Tree No. 19, by Digital Drawing by Mary Gow
“At the end of your life, count yourself lucky if you have more TRUE friends than you have fingers.” -Thomas J. Hayman
A true friend is a rare jewel to be treasured.
True Friends
A Little “Aggravational” Inspiration
“What’s Your Mindset?” Drawing by Mary Gow
“People change when it’s too painful not to.”
“Life is the best game ever created!”
“No thought in your head lives rent-free!”
“Every cell thinks.” – Thomas Edison
“Every master was once a disaster.” – T. Harv Eker
“I’m my own coach, referee, and executioner.”
The last quote stuck because of the impact of the word “executioner.” Ouch! To me being this equates to being what Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way, calls a “Shadow Artist” – an artist whose creative spirit was not nurtured nor encouraged in their native family. Unfortunately the shadow artist may never know they are an artist.
Cameron goes on to say, “Very often, audacity, not talent, makes one person an artist and another a shadow artist – hiding in the shadows, afraid to step out and expose the dream to the light, fearful that it will disintegrate to the touch.”
How to be kinder to yourself? I agree with Cameron, “In order to move from the realm of the shadows into the light of creativity, shadow artists must learn to take themselves seriously.”
Shadow artists can and do emerge. They begin with baby steps. The executioner within is our own core negative beliefs. Which brings me to another quote:
“Beliefs are based on evidence and are subject to change with new evidence.”
The trainer, Eric Frady, said “I’m an aggravational speaker if I’m doing my job.”
Thank you Mr. Frady.
Butterflies and Blooming
Free Free Set Yourself Free, photo by Mary Gow
Here’s a photo I took in May of 2013 at the Butterflies and Blooms Show at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
My favorite part of the exhibition was a section where you could see caterpillars growing and if you were lucky, you could witness one becoming a butterfly!
I enjoyed the seven day writing challenge I’ve just completed. Last night I prepared this image to post today… after thinking about whether I was going to keep up the momentum. It’s one day at a time. I’ll see if I can continue these baby steps.
The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. ~Rabindranath Tagore
Time to Blossom
“Blossoming,” photo by Mary Gow
I enjoyed the variety of posts.
On Day 2 it was a thrill to be scrolling and see the submission I made that day on the blog!
During the week I caught myself in a habit I’d like to break. Yesterday’s topic was to write about surprising ourselves. I wrote and rewrote a story of when I was in the seventh grade I heard about a famine in Africa and I was so moved by the potential of millions dying that I went room to room asking for donations in this school of over a thousand students.
Then I glanced at the Challenge to see what other people were writing – which were mainly surprises they recently experienced, not surprises from many years ago.
So I scratched my story and submitted two sentences about a recent surprise.
I’ll keep on writing though. I’m continually learning.
I leave you with a poem I look at every day:
… and then
the day came
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud was
more harmful
than the risk
it took to
blossom.
-Anais Nin