the activity. Seriously!

If you can't find the toy to play with - try drawing it exactly as you remember it. Keep in mind that while you are remembering this toy, you're remembering it through the eyes of your 5, 6, 7 year old self - so, if the drawing looks like a kid did it, FABULOUS! That just means you're more in touch with your inner child than you might've thought!

Creativity in the Kitchen

Photo by matthew dean martin.

One really easy way to add a little creativity to your world is by re-introducing a standard dish or meal in a new way. The great thing is, you don't have to come up with it. There are so many great resources out there for fabulous foods, all you need to do is come up with the main ingredient, and Web sites like The Food Network, All Recipes, or Epicurious will do the work for you.

Most all of us grew up eating peanut butter or tuna sandwiches - well, why not enliven the old standards with new twists?

I saw this recipe on Everyday Food (season 1 repeat) & fell in love with it:

Tuscan Open-Faced Tuna Sandwich:

1 can cannellini beans, rinsed
1 (6 ounce) can solid white tuna packed in water
2 TBSP capers, rinsed
1/4 red onion, chopped (optional)
1-2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 TBSPextra virgin olive oil
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup parsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Slice of toasted Sourdough bread

1. Rinse the Cannellini beans and capers
   
2. Drain tuna, empty into a bowl & flake with fork
   
3. Mix Tuna, Capers, Beans, Onion, and Tomato in bowl
   
4. drizzle with olive oil, mix to coat
   
5. Add lemon juice, garlic and parsley, toss.
   
6. salt and pepper to taste
   
7. pile onto toasted sourdough bread

Also good stuffed in pasta shells, or on a bed of lettuce. You can use white wine vinegar in place of the lemon juice if you like & it's just as fabulous.

Memory Making

When I was young I remember sitting around the kitchen table (about this time of year) with my mom, her friends, and their kids making christmas ornaments out of felt. The adults, god bless 'em, would cut out all the little intricate felt shapes, and we'd glue them together, one circle layered on top of another, until we had something resembling a snowman. Of course, my snowman's eyes would be a bit cockeyed, and his carrot nose looked more like a cigar in some strange W.C. Fields rendition of a snowman. And I'm sure, at the time, I was a bit non-plussed at the lack of utter perfection of my ornament, but the only memories that have remained with me, all these years later, are those of absolute joy in making those ornaments with my friends and family.

My mom still hangs those ornaments on the tree every year.

It really doesn't take a big production to create a memory making event - all it really takes is the intention to do so. We didn't have a lot of fancy supplies - really, only felt, scissors, and glue - but my mom made it fun, by making it an "event."

You can do this with just about anything - a meal, a movie on TV (or DVD)... HECK, if you're really good, even Cleaning the house could be an "event" -- every year, on the first spring-like day of the season, my mom would pop on some Joni Mitchell, tie a bandana around her hair, don some yellow rubber gloves & we'd be cleaning fiends as we sang our hearts out to In France They Kiss on Main Street. I never had so much fun cleaning the house as I did on those days with my mom & Joni.

All it takes is the intention and the right attitude to make something special.

so, the next time you pop in a DVD to watch with friends or Family (or even by yourself), why not make some crazy popcorn concoction, or turn it into a pajama party?

The Perfect cup

Photo by nishiology.

My goal today is to make the perfect cup of coffee with lightly steamed milk, one lump of demerara sugar, and a pinch of cardomum.

Your challenge of the day is to find your perfect drink (it can be cocoa, fresh squeezed juice, a martini, whatever), make it, & savour every last ounce of it. Nurse it as if you were nursing your own soul. Let it rejuvinate you.

Discipline, Shmiscipline - Make it EASY & you'll do it!

Photo by Miss_Emmeline.

When I was in college I used to run every morning before class. I'd wake up at an ungodly hour (for a college student), pull on my clothes, trek over to the gym, run, shower, and make it back to the dorms in time to have breakfast with my friends by 7am.

