Unique is Superpower

I was not born or raised to be like everyone else. My quirks are what set me apart, at least that’s what I tell myself. I’m kind of awkward, kind of emo but love glitter and pink. I’m an annoying overachiever with healthy boundaries. Weird, I know. I’m a recovering workaholic who likes to sleep. I love connection, but I require more solitude (like hours, weeks, months) than I do connection. All these qualities come together to make some strange artistic writer (me) who adores all the odd things in our world that increase our well-being.

Sidenote: I’d love more weird artist friends who understand the solitude part. I also adore the friends I have!!

“I think ‘weird’ is an interesting way to say ‘unique.’ It has a strange connotation, but weird is good. If you embrace your weirdness, you’ll be on the way to becoming who you are.” -Ben Falcone

Art Enables Us

 “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” -Thomas Merton

This quote is exactly what phase I’m in right now. Today was a good writing day for me. A lot less receptionist, a lot more artist. You know, I war against becoming that woman who is ruled by her home duties. I enjoy an organized living space, but I also adore my writing life. So there are time limits on both.

Do you have time limits for your craft?

Unmasking

“To be an artist, you don’t have to compose music or paint or be in the movies or write books. It’s just a way of living. It has to do with paying attention, remembering, filtering what you see and answering back, participating in life.” -Viggo Mortensen

I’m getting back to myself and focusing on wrapping up my novel. I’m doing my best to focus on the story and what I want to say. I know what I want my readers to feel. I know that I want a good story. I just want to polish it. Focus its power without forcing too much.

Well, the point of all that is that unmasking is in process. Unleashing all my inner weirdness one day at a time.

Washing the Dust Off

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” -Pablo Picasso

The daily dust piles up when you don’t take time to wash it off. That’s why God took the 7th day to rest. The world will chew you up and spit you out with not one ounce of sympathy. It’s your job to wash off the daily dust before it causes so much buildup that it wreaks havoc on your health.

I, like Picasso, feel refreshed and renewed after art. What helps you wash away the daily life from your soul?

Indoor Plants

“Life is blooming inside.”

Our indoor plant or internal life is what keeps the air clean. One great way to nurture your internal life is staying in touch with your thinking which is also known as metacognition. It’s very important. It helps you better navigate all the ups and downs in life. It helps you stay present and helps you tap into your intuition.

How’s your indoor plants?

Playing Small

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” -Nelson Mandela

I did it. I doubled up and spent a couple of years working a “normal” job. If there was any job I could ask for, it would have been this one. The point is, I loved it. I was doing good. I was making money for the family, and it wasn’t a pointless job. I served my community. I’m not perfect, but I’m disciplined and kind. Since I was more of an observer than anything, I gained so much hands-on experience. BUUUTTT there was something missing. That drive, that passion that fills me to overflowing to the point that I share my fire with the world. That. was. gone. My fire was dim; it was there, and sometimes it shined bright and lit the light of those around me. But here, in this place where dead artists find my living soul and set it alight. These days where I spend half the day serving my family and the other half feeding my soul. This. is. the. life. And I had to see that for myself with my own hardworking hands. But that’s not the purpose of this post. The purpose of this post is that even though you love it, fuck it, even if you adore it, if that’s not what you’re called to, it’s going to dim your flame. It’s going to take away from your power. In the Christian faith, they say the Good Lord can use anything for good. And I think that’s exactly what the Good Lord does when you choose something good but not something you’re called to. The experience was valuable, but what was it that I needed to see? or prove?

Let me hear it, what’s dimming your flame? And what can you do feed that fire?

Slow Mornings

I have decided I want us to have slow mornings. I want us to sit in the sun and enjoy a cup of joe. I want us to be able to take time to check in with ourselves and the Good Lord. And I want us to move toward productivity with a clear and confident minds that are ready to take on new challenges. I want us to have days of rest to spend with our family and with ourselves. But I also want us to work and be part of something bigger than us, too.

How do you like your mornings?

Fresh Eyes

“Being a successful person is not necessarily defined by what you have achieved, but by what you have overcome.” — Fannie Flagg, The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion

What have you overcome? What do you appreciate about where you are?

I’m looking at life from fresh eyes lately. This has been the most beautiful fall I’ve seen in a long time. There’s something about this writing life that calls me to appreciate the present.

The Right Time

“The time is always right to do what is right.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

Typed “quotes” into the search engine, and this one resonated the most. I don’t know that I can come up with any wiser words, but I’m feeling it today. Doing the right thing doesn’t always get you a pat on the back. Hell, sometimes it even knocks you back a few steps. What’s important to remember is that you are the first link in the chain. If not the first, you’re one more link. People may not understand why you are so committed to your beliefs and values in the moment, but once you stand up for what’s right, you give the next person enough bravery to take a stand. And then the next, and then the next. Don’t ever feel that your desire to do right is a waste. You may never know the positive impact you’ve made. You may have even liberated someone’s limited way of thinking.

Choose right even when it feels wrong.

Peace if Mind

“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” —John Wooden

To become the best of which you are capable isn’t a set point; it’s a state of mind. This mindset isn’t about finality it’s about acceptance. The magic is that when you do the best you are capable of every day, you’ll continue to get better. And always remember, it’s not about comparing your better to someone else’s; it’s about comparing your better to your yesterday.