Cycles
When my husband and I lived in Santa Ynez not too long ago, one of the things I loved most about life there was that I could tell what time of year it was based on what was going on in the environment around us. The pumpkin patches were bursting with orange in October, the Icelandic ponies were having their babies in June; months made themselves known by the red peppers in one field, the sunflowers in another, the smell of onions somewhere else. We grew mountains of basil in our backyard and heard the owls at night. Nature was our calendar.
Life in Santa Monica is not quite so serene, but I was reminded this week that I can still feel those cycles in places like the farmer’s market. Yesterday was one of those days I have longed for for what feels like weeks, a day where there was no particular timeline on anything. I felt the freedom to go with whatever happened to be in front of me and because of this I received some wonderful little gifts.
After catching up on the phone with a few friends and spending a wee bit too much time with my new favorite distraction – instant chat on Facebook – I headed outside to my bicycle for a day of errands on two wheels. I had to start by dusting off my poor neglected bike, and when I went to pump air in the tires I discovered a flat. Thinking myself quite the ingenious one, I grabbed some duct tape and covered up where the leak was (not on the tire itself, but where air is pumped into the tire). It seemed to hold after filling it with air, but within ten blocks it was flat again. So the journey went like this:
* I walked my bike more than six blocks to the bike shop and got the tire fixed.
* Backtracked almost all the way home to the dry cleaners to drop off the load I had been carrying around in my bike basket.
* Headed back towards the bike shop again – since that is where the farmer’s market is – parked my bike, and loaded up on all the goodness that is now in season. Apples, grapes, carrots and a big container of honey dates – yum!
* Ran into my husband unexpectedly, so off to lunch we went.
* Ate lunch, finished shopping, did a couple of other quick errands before heading home.
* Dropped off the first round of loot, then rode to Whole Foods Market, where I ran into this lovely little bluebird. Just so happens we had run into each other at the same store in the exact same spot a while back, so we both immediately burst out laughing when we saw each other and proceeded to gab for a while. Just like neighbors do when they happen to see one another in the local grocery, in small towns like Los Angeles.
* Finally made it back home about four hours after I first set out, happy to have felt the sun on my face, peaceful that the day was more about chance than about specific goals.
These are not earth shattering experiences, but they are an important part of what I am wanting more of in my life. Those unexpected twists that create an experience you hadn’t imagined for yourself, experiences that could only be possible by letting go of all pre-conceived notions about what your day is supposed to look like in order to be considered productive or meaningful or valid.
There will always be things to do for work, for my book, for whatever obligations I have committed myself to, but sometimes it is best to just let those things wait. To brush them aside and let a flat tire determine your day, to allow them to collect dust in order to blab the day away in the dairy aisle.
The Commercial
My husband and I rolled back into Santa Monica yesterday evening after more than fourteen hours on the road. It was a bit of a trek to do the entire journey from Boulder in one day, but most of the drive is beautiful and we loved listening to The Fountainhead all day long. Today is one of those grubby days in sweatpants, doing laundry, catching up on emails and messages, sorting through a stack of mail and getting our house back in order.
It also happens to be the day of my big holiday commercial. I have a permanent link to this entry on my sidebar, so you always have easy access to all the details on how to get some free booty with book orders over the next many weeks. Here’s the scoop:
* I’ve just added a slew of new goodies in my Etsy shop. Affordable, framed original collages (the first batch I posted has already sold out!) as well as ultra affordable tiny creations. 3″ x 3″ originals for just $20 each. Some of them are shown above. If things sell, I’ll keep adding more, so don’t panic if they disappear quickly.
* I’m also offering free loot for multiple book orders. Ordinary Sparkling Moments makes a wonderful gift for the holidays, and I will be happy to personalize any books you order. Order 3 or more books and receive a free postcard set; order 5 or more books and receive a free limited edition print; order 8 or more books and receive another free book!
For these special goodies, order books through my website, and when you are checking out, enter the code glitter in the message box. In the same box, include a list of names (first name only please) for personalization.
* The Limited Edition Hardcovers are steadily disappearing. I haven’t done an official count this week, but the number of these books left is less than 65.
* I have another show at Peach Tree Gallery alongside more than a dozen other amazing artists for Peach Tree’s 3rd annual holiday show. The show opens Saturday, December 6 and will be open through December 21st. See the Peach Tree website for details on gallery hours.