I look back on this now and wonder how the hell I ever had the discipline to do this. And I seem to recall that every morning, I just dreaded the idea of getting out of my nice warm bed. I hated getting up early, walking in the dark, cold hours of the morning to the gym. I hated the stretching. I even hated running the first couple of laps. But I kept doing it, because when I was finished, I felt amazing. I was strong, and powerful, and disciplined (for all the whining). And it didn't hurt that the endorphines had kicked in by then. So, for the rest of the day, I would be on a high. I would only begin to dread the running when my alarm would go off at 5:30 in the morning. As long as I could get through those first 30 minutes, I was good as gold.

I managed to keep doing this until I moved off of campus and away from the gymnasium. What I discovered about myself was that the easier I could make those more difficult tasks, the more likely I was to actually be disciplined enough to do them. It wasn't that I was more disciplined then than I am now - it's that it was easier to do it then than it is now. It cost me less than $5/month to be able to workout at a gym that was a block from my living space. These days, the cost and the distance is much greater.

The easier and more fun it is, the more likely you are to do it. This goes for everything, not just exercise.

Yes, but, how do you make it easy? You have to know how you work, and cater to your "limitations" in such a way that they won't hinder you.

For me, this means making sure I have all the tools/equipment I need to make x, y, or z at any given moment. It means having a designated space in which to create, and it means dedicating time to be in that space on a daily basis (even if I'm not creating while I'm there).

Challenge: Make it Easy for yourself

This is a bigger challenge than you might think, because there are always going to be things that hinder you: Space, money, time, priorities. What you have to realize is, those hinderances will always be there. You have to make YOU your priority - even if you have kids, even if you have a demanding job... ESPECIALLY if you have kids, or a demanding job -- remember we're trying to find balance.

Some ways to make it easier on yourself:

• Focus on what you want (the Positive), rather than the things keeping you from it (the Negative)
  
• Make a list - a wish list, or a set of goals that help you get to where you want to be. Pick one and start working toward it.
  
• Don't think, just do.
  
  If you're at all like me, you have the tendency to think something to death & in all that time spent on thinking about it, you could've actually done it, or done something that gets you closer to the "it" you want to do.

Challenge: Designate a Space

Designate a space in which you can be creative on a daily basis. This can be your kitchen table, your garden, your sewing room (or the corner of the bedroom where you store your sewing machine). It can be your attic, your basement, an actual studio space that you've rented.... where ever it is - make sure that you spend time there every day. You don't have to be creative while you're there - but you do have to be open to the possibility of being creative while you're in that space.

Whatever space you choose, when you are there, BE THERE.

Dreaming in Lists

Image by Hugh Janus.

Last night I dreamt in lists. Each item was in the form of a colored rectangular box that I could lift from the page. I would pick a box, and as I removed it from the page it became three-dimensional - like a small memory card. I then placed the card to my temple and as if through osmosis, the dream was absorbed. Once finished, I replaced the rectangle to its rightful spot on the list where it became, once again, a two-dimensional incorporation of the page, and was checked off.

Strange dream, admittedly. Trying to piece it together, this morning I recorded it in my journal and just began writing.

In her book ArtLessons, Deborah Haynes states that, "writing helps you to understand who you are and what you believe.... You write to find out what you think." And writing will help you understand, if not the dream, then its underlying tenets.

You write to find out what you think.

Activity: Write about a Dream you've had

It doesn't have to be coherent (what dreams are?), it doesn't have to be in complete sentences, & it doesn't have to be a set length. Just write. If all you can remember is the feeling of the dream, start out with that, and go on to write about how it made you feel when you woke up... when you remembered it... right now as you look back on it... etc.

and if you find that you can't write about it, then illustrate it. Before human beings could read or write, they made marks, and those marks had associations known primarily to them. Your challenge here, is to make marks, whether written or drawn, with your dream/unconscious self in mind.

Activity: Illustrate a Dream

Illustrate the dream you had last night.

Most of us dream in incoherent images that make perfect sense at the time of the dreaming, but when we wake up we're left with a jumbled or perplexing set of images/events/feelings. Why not sit down and start drawing bits of images or events that you remember from your dreams?

