The environment for creativity

"In the end, there is no one ideal condition for creativity.  What works for one person is useless for another.  The only criterion is this:  Make it easy on yourself.  Find a working environment where the prospect of wrestling with your muse doesn't scare you, doesn't shut you down.  It should make you want to be there, and once you find it, stick with it.  To get the creative habit, you need a working environment that's habit forming."

                             Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit

Guilt vs. Shame

" A clear way to see the difference is to think about this question: If you made a mistake that really hurt someone's feelings, would you be willing to say, 'I'm sorry. I made a mistake'? If you're experiencing guilt, the answer is yes: 'I made a mistake.' Shame, on the other hand, is 'I'm sorry. I am a mistake.'"

              Brene Brown, "Life Lessons We All Need to Learn," Oprah Magazine, Feb. 2013

I (Heart) Mondays because ...

I have something to think about:

"Say what you think you think, and worry later about all of its accommodations because what you think you think is often truer than what comes from the composition..."

                                                                Diane Sawyer in a Vanity Fair interview, March 2013

Trust your uncertainty.  I like that thought.

I (heart) Mondays because...

some Mondays I find a quote that gives me just what I need to begin the week:

"I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something.  Say, instead that you are doing it...The most remarkable things follow."

                  Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way

For people who are stuck in the past...

"I use memories, but I will not allow memories to use me."

            Deepak Chopra

A Poem for Mondays

 Memento Mori in Five Syllables

Something awful may

happen tomorrow.

Some terrible thing

may be waiting for

mourning.  Think on this.

The car you leave in

never arrives.  The

voices you hear are

whispering lies.  The

hankie you touch to

your lips fills with blood.

Think of the skull on

the mantle.  Ponder

Boethius, et al.

Turn Terror away.

Make today quiet,

humorous, and good.

I (Heart) Mondays

...because I began the day with Vivaldi's Concerto in C Major for Violin, a bubble bath, loving thoughts of friends and family, none of whom I have to cook for or to clean up after.