* From there I go to Arroyo Grande for a special evening at Mari Robeson Home on Sunday, December 7th, 4:00 – 8:00pm. Mari and I have been friends for years and I cant’ wait to share Ordinary Sparkling Moments at her gorgeous boutique, which is located at 151 West Branch Street in Arroyo Grande.
* So far that’s all the news that’s fit to print on book events, but I just re-teamed with my favorite Swirly rep in the Bay Area, so I predict a few sparkling events up north in 2009.
* Last but not least, anyone who orders anything from my website or Etsy shop between now and Friday, December 12th will be entered in a drawing for a free original 12″ x 12″ collage on wood. Zowie!
If you feel inspired, I would love for you to spread the word on all the goodness here. As always, many thanks for all of your support on this extraordinary, sparkling journey.
Movement
Something is Shifting
There is something in the air, something shifting in this little corner of the universe called Blogland (Blogville? Blogania?) A lot of questioning, examining, exposing, exploring. What is it for? How authentic is this community and how real are the stories we share? Why does it so often end up feeling like high school? I have seen this discussion on a number of blogs as of late and I’ve had it with many friends. As uncomfortable as it can be to shine a light on the less pleasant aspects of this community, I always believe that any conversation aimed at honesty and seeking the truth is a productive, healthy thing.
That is my intention in sharing some of my stories and opinions here – to contribute to the discussion that is already in progress, in a way that I hope is a meaningful. I am here to tell the truth…not to judge, gripe, wallow or criticize…but to honestly share my experiences in this sometimes peculiar world.
This is basically a brain dump of snippets from my blogging experience, in no particular order of importance.
I feel like a bit of an oddball blogger, like I don’t fit neatly into any particular kind of category, hardship, struggle or journey. My purpose for keeping a blog is to seek the truth, explore my questions and share my journey in a way I hope is inspiring to others. I must admit that I believe if I struggled more in any number of ways, I would probably have a wider audience. Having said that, I actually have no idea what my stats are. I can’t remember the last time I checked them – oh wait, it was actually a few weeks ago, because I was trying to track traffic from a recent first try at advertising on another website. I am sitting here trying to remember the numbers on the stats list and I am drawing a complete blank. In a nutshell, I don’t care about stats. I don’t blog to be popular.
I am pretty terrible at keeping up with other blogs, and I have rather prickly feelings about the obligation to leave a comment just because I’ve stopped by. I am a lurker most of the time. If I had all the time in the world I could probably make blog reading a full time job, as there are so many out there with interesting stories, discussions, images and explorations. But I get overwhelmed fairly easily by the sheer volume of blogs, so I tend to stick to very few regular reads.
See the list of blogs under “Community” in the right hand column of this blog? There are at least a dozen – no, probably two dozen – other blogs that I am also familiar with, have heard of or otherwise know about but have not added to my list. This is not because I am trying to leave anyone out, but because – and this relates to my previous comment – I just feel like all the linking and connectiong has to end somewhere. I sometimes worry about how people will interpret this, this not being on the list. Will they think I am trying to intentionally leave them out? I start having these guilt-driven thoughts, and it makes me feel very small.
If anyone reading this believes I have not been made to feel left out, excluded or not cool enough for the cool crowd, you are very much mistaken. I have felt all of these things from people I put my trust in, and it has not been fun, to say the least. These experiences have inspired me to pull away completely and distrust everyone. My work there is to not allow that current to pull me too far out to sea, so far that I’m disconnected from everyone. They have made me feel taken for granted and like a total sucker, as if I somehow got pulled into someone’s tractor beam and wanted so much to believe in the possibilities of our connection that I didn’t see the truth of what our relationship really was (which may not necessarily have been bad, but not as geunine as I thought it was.)
In my quest to believe the best story I could believe and my fierce desire for a meaningful creative community, I have, at times, allowed myself to get tugged along much further than I should have allowed. It is not in my nature to be overly-cautious or mistrusting, but I am learning that I need to pay much closer attention to my intuition in these situations. There are many tiny details that are the source of the truth, and it is all too easy to ignore them when rawer emotions take over. This is a lesson I’ve had to learn over and over again in my life, in the blogging world and beyond.