Can't remember images? then draw feelings - was it a scary dream? what colors do you associate with that? What colors do you remember from your dream? Instead of images, make a page full of dream colors. label them with the associated feelings.

The Courage to Create

I picked up The Soul of Creativity by Tona Pearce Myers (ed) this morning, and as I habitually do, I began skimming the foreward only to find myself entrenched. I will share with you the first paragraphs:

In the Courage to Create, psychoanalyst Rollo May states, "If you do not express you own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself."

In order to tap the uniquely creative in ourselves, it is important to honor the four ways of deep listening: intuition, perception, insight, and vision. Many indigenous cultures recognize that intuition is the source that sparks eternal seeing (perception), internal viewing (insight), and holistic seeing (vision). For these societies, paying attention to these modes of seeing is a way to honor the sacred and fire the creative fire. We extend respect to our creative, visionary process when we give voice to what we see or sense. The Soul of Creativity impels us to bring our voice and creativity into the world.

-Arrien, Angeles. "The Four Ways of Creativity." The Soul of Creativity. New World Library. 1999.

Cat Logic

photo by Swedish Viper.

Today is one of those windy fall days that makes it seem much cooler outside than it really is. As I sit in my office (not really wanting to be in here), I find myself staring out the window - daydreaming. When I come to, I notice that one of my cats is also staring out the window - but he is poised for action. It seems the wind has whipped up a great many leaves and is blowing them across the yard. Oz, now glued to the window, his tail flicking from right to left, head darting one direction then another, is chasing the falling leaves.

Occasionally he lunges toward a particular leaf, stubbing his paw (& his nose) on the invisible barrier of glass. - Not to be deterred, however, he quickly regroups, setting his sites on a new leaf. A new focus, new excitement.

So, it is here that I take a lesson from my cat: whatever you do, do with fervor, simplicity, and Joy. If you're not enjoying it, refocus - & find the excitement... the joy.

It doesn't matter to him that he can't catch the leaves. He's just having fun trying.

Challenge: Find your Joy

Just like Oz, find joy in simple tasks, and if it's not working, refocus. Make a list of joyful things, not just objects but tasks that you can undertake to help you recharge when your joy reserves are getting a little low.

Activity: Take yourself out on an Artist's Date

Do something just for you. If you need ideas, check out Julia Cameron's The Artists Way, checkout the Online Workshop, or 101 Ideas.

Hands On

photo by -Doane.

What most people miss, I've found, when working in the real world, or Corporate megaplex, is truly working with their hands.

As a treat to myself, I'm taking a Master Gardening class this fall. In our first meeting we were asked to introduce ourselves and tell a little bit about why we were taking the class. 9 times out of 10, the reason for taking the class was because gardening was a form of therapy (both physical and emotional) & it created a balance to an otherwise hectic and mundane day | life.

There's an intrinsic sense of pride and self worth when you can actually see & enjoy the fruits of your labors. I see it in the faces of backyard gardeners when they harvest their vegetables, at the quilter's quild meetings when they're showing off their most recent quilting blocks, even in the kitchen of friends when they've figured out the perfect combinations of ingredients for their newly concocted caseroles.

We are creative beings. We can't stifle that without it affecting every aspect of our lives.

Challenge: Take a class

• find & take a class in your community that you've always wanted to take but were afraid to:
  
  this could be a one day cooking workshop at Sur la Table, or a 10 week ceramics class at your community center. You could take automechanics, flower arranging, Docent training for the local museum. You could learn to paint, ride a motorcycle, or learn how to shop for antiques. You could even take a master gardeningn class.
  
  Whatever type of class it is, take it because you've always wanted to (not because you think you have to).
  
  
  
• remember, you're never too old (or young) to learn. If you find yourself resistent to the idea - ask yourself why. In fact, keep asking yourself why, until you can't think of any more answers. With each new answer, write it down in a notebook. These represent your fears, no matter how logical or practical they may sound.

