Transforming our destructive thoughts one seed at a time — They are everywhere. Stuck on the garden gnome, the backyard furniture, in-between the patio steps, caught in the Emerald Cedar trees. A few had the unfortunate luck of getting stuck in the citronella candle wax before it hardened. Floating thistle seeds, thousands of them. We found out they’re coming from…

Resistance to doing the work and the courage to persist — The desk arrived, finally, after four months of waiting. My writing desk, as I call it. Beautiful rustic whitewash finish. I’d like to believe it was the desk not having been delivered yet that kept me from writing, but I know how untrue that is. I’d like to tell myself…

Sometimes the words don’t come. They stubbornly refuse to show up and be tied down. Perhaps they have better places to be, other writers to visit for the day. Even in the waiting, the silence, I have to trust the process. In the mundane act of holding still, there has…

What emotions have to teach us — “‎Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love. So you mustn’t be frightened, if a sadness rises in front of you, larger than any you have ever seen; if an anxiety, like light and cloud-shadows, moves over your hands and over everything…

Lifting the weights that crush us — January 1st. It carries so much weight — both positively and negatively. It contains so much hope, and yet so much angst. Realistically, it’s just another day. But ideally, it can become so much more. A fresh start, a second chance, a new path forward, a do-over. We place so…

Spiritual Reflections on COVID-19 — “The coronavirus is reminding all of us to savor what we have, to go deep at a moment when we’re not as free to go wide. And that’s a lesson in this sorrow.” — Marianne Williamson Even without stepping outside, I can feel the eerie quiet of the city. The…

Discovering Our Artistic Subject — 18° outside this Sunday evening. Slight headache. Trying to keep it at bay. Thinking about the chocolate chip cookie I’ll have a little later on. With milk. Candle lit on the kitchen counter. Dog is napping. Steven Pressfield’s book The Artist’s Journey sits next to me. In it he says…

Thoughts on finding our message and the journey to get there. — There are many self-defeating thoughts artists and creators have over the span of their art-making journey. This must be among the top two. I can’t imagine every artist not confronting this at some point, especially at the start. The nemesis that shows up from time to time, or constantly, it…

Finding Renewal in Lifeless Places — Easter. The word conjures up themes of renewal and rebirth for me. A starting over. Not like starting a new year, but starting a new way of life, a re-envisioning of how one wants to show up in the world. This day gives me hope that what once was dead…