I’m not sure about you, but I feel as if the month of June has simply gotten away from me. One minute I’m flipping the calendar and it’s June 1st, the next minute we’re days away from the last weekend of the month. It is maddening! What does this have to do with the quote I’m sharing today? Nothing and much, depending on how you look at it.

Obviously, there is nothing about June, the start of summer, or the ending of the school year. There’s nothing about time or calendars. And, yet, it reminds me of all of those things. Because, while I love summer and always have great plans, sometimes it can feel like I can’t possibly get enough done in the summer so that it will be extraordinary (you know, like all those party photos in Better Homes & Gardens or the vacation photos everyone and their cat seems to post on social media).

But then I look at this quote and remember that I can still strive for excellence in the common things I have to do each day and that creates the possibility of uncommon excellence. And I like that. It reminds me, too, of one of my mother’s favorite sayings: if you are going to do anything, you might as well do it to the best of your ability.

So let’s strive for excellence in the common things we do this summer and we might even find some wonder in the mundane. Because that’s the point of a creative life, right? To find the inspiration where others don’t see anything.

I hope you have a wonderful end to your June. 🙂

So, this week has been hard. I’m not really sure what to say that hasn’t already been said, so I’m not going to try. Sometimes words simply fail us. Then, again, sometimes we find the words that are exactly what we need. While not everything that we need right now, because I don’t think that is possible, today’s quote is something that may help a tiny, fraction of a bit if only the entire world would remember it:

Kindness is so important on so many different levels. We need to be kind to each other, to those we see every day. Did you stop and say hi to your neighbor today? Did you say the compliment you were thinking in your head about your colleague’s awesome talk? Kindness can sometimes just take a minute, but we too often let those minutes go by unremarked. Put some kindness back into your day.

We need to be kind to those who will never know us, who will never meet us, who couldn’t even imagine that we are there. Whether this means for you being a little gentler and kinder to the earth while you’re here or volunteering at whatever charity organization fills you up with more kindness reserves or giving money to organizations that do good in places you may never see–or maybe it’s all three, spread some kindness to those who will never have the chance to personally thank you. Put some kindness back into the way you live the whole of your life.

We need to be kind to ourselves, too. If we can’t be kind to ourselves, it is really hard to be kind to others in a way that is empathetic and sincere. Be kind to yourself when it seems like you can’t figure out how life could possibly be going so wrong and be kind to yourself when it is going so well that you don’t want to blink because you’re afraid it will disappear.

So, I guess all I’m saying is that I hope you’ll join me in being kind. If the whole world was kind, it’d be a better place and I’d like that, wouldn’t you?

Sometimes what you need to hear or read comes from the strangest places. Today’s quote comes from a box of chocolates that a colleague gave me. Really. This quote by George Bernard Shaw was on the back of card that described the chocolates. Don’t know what it has to do with chocolate, but it is a wonderful sentiment to remember.

I love the reminder that we can create ourselves. We can be who we want to be if we do the hard work of creating. We don’t have to worry about finding ourselves. I love this because I’ve always thought that “finding” myself seemed weird. I’m always where I am. I don’t need to find myself, but I do need to be mindful about creating the person that I want to be.

So what do you want to create for yourself?

As for me, I’m continually in the process of creating and being a person who is intelligent and kind, creative and productive, caring and strong, respectful and daring. Life is a process of creation.

So I hope in the coming days you find happiness and even joy in creating the person who is you. And I hope you share some of your creations with the world when you’re ready to share.

P.S. Yes, the chocolates were terrific (in case you were curious). 🙂

I love ideas, don’t you? I love the flash of a new idea that makes me stop short and take out a pen and paper to write it down so I don’t forget. Ideas can be wonderful things, but too often people want to horde them it seems. Try getting some writers to talk about a work-in-progress and you know what I mean. I wonder if they are worried that ideas can’t be copyrighted, only their tangible or fixed forms. Whatever the case, I have a quote by Howard Aiken today for anyone who is afraid of people taking their ideas:

This is one of my favorite quotes that I’ve come across while reading this year. I’ve found it to be so true in work and in creating. Everyone says they want something new, unique, the next great idea. But, often, you’ll have to hit the same people over the head with a large volume of an encyclopedia to get them to pay attention once you have a great idea (and have done something with it).

This quote reminds me of two things: 1) Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas (most people don’t care, won’t do anything with them, don’t understand, or all of the above) and 2) Keep working on making your ideas real, even if no one does care or understand except you. Maybe, one day, they will. But if they don’t, you’ll still have your work and that’s a pretty good thing, too.

I hope you have a lovely rest of your week full of creating things and finding great ideas for your next project! 🙂

Do you ever procrastinate? The answer is yes, right? Even if we don’t want to admit it. So today, I want to share a quote from the amazing lettering artist, Jessica Hische.

I love this quote and the idea behind it. (Also, if you love the quote, check out the amazing print of it that you can buy. ) Maybe we can’t support ourselves by doing the work we do when we are procrastinating right now, but it definitely gives us an idea of what we truly love to do.

So the next time that you are procrastinating about doing something (maybe instead of doing the laundry, the next quarterly report, or whatever)  and are instead doodling, painting, writing snippets of dialogue or looking up how to start up your own business, take a step back to reflect. You may have found your vocation.