I have found some of my dearest friends through blogging, and have always trusted that I will meet the people I am supposed to meet in person. I have never tried to force a face-to-face meeting; when it has happened it has always been an organic process. After an intense, mind-blowingly beautiful connection with three fellow bloggers about a year ago, my view of the blogging community was dripping in pixie dust and I began to cast my net far and wide. Now, many months later, I am starting to see the cracks and the mud, the less pretty sides of this world. I have had a pendulum swing in one twelve-month period, and I think I’m basically back where I was before this gathering last year, in a bit of a love/hate relationship with blogging. I am feeling more reserved, more hesitant, more careful about reaching out too much. I’m choosing not to place any judgement on this, but to allow it to play out the way it needs to play out, and to trust that I will eventually find my way to a place of balance. Beneath any hurt feelings and disappointments, I believe this is a powerful, beautiful community that has created a lot of joy and goodness in the world. I believe this with all of my heart.
The last comment I will make has to do with my own particular voice in this world. As I said, I don’t know what my stats are but I can tell you they aren’t earth shatteringly huge. Still, I know I have a certain readership and know that audience is building because of my book (thank you!) and I feel a huge sense of responsibility around that, a responsibility I am honored to have. I will always try my hardest to share my journey in an authentic way, to share the joys as well as the struggles, the beauty as well as the frustrations. At the end of the day, no one is putting a gun to my head and forcing me to expose myself in this way, and I believe it is my job – my duty – to hold myself accountable to what I write about and claim to live by in my blog.
I can explain my intention this way: if someone is reading my blog, and then we meet in person, I want that person to recognize me face to face. In other words, I want that person to see the same person in the flesh as they see here in words and pictures. This is different from the need to feel seen; this is about wanting my blog and my self to be in alignment. This blog holds me accountable, and that just might be my favorite thing about keeping a blog. In aiming to write and share authentic stories about my life from a place of integrity, I find my way to like-minded souls and hopefully add a little extra sparkle to the world along the way. If I create a powerful, positive story in this space, I damn well better have the actual experience to back it up. Anything less is totally without meaning.
I am so appreciative of the honest voices out there that are offering a more well-rounded view of this community, warts and all (this one and this one are creating some interesting discussions.) Even though it is almost November, it feels a bit like spring cleaning, and I have faith this discussion has the potential to lead us all somewhere pos
itive.
Thoughts?
Leaning Into the Cracks
If you wake up
And the day feels
Ah broken
Just lean into the crack
(Just lean into the crack)
And it will tremble
Ever so nicely
Notice
How it sparkles
Down there
I can decide
What I give
But it’s not up to me
What I get given
Unthinkable surprises
About to happen
But what they are
-Bjork, “It’s Not Up To You”
This is where I’ve been lately – leaning deeply into the cracks, letting myself feel what I need to feel about things that have caught me off guard, overwhelmed and exhausted me, made me feel small and tossed aside. I have felt strangely quiet, unusually private, not wanting to share too many details of anything good, bad or otherwise. I feel certain circumstances of my life shifting, dissolving and tumbling in new, unexpected directions; I realize I have been expending a great deal of energy trying to rationalize a slew of feelings that cut to my core.
This is all OK. In this pull towards a quieter existence, in those cracks, there are many gifts. It still feels a bit too murky to express anything with much clarity, so I am trying to allow the fog to roll in as thickly as it would like, to let it obscure the answers I seek, to trust that they are out there, that I will find them, that they are waiting for me.
I have been thinking a lot about the word transcendence, about all the ways we can stay centered in our own integrity and belief system when the world around us feels like it is going haywire for reasons we cannot comprehend. I suppose that is what those ordinary sparkling moments I speak about in my book really are – experiences of transcendence, of moving “beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience”. I am dealing with very human emotions, experiences, joys and disappointments, but within those seemingly pedestrian episodes I know there are portals to all that is good in the world – to compassion, to courage, to beauty. They exist in the darkness, in the accidents, in the cracks.
Quiet
I know I have been quiet this week…trying to plow through a couple of big projects that I thought would be finished sooner, so feeling more and more desperate for a break. It has been an intense many months, filled with abundance and joy and so many blessings, but right now, right this minute, I am feeling worn out. Bear with me as I try to squeeze out as much down time as I can in the last part of this week. In the meantime, my new website is up and running. Have a happy weekend.
