Reminders for myself

In order to be an artist, I must:

Show up at the page. Use the page to rest, to dream, to try.

Set small and gentle goals and meet them.

Remember that it is far harder and more painful to be a blocked artist than it is to do the work.

Remember that it is my work to do the work, not judge the work.

"Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things."

- Ray Bradbury

The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.

So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.

- Brenda Ueland

There will be many times when we won’t look good - to ourselves or anyone else. We need to stop demanding that we do. It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time.

Judging your early artistic efforts is artist abuse.

Leap, and the net will appear.

- The Artists Way

By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to BE an artist, and perhaps, over time, a very good one.

Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.

- Shakti Gawain