Joye Moon

"Every day is a gift — a new beginning . . . bound out of bed with the enthusiasm of a child."

— Joye Moon

American Painter

How do you begin your day?  With a cup of coffee?  A cold beer?  With steak and eggs?  Or a doughnut?  Do you drag yourself out of bed wishing you could spend the day sleeping?  Are you wide awake and full of energy?  Some people get up in the morning and say:  "Good morning, Lord.  It is great to be alive!"  Other people get up and say: "O Lord, it's morning again."  Which are you?  Someone who appreciates each day she has been given?  Or someone who finds no joy in living?  How you begin your day can have a positive or negative impact on your creative work. 

Do you begin your day with meditation?  Or prayer?  Do you take a walk?  Or lift weights? Do you eat a healthy breakfast or do you skip the most important meal of the day?  Be thankful for every day you wake up.  The alternative to waking up is being six feet under.  Celebrate the day and give thanks for all you have been given.

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Emile Zola

"The artist is nothing without a gift, but the gift is nothing without work."

— Emile Zola

French Writer

1840 -1902

Many have wasted the gifts they have been given.  Some will go a lifetime and never realize the gifts they have been given.  A gift by and of itself is not enough.  Even the gifted have to work to perfect their art.  One cannot get by on just the gift.  Hours of work and preparation are needed to create the masterpiece that will live for centuries in the hearts of others.  Often those without a gift can produce great work if they work hard.  When I was in college the question on the mind of every want-to-be artist and writer was: "Do I have talent?  Am I gifted?"  We sought the answer in the words of our professors.  Unfortunately, they often could not predict who had the gift and who was willing to work hard enough to perfect their craft.  Nobody else can answer the question for you.  Only you can answer the questions:  Do you have the talent?  Are you willing to work hard to perfect that talent?

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George Sand

"The ease (of writing) increases with age, and thus I do not allow myself to work at this more than two or three months of each year. . . . Indeed I only write two or three hours per day, and the interior work is done while I scribble away at my watercolors."

— George Sand

French Novelist

1804 - 1876

Some writers struggle to write after early success.  The second and third novel are difficult to write.  Other writers are prolific.  They adopt a pseudonym so they can publish more.  Some writers face writer's block and struggle to write.

Like Sand, I have found it easier to write the older I become.  When I was young, everything had to be perfect.  So I struggled to find the right word, the right metaphor.  Perfection is not my goal today.  I just want to get the story down on paper.  I can sit anywhere and I write — even in a noisy mall or a quiet art museum.

What about you?  Is writing easy?  Or do you struggle to put words on paper?  Do artists struggle to paint?  I have come to art later in life so I am not trying for the perfect painting.  I enjoy the process of creating a painting or a sculpture.  And I don't worry about others because I am not looking to sell the piece.  I am painting to relax my spirit — to make me feel good.

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Marcel Duchamp

"I force myself to contradict myself, so as to avoid conforming to my own taste."

Marcel Duchamp

French Artist

1887 - 1968

Nude Descending
A Staircase No. 2
(1912)

Do you ever feel that you are in rut — repeating the same stories over and over, painting the same landscape again and again?  Sometimes we fall into a rut and don't even know.  Our creative works become the same — bland and boring.  What are you doing to make your art fresh and new?  How do you challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone?  How do you avoid old habits?

As creative leaders, you need to challenge yourself — explore new territory, try new ideas.  We all can become stale and tired.  You need to find new sources of ideas — new ways of seeing the world.

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Nicholas Sparks

"When you chase a dream, you learn about yourself.  You learn your capabilities and limitations, and the value of hard work and persistence."

— Nicholas Sparks

American Novelist

1965 - 

Do you have what it takes to chase a dream?  Not everyone is willing to go the distance — to pay the price that success demands.  But whether you succeed or fail, you will gain insight and understanding into yourself.  And maybe what you learn is more important than winning the race.  We all have strengths and weaknesses, capabilities and limitations.  Most people work to improve their weaknesses.  I recommend that you focus on improving your strengths.  You may work for a lifetime to fix your limitations and still not overcome them.  Better to focus your energy on perfecting your strengths.  You don't have as far to travel and the success is more rewarding.