Answers
[Original collage from a new series of framed creations available on Etsy. More will be posted over the next week.]
Thank you so much for all of your thoughtful comments and questions on my last entry. Off we go…
* Do you feel the magic!? [posted by Linni]
I feel the magic all the time, and find the more I pay attention, the more I see and feel. I have learned that it is pretty easy to find what you are looking for in the world – if I want to focus on sadness and pain, I can see that everywhere. If I want to focus on beauty and joy, that exists everywhere as well. We have the choice to put our attention anywhere we want in any situation. When I need to feel the magic, all I have to do is open my awareness to it and I see it everywhere.
* Have you considered politics and running for office? [posted by Sherry]
Ummmm….no. I will be honest and say I am about as cynical as it gets when it comes to politics. I don’t see how it is possible to operate from a place of integrity in that world.
* Do you have film making aspirations beyond your recent first attempt? [posted by Star]
This question is giving me the hugest smile!! I have been a film geek for a long time now; one of my alternate life dream jobs is to be a director. I’m still quite annoyed at myself that I waited so long to give it a try, as it was a lot easier than I thought it would be to create something small. I’m going to keep playing (I have been filming a lot this week) but don’t have any real agenda for it. At this point I’m just doing it for fun!
* How did you choose self publishing over trying to find a publisher? [posted by Violet]
What finalized the decision for me was a glimpse into my past, at Swirly in particular. When I looked at the trajectory of Swirly’s success, it was strongest when I was doing it on my own. I had a big time agent and licensing deals and even with those, things did not go as well as when it was entirely my own enterprise.
It was also important to me to create this book on my own terms. A comment I hear about my work consistently is that it is too personal, but I believe this is what makes it more universal. When a larger company comes in needing to appeal to the masses, they have their own ideas about what will reach the widest audience. I understand this needs to be their focus, but for this book I was not interested in watering down what I wanted to say on any level.
* How did you choose publishing at a traditional press company compared to some of the online options like blurb.com, was it the ability to have control over quality? [posted by Violet]
Blurb books are gorgeous – they do really beautiful work – but they require you to use their templates and those did not fit the format I wanted to use. I never looked at what it would cost closely, but my guess is that it would have also been cost-prohibitive for a 160 page book, and I would not have been able to sell the book at an affordable price. The printer I chose is one I’ve worked with for years, so I knew they would do great work and that the entire process would be a smooth one.
* Technical question, what software did you use to edit [your film] together? As far as your processes did you storyboard first or was more editing the film together as you went? [posted by Violet]
I used iMovie on my Mac – so easy to use!! I did not storyboard anything, just made it up as I went along.
* From where do you find the courage to share the difficult juicy bits of life – either in your lovely book or here at your blog? [posted by Valerie]
I have no qualms about sharing difficult experiences, the challenge for me is how to convey what is going on without airing all the gory details. This is actually an interesting creative challenge, to figure out how to express the deeper meaning behind specific situations. I don’t think people are necessarily interested in the details, I think it is more important to understand how challenges are processed, worked through and overcome. In sharing difficulties, I am simply wanting to be authentic and honest. It would feel out of integrity to me to only share the good things or to try to gloss over the truth, and integrity is more important to me than anything.
* What was your initial PUSH…the initial drive that made you realize you had to get your words and art, into strangers’ hands and hearts? [posted by Melissa]
This PUSH you ask about is kind of like a big ball of energy that was formed over many years of living my life, asking a lot of questions and exploring the meaning and lessons behind everything I was experiencing. All of these experiences alongside years of creative journaling, blogging, sharing and creating began to swirl together to form an idea that became my book.
As an artist I go through this process over and over again. On any given day dozens of ideas come into my brain. Over time, many of them fade away but some of them keep coming up, evolving and growing, and I eventually reach a point where I have to follow through with them or I go a little crazy. Certain ideas reach a point where I have no choice but to do them, and this book was one of those ideas. Once I made the decision to finish it and self-publish it, doors started opening everywhere and I knew right away I was on the right path.
