So why does this happen and what can I do about it?
Over the years, it’s been helpful for me to see that one reason is that I don't have many of the external structures and prompts that folks can have in official office settings. Yes, sometimes my day will be structured by client meetings, phone calls, article deadlines, and public events.
But must of time it's up to me to initiate, organize, prioritize, and go final on my projects and tasks.
I think that this self-management is especially challenging in creative work, because we face an amorphous blank page with literally infinite ways that we can express ourselves in final form. There are a ridiculous number of choices we need to make as we seek to find approaches that will both fulfill our urges and meet the needs of our audiences and clients.
For me, the difficulty rating becomes even further amplified because of the scale of my goals, as I seek to deeply serve people and our culture in overcoming our current crises and emerging as even more the beautiful essences that we are.
Yeah, being a writer/artist, seeking to save the world — what was I thinking?
Of course, I’m absolutely inspired and excited that I get to act for my dreams. I’ve worked hard to get here and am grateful for the opportunity to do this. I’m also proud of being part of many successful projects and outcomes. So I know that I’m a dreamer with a track record.
I also certainly appreciate how my schedule’s flexibility lets me honor my feelings and natural rhythms, and from that create an effective pace for myself.
But this path can also be quite daunting and intimidating, especially since it’s so different from what this culture values and how most people orient their lives.
So I've learned that it’s reasonable that I sometimes feel weary, discouraged, overwhelmed, and not in the mood. I understand why I can doubt myself, and wonder why I keep doing this work.
That’s why, over the years, I’ve developed various healthy techniques for getting myself going and taking action on the projects I’ve chosen.
One thing I’ve wanted to do along those lines for a while is give myself easy access to some of my very favorite inspiring quotes by other people — those that strike a true chord in me and spark my particular fire. Too often, these riffs are scattered in various paper and computer files, not easily found.
So, in creating this blog, I realized that it'd be a handy place for me to start pulling some of these together, so they’d be ready when I needed them most.
And I thought you might find them useful too!
Please let me know your favorites in the comments below.
Also feel free to share your experience of lighting your own spark on a self-employed creative path, including any quotes that really do it for you.
And a big thank you to everyone who said, wrote, and forwarded these goodies so that I could find them and offer them to you!
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that is translated through you into action.
And because there is only one of you in all time,
this expression is unique.
If you block it, it will never exist
through any other medium
and will be lost."
~ Martha Graham, Dancer/Choreographer
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You can read the full riff here - www.facebook.com/AnneLamott/posts/485327514930230
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Lessons of Immortality and Mortality From My Father, Carl Sagan (Excerpt)
By Sasha SaganLessons of Immortality and Mortality From My Father, Carl Sagan (Excerpt)
http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/04/my-dad-and-the-cosmos.html
"As far as I can remember, this is the first time I began to understand the permanence of death. As I veered into a kind of mini existential crisis, my parents comforted me without deviating from their scientific worldview.
'You are alive right this second. That is an amazing thing,' they told me. When you consider the nearly infinite number of forks in the road that lead to any single person being born, they said, you must be grateful that you’re you at this very second. Think of the enormous number of potential alternate universes where, for example, your great-great-grandparents never meet and you never come to be. Moreover, you have the pleasure of living on a planet where you have evolved to breathe the air, drink the water, and love the warmth of the closest star. You’re connected to the generations through DNA — and, even farther back, to the universe, because every cell in your body was cooked in the hearts of stars. We are star stuff, my dad famously said, and he made me feel that way."
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when only you get rid of the fear,
when you are a little bit more enlightened,
when you have built up your self esteem,
then...
then you will show up and give it all.
Or ... you can get out of your own way,
make yourself available,
and bow down to the One who plays you.
Now."
~ Chameli Ardagh
www.awakeningwomen.com
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~ Rumi (via Michelle Marie Shem)
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"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
~ Dylan Thomas, Poet
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
~ Dylan Thomas, Poet
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You are here to realize and honor these possibilities….
Possibility is the secret heart of time.”
Possibility is the secret heart of time.”
~ John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom
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carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.”
~ John O'Donohue
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"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams."
~ Oprah Winfrey
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Blog content (c) Copyright Patricia Dines, 2014. All rights reserved.
Links are encouraged! My content is also available for reprint. Please contact me for permission first. Thanks!
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Connecting in Sweetness: Why I love singing sacred chants with others
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