Here is Nicholas Sparks with some tips on writing.

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Norman Vincent Peale

"Imagination is the true magic carpet."

— Norman Vincent Peale

Author, Minister

1898 - 1993

 

Our minds are very powerful.  What we imagine, think and say can impact what we do.  Creative leaders should use their imagination not only for their creative work, but also for their personal lives.  Can you see yourself as a successful writer, artist or actor?  Can you see yourself sitting at a desk typing that great novel or standing at a easel painting your best painting?

Do you want to change some habit or relationship?  Begin by imagining yourself in a new role or relationship.  See yourself successfully behaving in a new way.  We call this positive visualization.  Most of us already do negative visualization.  Do you ever worry about the future?  Worry is a negative form of visualization.

Through the process of visualization we can change who we are.  This is the power of positive thinking.  The easiest thing in the world is to be negative.  It takes a lot more will power to be positive in a negative world.  I challenge you to take five minutes each day and visualize your success.

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Marc Chagall

"The role of the artist is tragic today because, while the world's horizons have been extended, the human heart is as small as ever."

— Marc Chagall

Russian Artist

1887 - 1985

The Prophet Jeremiah
1968

In the last 150 years the world has known many technological and scientific advances.  We have put men on the moon and invented thousands of items that make life easier for human beings from the light bulb to the iPad.  But the human heart has not changed.  We remain selfish, angry and territorial.  We kill, murder and steal.  We still break the Ten Commandments as well as the laws of man.  We are cruel, mean and unforgiving. 

Artists create beautiful paintings that inspire us all, but are abusive to their wives and girl friends.  Writers create powerful stories that touch the heart, but are rude, crude and demeaning to those around them.  Actors may explore the emotional depths of characters they play, but are unaware of their own self-destructive tendencies.

Stained Glass Windows
in Saint Stephen Cathedral,
Metz, France

Human beings have two natures: a violent one and a compassionate one.  And both often reside in the same person in varying degrees.  And we have not changed in thousands of years.  Every time we take a step forward and seem to be improving, we take a couple of steps backward.  Consider all the greed that helped create the latest financial recession.  

I learned years ago that I can't change the world.  The only person I can change is myself.  I ask myself, "What can I do today to make myself a better person tomorrow?"  And every day is a struggle.  Some days are better than others.  And some days I slip back into old habits and behaviors that are destructive to myself and to others.  Each day is a new beginning.  A new opportunity to be a better person than I was yesterday.  All I can hope for is that I am able to make a difference in somebody's life.  That I can touch one heart today.  Give hope to one soul.

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Theodore Roethke

"Being, not doing, is my first joy."

— Theodore Roethke

American Poet

1908 - 1963

 

I must confess that being is very difficult for me.  For years I have been caught up in the culture of doing.  Setting goals and working to achieve my goals.  I find it very difficult to sit and just be.  I must at the very least doodle and who knows maybe my doodles will one day be famous.  We can dream can't we!  If I go on vacation, it often takes me a week to relax and forget my day job.  But I still feel I must be doing something.  Writing.  Drawing.  Producing something.  Rarely can I just be.

How about you?  Are you caught up in the culture of doing or have you learned like Roethke to enjoy just being?

Here is my favorite Theodore Roethke poem.  I love the first three lines.  This is a poem to be read outloud.  Listen to the interaction of sounds.

The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.



We think by feeling. What is there to know?

I hear my being dance from ear to ear.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.



Of those so close beside me, which are you?

God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,

And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?

The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.



Great Nature has another thing to do

To you and me, so take the lively air,

And, lovely, learn by going where to go.



This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.

What falls away is always. And is near.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.

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Janet Fish

"I get up early and ease into the day for about an hour.  Then I start working.  There are a lot of tricks you have to keep playing on yourself to keep at it because every time you hit a problem you want to walk away."