* How did you get through the difficult time? The time when you felt you weren’t good enough or the work you were producing wasn’t as fabulous as you wanted? How did you quiet those gremlins in your head? Or better yet…have you even felt any of those things, and if so how did you cope with it? [posted by Jennifer]
I will share an example from an experience I had a few years ago. I mentioned it briefly in the beginning of a recent entry in which I listed some of my more significant creative ventures. This is how I described it:
“steady, focused beginning, landed a huge license deal, brought in a business partner who then moved and took another job. End result: license deal lost, a year of work down the drain.”
This was a situation where I had a contact at a large company and after months of working with them and talking to them on my own about various ideas, I brought in a business partner. This partner and I put together a huge proposal and we were offered a major contract within a week. A few months later, this partner took another job in another state and I take full responsibility for the fact that because of this I chose to end the partnership. My partner believed it could still work, I did not, and it ended. When I went to the company we were working with, I assured them I was still on board 100%, but they were no longer interested, so I essentially lost a year’s worth of work in one quick instant.
This happened in December 2004. I have been through worse experiences in my personal life, but in my professional life this was rock bottom. I felt ripped off, brushed aside and completely taken for granted. And let me tell you: I was furious. By this time I had also let go of my agent for Swirly and had begun shifting away from that, so at this point I felt completely directionless, like all the work I had done for the past decade meant nothing.
There was one thing and one thing alone that got me through it: the belief that this loss meant something better lay in store for me. I had to believe this even though deep down I wasn’t really sure it was true. It was a situation where I had to go completely in my head about it, because my heart was totally broken. When I say I had to believe there was something better for me, this didn’t feel romantic or exciting and I didn’t wholeheartedly trust it. This was a tool I was using to make sure I didn’t give up. This mantra was a head lamp in a deep cave, it was a dirty, rusty machete in a tangled jungle. It was hard work, but it pulled me through.
* What do you do or tell yourself when your confidence is shaken? [posted by Jenn]
I know this might sound morbid, but I think about the fact that in 50 years or so, I’ll be gone and it won’t matter. I have nothing to lose by creating and putting my work out in the world. I think about my 85 year old self and what she might tell me to do. She is a great motivator; she always tells me to go for it.
* I would love to know your thoughts on manifesting your creative dreams and your thoughts on the law of attraction? [posted by Melba]
I could try to answer this in my own words, but I don’t think I could say it as well as Steven Pressfield does in The War of Art, one of my favorite books:
“…the most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying. Why is this so important? Because when we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen. A process is set into motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unseen forces enlist in our cause; serendipity reinforces our purpose.”
I have experienced this over and over again – of doing my best work, putting it out in the world, and experiencing a barrage of gifts and openings that I could have never imagined for myself. But here’s the catch: this all works best when we let go of expectations and allow our dreams to take us where they want to go. Our dreams will show us the way and we have to be willing to follow them.
* What was your initial push to get yourself out there? [posted by Lisa]
I know this is along the same lines as Melissa’s question, so I will add a little more. My mission as an artist has always been to inspire others, to encourage whoever I can to trust themselves and create a meaningful life. This is important to me because I believe this is what the world needs. When we create a meaningful life, we glow, and the world desperately needs this light.
* Did you learn to paint in school, or just by playing and doing, picking up techniques along the way? [posted by Stacy]
I was an art major in college (Virginia Tech) and I’ve also taught myself quite a bit. I tend to try to figure things out on my own, but learned last month at Squam Art Workshops that continuing to take classes is a very smart idea. There is so much I don’t know!!
* Rather than fearing failure, have you ever feared success? [posted by Kerstin]
I have! (This is a great question.) I always battle a fear of my work taking over my personal life and/or somehow wreaking havoc on my marriage. Stories of dual-high-powered career couples…I’m rather wary of them, because I think something significant must be sacrificed for two strong willed individuals to fly as high as they can. My husband and I are both very driven and both approach any challenge, goal or adventure with fierce attitudes. I am fearful that I will lose the ability to manage my life if things go too far with my work.
I am also fearful that people will misunderstand what I am wanting to say with my work, my writing, my book. I am not trying to stand up and tell people that if they simply do what I do, they’ll find the answers they are looking for. My goal is for people to read my book and realize that they have the answers, wisdom, inspiration and strength in their very own lives to create a meaningful existence. I am not trying to promote myself…I don’t see my work, beliefs, philosophies, etc. as belonging to “Christine Mason Miller”. At the risk of sounding cliched, I am simply a channel, wanting to spread a message that has come to me through my observations, questions and explorations, a message I believe is important to all of humanity.