Goal: embrace and accept your fears

• Fears are wonderful creatures. Usually they keep us from doing stupid things. They also keep us from doing the things we want because we're afraid we might look stupid.
  
  
• It is okay to give yourself permission to be afraid, but don't just stop at that. Take another scary step & examine your fear. What does it look like? What does it feel like? I mean really, physically, FEEL like? does it hurt? make you feel woozy or light headed? Do you feel pin pricks? or do your ears get hot?

Activity: Write about your physical reactions/symptoms of Fear

The next time you feel fear, if it's safe enough, sit down and truly feel it. Examine it from the inside out, as if you were a journalist having to write about the experience, then Write about the experience!

Treat Your Inner Child

photo by snapshot of life.

It's usually around this point in a new undertaking | journey, that I begin to lose steam. Somewhere between week one and week two my excitement begins to wain a little and my old habbits|routines start to take hold. The grown up in me resurfaces, and my inner child begins to submerge. This is my modus operandi. I know this about myself and I accept it wholly. But what to do?

Instead of letting my "Grown-up" frustrations, anxieties, or expectation begin to leak in, I treat myself (my inner child) to something. Anything that will start my creative inertia rolling again. (it could be a book, magazine, movie, ice cream sundae, an afternoon adventure to the thrift store... anything).

There are two things to remember here:

1. Just like anything else, being Creative takes work -
   
2. The work has to be fun, or you won't keep doing it
   It may seem like an oxymoron, but Work and Fun don't have to be the antithesis of one another.
   

   Work n. activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.
   

   
   There's nothing in that definition that says you can't enjoy the mental or phyisical effort. In fact, the more you enjoy it, the more easily you'll achieve your "purpose or result."

This might be the perfect time to go out and buy that inexpensive something that makes you giddy about creating. Or sit down and actually read that book you've been wanting to read for ages.

Remember, you're trying to add balance back into your life - you can't do that if you send your inner child to bed without supper.

Challenge: Continue Taking Time for Yourself & Treat Your Inner Child

• Continue taking 10-15 minutes a day (If you can spare more time, take 30-60 minutes) to "reset" or "reboot"
  
• Once a week, treat your inner child to something he|she desires.
  
• If you don't know what your inner child desires, try this writing exercise:
  
  Complete these sentences:
  
  1. "When I was four (or five, or six, or seven...) I loved to...
     
  2. As a child, my favorite color was... I remember this because...
     
  3. my favorite food, as a child, was... because...
     
  4. my favorite toy was.... [describe it in detail]
     
  5. my favorite misconception as a child was...
     (as an example: My favorite misconception as a child was that you could eat Irish Spring soap, because the commercials showed a rather nicely dressed man in a cable knit sweater slicing the bar of soap with his pocket knife, as if he were cutting a chunk of apple to eat it)
  
  
  Once you start remembering the stuff you liked as a kid, you can start feeding your inner child.

Be a Thingfinder

photo by m00nbugg.

When I was a kid, my mom's side of the family would, every summer, meet at our cousin Ethel's cabin in Sand Lake, Michigan. For two weeks all of the kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and cousins would gather - cram themselves into two cabins yelling, "I have dibs on the bed in the corner!" (as we all raced to that bed).

We would, of course, partake in all the activities that Sand Lake had to offer: sailboarding, water volleyball, swims across the lake, sun bathing, canoeing, and our daily ritual of walking around the lake.

This in particular was my, then 3 year old, cousin Matthew's favorite activity (other then, I seem to recall, eating candy). Matthew was our official "Thing Finder." And he was good at it. We'd walk around the lake, navigating marshes and wild blueberry patches, and Matthew would dart off in one direction or another, returning with a squirrel's skull, a buffalo nickel, neat looking rocks, worn bits of glass, etc. Of course, what he was really looking for were aluminum cans that he could trade in for candy at the local store, but he always came home with a bounty of "things" that we kids would always peruse and covet.

We always tried to be Thing Finders, but Matthew, since he was closer to the ground than we were, always seemed to find the best stuff.

