“Forest of Offerings,” (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008   

This week, I participated in three art fairs, and in each one, I met up with a person who was on the edge, the cusp, of following their dream. In some instances, it wasn’t particularly a full-time dream, but they were on the edge of either staying true to their personality or wanting to fit in with what the world deemed appropriate. In all three instances, I was more than happy to tell them to stick with their gut and to allow the world to see who they really were. As Luann Udell stated on her blog, and I’m paraphrasing: There has never been anyone like you before on this earth, and after you are gone, there will be no one just like you ever again. So, with uniqueness comes a “responsibility” to share that individuality with the world, in whatever creative form you decide.

In “The Boss of You”, by Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears, the “Personal Measure of Success” exercise asks that I write down what I defined as success (and what I highly love about this book is that while it has business savvy, it strongly encourages you to think outside of just making money and taking over the world). What surprised me, and what I kind of had known all along, was that part of my definition of success was encouraging others to follow their own path (even if it meant they wanted to be an accountant). In many instances, we all find ourselves facing a multitude of roads, and some are proven and tried and successful, and there are others that are unmarked, treacherous, and scary looking. If the Attaining Creativity blog entries can be a light along that scary path, one of the many lights, I will count myself successful.

The wonderful, and also scary, thing about unmarked paths is that each one of us will explore and find different curves and stretches along our journey. Because of our beautiful uniqueness, none of us will travel exactly the same path. And that is a beautiful thing, because it will make our story even more individual, a story that can be passed on to future generations and maintain its individuality through the ages. What we will share is the spirit, the daring of the journey. We will share the downs of spending days cutting down trees that seem to overwhelm us and the ups of reaching a clearing from where we can see the whole valley below us.

With technology that allows millions of us to share our stories, we can also find comfort and inspiration in how others are faring in their journeys. We can pass kindness forward and help others out when they are feeling low or uncertain. We can ensure that people know that they are worthy of success, and so much more, and that they shouldn’t settle for anything else.

I will end this entry with this: I sit here on a foggy, rather sad looking morning, after an unsuccessful fair in which I sat for hours without making a sale. As I listen to this song and think of the movie “Love Actually” I remember that with death comes life, with loves lost comes new loves, with mistakes come success, and with trying anything new comes heartache and smiles and an unexplainable feeling of delight. Ups come with downs, but the trick, and the secret, is that eventually the sun will come out again (as it is right now), and life will remind you, subtly, in the little details, that beauty is all around you and within you. Life will give you a kick in the butt and demand that you share yourself with the world. So, pay attention to the little details. If everything else around you feels overwhelmingly dark, look for the little light that remains. Follow it, nurture it, and watch it grow until the room is ablaze in fire. I know, I know how difficult facing that darkness is. Keep going forward.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 1:08 am and is filed under Attaining creativity, Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

“Forest of Offerings,” (conte, and pastel drawing), Copyright © Attaining Creativity 2008   

This week, I participated in three art fairs, and in each one, I met up with a person who was on the edge, the cusp, of following their dream. In some instances, it wasn’t particularly a full-time dream, but they were on the edge of either staying true to their personality or wanting to fit in with what the world deemed appropriate. In all three instances, I was more than happy to tell them to stick with their gut and to allow the world to see who they really were. As Luann Udell stated on her blog, and I’m paraphrasing: There has never been anyone like you before on this earth, and after you are gone, there will be no one just like you ever again. So, with uniqueness comes a “responsibility” to share that individuality with the world, in whatever creative form you decide.

In “The Boss of You”, by Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears, the “Personal Measure of Success” exercise asks that I write down what I defined as success (and what I highly love about this book is that while it has business savvy, it strongly encourages you to think outside of just making money and taking over the world). What surprised me, and what I kind of had known all along, was that part of my definition of success was encouraging others to follow their own path (even if it meant they wanted to be an accountant). In many instances, we all find ourselves facing a multitude of roads, and some are proven and tried and successful, and there are others that are unmarked, treacherous, and scary looking. If the Attaining Creativity blog entries can be a light along that scary path, one of the many lights, I will count myself successful.

The wonderful, and also scary, thing about unmarked paths is that each one of us will explore and find different curves and stretches along our journey. Because of our beautiful uniqueness, none of us will travel exactly the same path. And that is a beautiful thing, because it will make our story even more individual, a story that can be passed on to future generations and maintain its individuality through the ages. What we will share is the spirit, the daring of the journey. We will share the downs of spending days cutting down trees that seem to overwhelm us and the ups of reaching a clearing from where we can see the whole valley below us.

With technology that allows millions of us to share our stories, we can also find comfort and inspiration in how others are faring in their journeys. We can pass kindness forward and help others out when they are feeling low or uncertain. We can ensure that people know that they are worthy of success, and so much more, and that they shouldn’t settle for anything else.

I will end this entry with this: I sit here on a foggy, rather sad looking morning, after an unsuccessful fair in which I sat for hours without making a sale. As I listen to this song and think of the movie “Love Actually” I remember that with death comes life, with loves lost comes new loves, with mistakes come success, and with trying anything new comes heartache and smiles and an unexplainable feeling of delight. Ups come with downs, but the trick, and the secret, is that eventually the sun will come out again (as it is right now), and life will remind you, subtly, in the little details, that beauty is all around you and within you. Life will give you a kick in the butt and demand that you share yourself with the world. So, pay attention to the little details. If everything else around you feels overwhelmingly dark, look for the little light that remains. Follow it, nurture it, and watch it grow until the room is ablaze in fire. I know, I know how difficult facing that darkness is. Keep going forward.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 1:08 am and is filed under Attaining creativity, Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.