I hope you are having a lovely week with time for creating what you want. If not, remember, there’s always a sliver of time somewhere you can use (even if you have to be a time thief to get it.) 🙂

Where do you get your best ideas? What inspires you? I get my best ideas while walking. Sometimes I get ideas while doing something else, but usually it’s walking. I was reading Austin Kleon’s book, Steal Like an Artist, last week and came upon the following quote that I just had to reproduce:

I love it. Have you ever gotten your best idea from your laptop? I haven’t. I spend hours on a computer for work, but my ideas don’t come from it. I learn things, but those flashes of insight and sparks that make me want to drop everything and pick up a pen don’t come from sitting in front of a screen.

So I hope you take some time to get away from your screen, be it a desktop, a laptop, or your cell phone. Take some time and get some fresh air, do something, make something with your hands. Doodle, sketch, write, create something–anything–away from your screens and wonder at the ideas that come.

I hope you have a lovely week full of new ideas, even if you don’t know where they’ve come from. 🙂

Does the end of the month give you wanderlust? Does it make you want to move? Do you get a creative burst of energy as you check off the days leading to the flip of calendar’s page? Or does the end of the month make you feel tired? Like you just want to curl up in bed because there really ought to be another day slipped in there in secrete just for rest? Whatever your feelings are about the end of the month, we should all remember:

Whether we feel energized or tired, ready to take on the world or ready for a break, making time to see friends is always a good thing (even for introverts!). We know this in our bones and science backs it up with more studies showing the importance of friends and connection. (Side note: I just read a great article on this in the latest print issue of Scientific American Mind, but it looks like it is behind a paywall so can’t link.)

So let’s use the end of spring, a time of growth and energy and change, to connect with our friends. Time flies by and without deliberate planning, we may find that while the road to our friend’s house isn’t long, we haven’t been there in a while. I look forward to using the longer days for connecting with my friends. Maybe we’ll inspire each other on top of chatting and eating good food!

I hope you have a wonderful week full of creativity and connection with your friends. 🙂

How is 2016 treating you? Has it been a good year, full of growth and discovery? Or, are you feeling like the year has gotten away from you? Or, perhaps it is a bit of both. The year has been flying by, but it’s still spring and there is still so much time left to make the year great. This quote speaks to this for me.

Sometimes I just want things to stay the same, so I can get my feet under me and feel like I know what I’m doing and where I’m going. It’s a common feeling, I think. But the world and life doesn’t work like that. Life is change, which we see especially in spring. But, unlike blooming flowers or hatching birds, we have a choice about what we do with the inevitable change. We can grow or we can choose not to grow.

I hope we all choose to grow and change for the better. That we stretch and reach for those dreams that we barely whisper to ourselves. That we share generously our new insights and creations. And, I hope, maybe just for a weekend, that we can slow down and enjoy instead of rushing around because in those small moments are when we can get our best ideas and truly break forth in a great growth spurt.

I hope you are having a lovely spring. For those doing Camp NaNoWriMo, how’s it going? I hope wonderfully well. 🙂

Spring is a wonderful time of year, isn’t it? Except for the allergies, of course. I love spring because it really does seem like a time of new beginnings and change.

I picked this quote because it seems like a good encapsulation of my feelings of spring (even though I’m well aware that this quote doesn’t mean that in context of the play, but I take my inspiration how I can). If we are self-reflective, we know who we are now. After all, we just have to look back over our history to see where we’ve come from and where we stand.

But it is an entirely different matter to know what we may become. No one knows that, which is either hopefully or scary or something in between, depending on your attitude and outlook. To me, it is hopeful and delightful and wonderful. We are still in the process of becoming, no matter who we are. Our art, our writing, our living, everything still has possibility. That makes me want to dance, then get back to creating.

I hope spring has blossomed in your part of the world. If it is still covered in snow, I hope you feel the hope of spring in your heart. I hope you are energized to create and to become what you’ve always wanted to be this spring. 🙂

How many times have you equated patience with power? It doesn’t seem like patience is powerful, or even considered a virtue, in today’s hyperlinked, mobile, always connected culture. But this quote reminds us that patience can be powerful.

I’m the first person to admit that sometimes it is difficult to be patient. It’s hard to be patient when traffic is horrendous. It’s hard to be patient when on hold on the phone. It’s hard to be patient when waiting in line. But it is hardest to be patient with ourselves. We want everything to be done now. We want success, however we define it, in our lives now. We find it unsatisfying to wait, to take a breath, to be patient.

But patience is powerful, if we are intentional about slowing down and taking the time to be patient. How wonderful is it to simply enjoy a conversation over a cup of tea with a friend or loved one without hurry? This is when we truly connect. How joyful is it to write, to bake, to paint, to print without worrying about what anyone else thinks about what we make? This is when we truly create. How peaceful is it to listen to the rain without interruption? This is when we truly have time to imagine.

Patience, like all good parents say, is a virtue. It is also a power that we can all cultivate that helps us in life and in art. I wish you a day of patient work and talk and wonder. May it lead you to new insights and success. 🙂