Thank you again…Happy Friday!!
Loving The Questions
[Photo from my book launch last month at Squam Art Workshops :: Taken by Thea Coughlin]
I have only had a few book events so far, but it isn’t taking long to figure out what I love most about these experiences – the questions. I love the questions, the tougher the better. I did four readings at my September 28 show at Peach Tree Gallery and during the last reading someone asked what I thought about the state of the economy. After pausing for a few seconds to gather my thoughts as quickly as possible, I said something like this…
I think we are where we are as a society because there are so few of us who are taking the time to sit still and ask ourselves “What is enough?” There seems to be this mentality that if, at any moment, there is an opportunity to have more of something, we feel compelled, obligated and motivated to take it, no matter what the cost. Everyone has been going after as much as they can, and now that so much of what they had is slipping away, everyone is beginning to panic…because once again, there aren’t enough people sitting down to ask themselves “What is enough?” What do we, as humans, really need to live fulfilled lives, to thrive, to create meaningful relationships, to live in the present? How would the world look different if we all asked ourselves that question every year? Once a month? Every single day?
Just as the freight train to abundance is passing us by, this period of loss and decline will also pass. It will not last, and I find it fascinating that so many decisions are based on a belief that whatever is happening at any given time will never end. People made bad financial decisions because they thought the real estate boom would never end; people are now making bad financial decisions because they think this decline is never going to end. Everything changes, evolves, shifts and grows, but human beings don’t seem to want to embrace that truth…we want things to stay the same when they are good and then sink deeply into the idea that we’ll never escape our fate when things are bad. I sometimes imagine myself floating among the stars, looking down at our tiny little planet and can’t help but wonder where all of this is going to take us, why we choose to make things so complicated and difficult for ourselves.
And then I come back down to earth, and I go back to work.
*******
I would love to have a little Q&A right here on my blog (this fabulous idea came from Ms. Bella Wish herself Stacie de la Rosa). Send me a question in the comments section…about the book, about self-publishing, anything goes. I will post all answers Friday morning. Let’s have a little Ordinary Sparkling Moments blog event right here & now!
Giving it a Go
I have been wanting to try my hand at "filmmaking" for, oh, a few years, and have let my lack of experience, knowledge, and editing skills prevent me from giving it a go. This past weekend I found myself with a free afternoon and plenty of footage I’ve collected over the past few years for, you know, that day that I hoped would someday arrive when I’d have the guts to dip my toe in the water. These are clips from a recent flight across the country, my recent show and a magical moment in Iguazu Falls, Argentina. The song is "Serpentine" by Kate Havenevik. The two lovelies in the film are Denise Andrade [photographer] and Stacie de la Rosa [subject]. Now that I’ve tried it, I’m totally obsessed, already hatching plans for my next few ventures.
Fact Sheet
How I managed to hammer out this blog entry this morning is beyond me my brain is so full of mush, but for some reason the muses tapped me on the shoulder and off to the keyboard I went…this is what was on my mind this morning as soon as I got out of bed.
I have followed many dreams, and experienced a wide array of successes with them. A quick rundown of some of my biggest ventures on the scale of failure vs. success:
#1 huge success
#2: fabulous beginning, then drowned in quicksand
#3: a fun idea hatched among three friends that fell apart once the real work needed to be done
#4: steady, focused beginning, landed a huge license deal, brought in a business partner who then moved and took another job. End result: license deal lost, a year of work down the drain.
#5: moderate success, but overall very positive in that it led to…
#6: so far, so good
All of these ventures have been creatively and artistically focused and each of them has given me their own unique gifts in terms of experiences, lessons, wisdom and just plain fun. While their details and stories are all different, there are a few common threads that connect them all, and these threads have become a fact sheet of truths that have accompanied any dream I’ve pursued.
There are countless stories in the world that sum up following a dream like this:
“I decided to pursue my dream and suddenly life became beautiful and grand and magical. Success came easily, money flowed, and I now start each morning with a cup of peppermint tea, an hour of creative meditation and bluebirds whispering songs into my ear throughout the day.”
The world needs these picture perfect versions of following a dream – we need to believe our own dreams can take us to such blissful places so we have the motivation to take the leap and make them real. I love these stories, they are beautiful in their simplicity; I have my own version of my perfect artist life that is filled with messy hours in my light filled studio and moments of creative inspiration that are spiritual in their purity and power. This is all true. This is all real.