— Janet Fish

American Painter

1938 -

For a creative leader, diving into a project is the hardest thing to do.  The mind creates excuses to keep the leader from starting.  I rise early and jump right into the day — either walking, jogging or writing.  I don't wait for coffee or the sun to rise.  But I am also good at walking away from the writing if I stumble into a problem or what happens more often is that I walk away just as the creative juices are starting to flow.  It is as if my mind is telling me to slow down, not to go too fast.  

What tricks do you use to get yourself into your creative project — to start painting?  When the creative juices are flowing, how do you keep going?

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Marcus Tullius Cicero

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."

— Marcus Tullius Cicero

Roman Philosopher and Author

106 BC - 43 BC

Creative leaders are lifelong learners.  Learning helps to fill the subconscious with fodder for creative thinking.  One important source of learning is books.  Creative leaders spend time reading even if it is only 10 or 15 minutes a day.  I encourage creative leaders to read novels, poetry, biographies, memoirs and history.  The more you read, the more you know.  I usually average about one book a month and I usually read 15 - 20 minutes a day.  I also listen to recorded books while I drive.  Listening to books is a powerful way to learn.  

If you are not a reader, it is never to late to start.  Develop the habit of reading daily.  Set a goal for how many books you will read in 2011 and keep track of the books you read on goodreads.com, a great online method for keeping track of books you read.  And you also will meet other people who read.  If you are looking for some novels to read, I highly recommend the novels I have listed on this blog.

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Robert Henri

"The real artist's work is a surprise to himself."

— Robert Henri

American Artist

1865 - 1929

Are you surprised by some of the things that you write or paint?  Or do you feel like you are in a rut?  As artists and writers we need be willing and open to change.  We need to surprise ourselves by what flows from our pens.  Sometimes it is too easy to paint the same thing over and over.  Or to write the same prose again and again.  Picasso was an artist who reinvented his art again and again.  He never clung to one style or technique.  Some novelists are the same way.  No two novels are the same.  Where as, genre writers tend to create the same person, the same story over and over.  Once they have achieved success they stop growing and changing.  Ask yourself this question from time to time: Am I surprised by what I create?  

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General Colin Powell

"There are no secrets to success.  It is the result of preparation, hard work, learning from failure."

— General Colin Powell

American Author/Soldier

1937 - 

Some people look for the easy way, the next get rich scheme and the short-cuts to the top.  They don't exist for most of us.  If you want something bad enough, it takes preparation, hard work, learning from failure and persistence.  As artists and writers we understand this because we sometimes labor for years or even a lifetime with little or no success.  My words are simple:  keep writing, keep painting, keep living.

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Mayumi Oda

"Creativity is not a driving force.  It happens.  It creates itself and you have to be open."

— Mayumi Oda

Japanese Artist

1941 - 

When we become caught up in the day to day detail of living, we often forget about painting or writing.  I often suggest to people that they write or paint every day even when  they don't feel like it.  If you develop a habit of painting or writing every day, you will be ready when the spirit of creativity arrives and you will invite her into your soul.  You will awake from her visit astonished by the gift she gave you.  Be open every moment for a visit from your muse.

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J. B. Massieu

"Gratitude is the memory of the heart."

— J. B. Massieu

1743 - 1818

This quote says it all.  Have you expressed appreciation and gratitude to someone today?  We should be thankful for what we have been given.  And give thanks each and every day for our blessings.  Thank someone in your life today.

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Bernie Siegel

"If you watch how nature deals with adversity, continually renewing itself, you can't help but learn."

— Bernie Siegel

Nature has a way of renewing itself quickly and swiftly.  In the 1970's Lake Erie, which is up the road from where I live, was declared dead.  Today it is alive.  If you ever watch how quickly a forest renews itself after a fire, you will understand the meaning of this quote.  In fact, I believe nature uses adversity has a way of cleansing itself from the rot and finding new opportunity.  One simply has to observe the seasons to understand how nature renews itself.  And since we are a part of nature, we also have this gift.  We can renew and reinvent ourselves as needed.  Let go of your old tired habits and plant new habits.

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