Activity: Be a Thing Finder

On your walks or outings, as you're looking around, why not see what you can find?
Take a small bag with you, and collect objects from your walk. Bring them home and...

• Draw them
  
• Collage them into your journal
  
• write about them:
  
  • how did you found the "thing"?
    
  • What is the secret life of the thing found - where did it come from, how did it end up there...
  
  
• set up a mini-museum in which to display your best weekly finds
  
• Write descriptive tags for them & display them in your house somewhere
  
• Write descriptive or story tags for them, and leave them somewhere for someone else to find
  
  Along these same lines, there's a great movement | Web site that encourages you to leave your old books somewhere for someone else to find, adopt, read, and then leave somewhere for someone else to find, adopt, read, etc. You can go to the Web site and get a little ID code to put in your books, so that if someone else finds it, they can then go to the site, enter the ID code & you can track the journey of your released book. Kinda' fun, if you can get over the idea of letting go of your books.
  
  The Web site is Bookcrossing.com

Dream

Last night I dreamt that I lived just outside of Washington D.C. I was annoyed at having to email all of my friends to let them know I had, once again, moved, and that, once again, they would have to cross out my previous incarnation in their address books, and pencil in the current one.

Upon getting over my annoyance, I realized that I was only a short drive away from some of the nation's best Museums - and they were free! This meant I could go any time I pleased! My mood changed drastically, & as it happens in the dream world, I was magically transported to the National Gallery where I stood under Alexander Calder's immense mobile, and watched visitors as they sought instruction from the concierge at the information desk. She always pointed them in some magical direction, but never once did they look up. Not once were they graced with the surprise of Calder's playful mobile.

Challenge: Look Up!

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to look up, down, around... look in any direction that you don't usually, and see what you've been missing.

An extension of this is to take a different viewpoint|vantage point. Look at something you see everyday, but look at it from the underside, backside, up close, or standing on a chair... changing your perspective can add insight and understanding. Everytime we learn something new, or see something in a new way, we create new neural pathways in the brain (pretty cool). The more neural pathways, the better we are able to make connections between one object and another, and one action and another.

The more aware we are of our surroundings, the more fodder we have for our creative and conscious selves.

Learning to be Creative

This morning I read an interesting interview entitled, "Can You Learn To Be Creative."

Some quotes from it:

Creativity for me, as it manifests itself in my poetry, is a process that's almost like a trance. I just sit down when I have that idea, and I begin to write. I've learned how to intellectualize it, to rationalize it, to speak about my poetry in an academic way. But the process itself--that first act--is just sitting down and letting myself go.

Rhoda Janzen, California Poet Laureate

What do you do when you're stuck, when the page is blank, when your creativity is cramped, when the ideas just aren't flowing?

I go for a walk, or I go for a swim. One thing I've learned is, don't make it hard. The surest way to block yourself is to make writing a disagreeable experience, so that your unconscious remembers next time that it doesn't want to go there.

Greg Benford, Physicist & Science Fiction Writer

If you have Real Player, you can view the Program (27:23) - It's pretty interesting to listen to people from such diverse backgrounds speak about what gets their creative juices flowing.

It's always good to look to other sources for ideas, inspiration, or even affirmation. What you'll find is there is no one right way to be creative - discover those things that work for you & then give yourself permission to do them.

SING!

Everyday around 3:30, I am graced with the most curious event: my very own wandering minstrel. He walks down our little dead end gravel road and cuts through the field to the set of houses just on the other side. I never recognize the song, and I've no idea what he is singing about, but I hear his marvelous crescendoes from a block away and I smile. Occasionally I stand out on my front porch and just wait for him - for my very own passing concert to arrive. He walks by, nodding his head in acknowledgment of my presence, never missing a note, never losing his concentration. As I am not invited to join him on the rest of his journey, I wave and go back inside.

I often wonder what his story is. In my mind I've decided that he lives with a secret band of musical gypsies, and both to announce his arrival and gain admittance he must sing. So everyday, when walking home, this is what he does. And I get to be a witness to this secretive and curious event.

