Ramblings

John Maeda

"Gardening at the Dragon's Gate" by Wendy Johnson

I just got my first order of the year from Amazon.  I'm such a book addict.  I've skimmed through this book and am loving what I see.  Gardening, a little zen, some recipes and stories.  More as I read.

Advice from Mark Bryan from the Artist Way Daily

A speaker at a photography convention mentioned "The Artist Way" by Julia Cameron and spoke about how "doing the book" lead her on her way to a creative and rewarding life.  Mark Bryan is her partner and is a coach.  Here's some good advice on fear and good advice for these times.

"Like most creative people, I have had way too much experience dealing with financial and career ambiguity. Somehow it gives me comfort to know that Thomas Jefferson, Rembrandt, and Mark Twain all went bankrupt despite their genius.

While I have no illusions about being in their class, I have had my share of financial crises and recovery over my career. It somehow gives me comfort to know that much bigger brains than mine have also struggled with solvency.     

The danger for me is in mental paralysis.  This usually happens when I am scared and I try to think my way out of my fear or anxiety rather than simply doing what any other animal would do naturally - which is run! Run fast, run hard.

No, I don't mean run away from my responsibilities, I mean literally, RUN.  Exercise is especially important when we are afraid or anxious. We need to walk, run, bike, swim, dance -- any body movement we can do to literally sweat the fear from our bones.

So, particularly if you are under financial pressure, the rent is late, or you are fighting to make payroll, or having to get a bridge loan to continue production, remember to RUN.You will sleep much better for it.

Exercise keeps our mind sharper and our body more relaxed. It is harder to get new work when we are desperate, so if you are afraid, then allow your animal body some room to move.  

Happy Holidays, Mark"
The Artist Way Daily

"Reality Check"

Just started Guy Kawasaki's book," Reality Check". Trying to get a handle on the new economy.

Back to Writing

I've been missing writing.  For some reason, writing helps you become a witness of your life and a mirror to observe yourself.  Sometimes this is welcome and other times I'm just not liking what I see.  I read a book called "Three Dog Life" a memoir by Abigail Thomas.  It's a memoir about her life after her husband suffers a brain trauma in an accident.  He loses his memory.  She write beautifully, simply, without pretense.  Some of her words, rang so clearly that I felt pain for him, for her.

She now has a book about writing memoir called "Thinking About Memoir" that I've thoroughly enjoyed.  I first read an excerpt in the AARP magazine.  This from her website:

"Writing is the way I ground myself, what keeps me sane. Writing is the way I try and make sense of my life, try to find meaning in accident, reasons why what happens happens-even though I know that why is a distraction, and meaning you have to cobble together yourself. Sometimes just holding a pen in my hand and writing milk butter eggs sugar calms me. Truth is what I’m ultimately after, truth or clarity. I think that’s what we’re all after, truth, although I’d never have said such a thing when I was young.  And I write non-fiction because you can’t get away with anything when it’s just you and the page. What would be the point?  Who would you be kidding? Why bother writing at all? Once in a while you come too close to an uncomfortable truth, and your writing goes flat, and your instinct might be to change the subject. But this is the most interesting of moments. There is so much to be found out. You can either stare at the page and realize hot dog, this is a safe to be cracked, or you can crawl under the covers and take a nice nap."

Now I've gotten two more books to get me on the road to writing.  I'm no writer - it's a tool of self-discovery for me.  Perhaps that's why I resist writing so much.  One book is by Sark called "Juicy Pens, Thirsty Paper."  The colorful pens and hand-written text make it fun to read.  The other is by Julia Cameron called "The Writing Diet."  I need to lose weight and, being the multi-tasker that I am, the idea of writing to lose weight sounds good.  I first began writing because of "The Artists Way."  I think that started me on my journey to express myself in some creative way.




 

Ring in the Rubble

Today I photographed Gary Bradt, a motivational speaker and was touched by some of the things he talked about.  I am constantly amazed at how consistent so many wise people that speak the truth are.  Or is it that their truth resonates with me?

He had the group do an exercise that I thought was both interesting and powerful.  He asked us to think of a young person that we care deeply about.  Then pretend that you had two minutes to write the most important thing for that person to know.  You were never going to be your last words to this person.  This exercise certainly made an impact on me.

He used chairs to illustrate the stuff that we hang on to.  He put a chair on his back to illustrate the way we carry resentments from the past and worry about the future.  Then with one chair in each hand, he demonstrated how this ties up both hands from reaching out for the good stuff that comes along. 

His book is "The Ring in the Rubble" and I haven't read it yet.

My messy life

Here's a quote from It's Hard to Make a Difference When You Can't Find Your Keys.  It so aptly describes my life:

"I brought those books into the house, every one made of ground-up trees.  I read them, yes, and loved them, but I have easy access to three good libraries.  I didn't need to house a library of my own.  I piled up those books because I am impatient; I want to look up a quote or a fact instantly.  Because I fend off worries by escaping, and books are my escape mechanism...The books are an expensive, troublesome, heavy, space-occupying fortress against having to confront my inner bugaboos.  I guess that's also true of...the closets full of rarely worn clothes.  Stuff taken from the earth to bolster fantasy or foist off fear, stuff our non-affluent household paid a fortune for, stuff I've housed for decades, stuff that occupied the space of real life.

Picture all that stuff wrested from the mines and forests and soils of the earth and, finally, unceremoniously, dumped...The price we're paying for our stuff–in money and time and space and resources–is tremendous."

Environmental activist, Dana Meadows, coauthor of Limits to Growth

Zorro

We're going to Kauai to meet Kris' brother and some good friends from Arizona.  It'll be fun and relaxing two days.  Here's the book I'm bringin'.

Natural Choices for Women's Health

Laurie Steelsmith, the naturalpath that I've been seeing for a few years now has written a book called Natural Choices for Women's Health.  I purchased two copies at her book launch and love it.  It's full of information giving women of all ages a natural alternative to health care.

Here's a link to photos from her book launch:  http://www.eyeoftheislands.com/RLSGalleries/Steelsmith/index.html

She prescibed a natural hormone for me for menopause and I have had no symptoms of menopause.  Friends I know have had problems with night sweats and depression and I've either been very lucky or the natural hormone works.  I'm not going to experiment with that.

Dr. Laurie is extremely generous with her time and caring for patients.  This book is a gift to women and, in this way, she can reach beyond the circle of her lucky patients.  Thank you!

What We Ache For

Beside food, I am addicted to books.  I love to read books on creativity.  I keep hoping that maybe I'll get some by reading about it.  How could I resist a title like "What We Ache For:  Creativity and the Unfolding of Your Soul."