I can live his moment so vividly in my mind. It was his experience, but I think about it
sometimes. Ever since he told me about
it, umbrellas have become a symbol to me.
I'm not poor if I have one. I'm
rich because I now have three. I won't
get wet, and I don't have an ungrateful, nagging spouse. Life is good.
We choose whether or not to be happy, no matter what the
weather is doing. Lately, I've been
aware of how my thoughts effect my creativity.
Am I drowning in a downpour, or sitting on a sunny beach under an
umbrella's shade?
It's so easy to lose the momentum of our dreams. We can confide our hopes to someone who
blows holes through them. Maybe they're
just nasty, but often, the people who are destructive to our inspiration think
they have our best interests in mind.
They want us to be practical and safe.
"Safe" never painted a masterpiece, created a vaccine, or
changed the world.
You have to step out of your comfort zone to try something
new. You have to be willing to stumble
and fail when you try new things. You
should even expect to stumble and experience set backs. If it was entirely easy, and anyone could do
it, would it matter?
Motivation dies when we think too much of the past, or too
much about the future. Past failures
can make us believe our new efforts will fail too. Thinking about the future can make us fear the unknown. I think everyone can relate to fears of
failure, but what about our fears of success?
What if you write the perfect book, get a publisher, and have to do
public speaking on a book tour? Or, are
you so enraptured by your vision of the future that you don't sit down and do
the things that make that future possible?
Most creative people have experienced the melting of time
when you are so absorbed in what you're doing that hours disappear. For those of us who have experienced this,
it's a ecstatic state we're always seeking and often disappointed in
finding. We might try too hard, or
avoid trying because we don't want to feel that disappointment. Do it anyway.
Do it in your own voice, in your own way. That's the gift that creative people give to
the rest of the world, because nobody else can do what you can do.
It's something I've been telling myself a lot lately,
and have been in a pretty blissed out state about it. I wrote 10,000 words this week.
Yay!!! There may come a time
when I feel like I'm standing in a downpour without an umbrella, but why ruin
today with a prospect that's only a possibility? I'm choosing to see life as a sunny day on the beach for now :)