Challenge: Be a Witness

Sometimes all it takes to discover these mystical, magical events is to be present and be aware. More than that, however, you need to acknowledge the wonderment of it - be a witness to the event - enjoy it, write it down, create a story or poem - or just tell someone else about the wonderfulness of it.

Avoid thoughts that lead to judgment or negativity, like: "Oh what a weirdo" - instead, find the grace and wonderment of the event.

Challenge: Live Out Loud

Do something akin to our wandering minstrel: Sing out loud, recite a poem to the clouds, skip down the street, write words of wisdom on the sidewalk with chalk.... don't be afraid to be seen or heard. Enjoy your own presence, your own voice- for whatever it contains, you can probably bet that someone else out there is enjoying it too.

Start Your Day with a Story

Brian Andreas, creator of Story People, can send one of his wonderfully quirky illustrated stories straight to your email box. Why not start your day off with a little of his inspiration?

Joy of Spring

The birds brought seed & flowers & bits of brightly colored string & placed them in her hair while she slept so that she would remember the wild joy of spring when she finally awoke.

To sign up, click here (it's free, and you can always unsubscribe if you don't like it).

Scavenging for Inspiration

As a part of my daily "quiet time" today I watched the wild life outside my "office" window.

At some point this summer I thought it would be a good idea to hang a plant and a bird feeder just outside my window so that I might enjoy the beauty and excitement of birds perching within arms reach. What better way to stimulate creativity? I thought.

Of course, it wasn't too long before the plant died, because while I could see it from my window - there was never an easy way of getting out and watering it. And the bird feeder primarily attracted squirrels and a Blue Jay who liked to yell at me for not stocking the right kind of seed.

At first I was annoyed. Here I went to all this trouble to attract beautiful birds with equally beautiful songs to inspire me, and instead I get a squawking Jay and a scavenging squirrel. I have since named them. The squirrel is Rupert and the Blue Jay, Simon. I've noticed that Rupert has the habbit of showing up shortly after Simon arrives at the feeder. Simon beaks through the seed, tossing the stuff he doesn't like on the ground where Rupert then digs through it (smart squirrel). They do this several times a week & I've become accustomed to their company, no longer annoyed, but intrigued by their resourcefulness and routine.

Challenge: Scavenge for Inspiration

As you create your own routine by taking time for yourself, and writing | creating in your journal, why not take a little tip from Rupert & do some scavenging? (all the best writers, artists, and squirrels do it)

Find little snippets of writing (letters, poems, stories, op-ed columns, junk mail, etc), images, parts of conversations, old gum wrappers, neat looking leaves... that inspire you, and incorporate them into your journal.

Activity: Write, Paint, draw your Inspiration

As you find your scavenged inspiration, tape it into your journal, then write about its discovery - why does it inspire you? Or create a little drawing or poem that goes along with it.

Activity: Start a collection of Inspirational Objects

Find a spot somewhere, a windowsill, a shelf, your bulletin board... something you see every day, & keep your inspirational objects there. Make sure it is big enough to accomodate any additions.

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A Symbol of Your Creative Desire

As I was reading this morning, I came across a fairly simple and wonderful idea:

Buy something inexpensive as a symbol for your need to create, (new pen, a tea cup, journal). Use it everyday.

Often times I've felt the need to have something material and solid - something to touch, feel, or look at - that would inspire me to create. It's like that one gift on Christmas morning that gives you butterflies because you're so excited by its presence. Somehow, through its mere being, this object infuses you with elation, joy, energy. It's a type of trigger for your emotions &, of all things, your imagination.

Well, my friend, we all need these triggers. So your task, along with finding time for yourself, is to find that object that will get you excited about creating. You'll know it when you find it, because you'll feel the excitement butterflies in your stomach.

Challenge: Buy something inexpensive as a symbol for your need to create

• This can be anything! A book, a journal, a tea cup, a pen, a notecard with an image you really like on it, a toy, a spatula... anything, as long as it infuses you with that same joy & energy you felt as a child.
  
  
• Use it Everyday!