And it is only part of the story.
I have followed many dreams and learned many lessons and feel compelled to share more truths of all of these journeys. These are not complaints or gripes; they are simply facts. They are experiences I’ve had over and over again and I have come to appreciate them as part of the entire dream-making process. They all teach me, they have all helped me grow.
> Following a dream and making it real involves one thing above all else: hard work.
> It involves something else: a willingness to not just step but leap wildly far beyond your comfort zone. If you don’t like cold weather, get a great big parka and a wool hat with earflaps, because you’re headed into the Alaskan tundra. Guess what? It’s not nearly as daunting, scary, difficult or overwhelming as you think it is going to be. You’re going to find sources of strength and creativity you never knew you had out there.
> However you map out the journey of your dream, do it in pencil, because as you move forward that path is going to change. You’re going to be wrong about a lot of things, but that doesn’t matter. Go on this journey with as few attachments, expectations and pre-conceived notions as possible. Let your dream guide you – it will show you where it wants to go. Trust your dream.
> There will be people you think you will be able to count on to support you in your dream who are going to let you down. Some of these people will be totally indifferent to your pursuits, some will turn their backs on you and some might even go so far as to sabotage your dream. You will be surprised at who these people are. Do not live in fear of this and do not try to figure out ahead of time who they might be. This goes with the territory. Not everyone is comfortable enough in their own skin or happy enough in their own life to sincerely support and celebrate your creative leaps. This is no reflection on you and you do not need to take it personally, because here’s another truth:
> There will be a hell of a lot more people who are going to step forward wanting to do whatever they can to support you and cheer you on. You are going to inspire people. You are going to become a beacon, and people will be drawn to that; they will want to help you shine brighter. Surround yourself with these people and don’t be afraid to tell them what you need. And when they show up for you, do this: acknowledge them, thank them, make sure they know how important it is to you that they are behind you.
> It is easy to succeed. Did you read that right? Yes, you did: it is easy to succeed. Look around you – notice how often you see careful attention paid to detail in any area of life. Most people are not willing to do the work that needs to be done to make a dream real; most people don’t want to be bothered with all the tiny details – and there are oodles of them – that accompany following a dream. Artists do not become successful because they sit around and wait for inspiration; they do not rise to the top because they refuse to focus on things like marketing, organization and bookkeeping. Successful people succeed because they are willing to wear many different hats and do the work they need to do whether or not they are in the mood. See the first item on this list for a simpler explanation of this truth.
> The world is going to be a better place when you take a bold leap for your own dreams. You are going to glow in an entirely new way, and those around you are going to see that light. They are going to want that light to shine in their own lives and they will be inspired to take their own bold leaps. This will inspire their circle, and outward it will spread. This joy cannot be contained and your journey will be a testament to that. The world needs this light, is desperate for it. Who are you to keep your unique beauty from the world?
> The most profound joy and beauty in following a dream does not exist in those big, grand moments – the book deal landed, the cover of Artist’s magazine. The real gifts await you in all the tiny details. The day you receive your first order (I still have my very first wholesale order for Swirly cards from 1996), those brief – for they are brief – instances where you see with absolute clarity that you are exactly, precisely where you are supposed to be, the first day you get to spend the day working in your pajamas.
Do you know what one of the sweetest moments of my journey with Ordinary Sparkling Moments has been so far? The sound of the rain the night of my book launch in a cozy cabin next to Squam Lake. I thought I might get weepy reading certain passages or seeing certain friends in the audience, but it was the sound of the rain that almost got the tears flowing. I just couldn’t believe the beauty of that moment; it was almost more than I could handle.
I am sure I will think of more things as the next few days pass, but this morning these were the things that were on my mind. I have been riding a giant wave of glitter for months and I am beginning to quiet down. There are still sparkles everywhere and I know this stillness is temporary, but for now it is nice to reflect more deeply on what this journey of dreams is all about, what it really looks like and what I’ve learned after trekking through so many different forests.
Now go…go shine your own light. There are people in the world who don’t know who you are yet but are, without realizing it, waiting to be shown the way to their own dreams by your unique light. You will follow your dream and you will inspire others. One is not possible without the other.
