On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In a recent post on the Writer Unboxed blog, writer Kelly Allgood shared the following excellent advice:

About a year ago, I was feeling completely stuck in my writing. I’d finished the third full rewrite of a book I’d been working on for years, then trunked it after feeling so bogged down in the details of its convoluted plot that I couldn’t tell up from down. I’d drafted another book that felt like it was between genres, and had no idea how I’d pitch it to agents once I got to that point. I felt, in essence, like writing was quicksand, and that I was rapidly sinking beneath all the pressure I’d been putting on myself to write something good, to get an agent, to get published, to start my career, and on and on.

I wish I could remember what prompted me to do this, but one cold winter’s day, I decided to sit down and write something that would never see the light of day. No pressure to publish, to get feedback, to make it good. It could be the worst piece of writing that ever existed and it wouldn’t matter, because no one would ever see it. So I wrote. And wrote. And wrote. The block I’d been sitting before shattered in front of my eyes.

It is honestly some of the best writing I have ever done, and it would never have existed had I not given myself permission to write badly.

Source: Writer Unboxed

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

I look forward to receiving weekly emails from Robert Holden, a British psychologist, author, and broadcaster, who works in the field of positive psychology and well-being. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

Describing joy is very difficult and very worthwhile. The more you tune in to joy and let yourself feel it, the more you learn about what true happiness is. I encourage my students to describe joy by meditating on joy, by painting joy, by singing joy, by dancing joy, by crafting a poem on joy, or by finding a symbol, in nature, for instance, that represents joy. What emerge are commonly felt qualities of joy, five of which I will share with you now.

Joy is Constant

When people tune in to the feeling of joy, what often emerges is an awareness that this joy is somehow always with us. Joy is quietly, invisibly ever-present. It is not “out there,” and it is not “in here”; rather, it is simply everywhere we are. Joy feels somehow beyond space and time. Joy does not come and go; what comes and goes is our awareness of joy. Ironically, we often feel the presence of joy the most when we stop chasing pleasure and we stop trying to satisfy our ego.

Joy Inspires Creativity

Upon discovering this joy, many people experience a greater sense of creativity that rushes through them. Your ego may get the byline, but really joy is the author. Joy is the doer. Joy is the thinker. Joy is the creative principle. In one of my favorite Upanishads, classic sacred texts of Indian literature, it is written: “From joy springs all creation, / By joy it is sustained. / Towards joy it proceeds, / and to joy it returns. No wonder so many artists take the course.

Joy is Often Unreasonable

I like to describe joy as “unreasonable happiness” because it doesn’t seem to need a reason. It is a happiness that is based on nothing. In other words, it doesn’t need a cause or an effect in order to exist. Certainly good things, favorable circumstances, and a happy state of mind can make you more receptive to joy; but joy still exists even when you are not receptive to it. Joy needs no reason. And this is why we can be surprised by joy even in the most ordinary moments.

Joy is Untroubled

Unlike pleasure and satisfaction, joy does not have an opposite. It does not swing up and down, as our moods do. And it does not wrestle with positives and negatives, as our mind does. Joy does, however, have a twin. If pleasure’s twin is pain, and satisfaction’s twin is dissatisfaction, then joy’s twin is love. When people describe joy to me they always mention love—even the lawyers, the politicians, and the psychologists.
Like love, joy is fearless and untroubled by the world. It is as if nothing in the world can tarnish or diminish the essence of joy. As such, it is free.

Joy is Enough

Many people describe a sense of emptiness and a “fall from grace” that follows an encounter with great pleasure and satisfaction. This is not the case with joy, however. One of the most beautiful qualities of joy is the abiding sense of “enoughness.” Unlike the ephemeral states of pleasure and satisfaction, joy does not induce a craving for more, because joy is enough. If ever we feel joy is missing, it is because we are absent-minded-caught up, probably, in some grief over a passing pleasure or preoccupied with a new object of desire.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Robert Holden’s website.

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

Here’s an inspiring excerpt from Mary Morrissey’s recent release, Brave Thinking:

For anything to have a chance of becoming reality, you need to first imagine it. When we allow ourselves to imagine a life we would love, we discover resources we didn’t know we had. With a well-formed dream, you can advance confidently in its direction. The laws of nature work differently when you are in this state. Take as an example Thomas Edison, arguably one of the most prolific inventors of all time, who aimed to devise a major invention every six months and a minor one every ten days.

When asked how he survived 10,000 failures before building the first incandescent bulb, he famously replied that he had never had a failure. He had simply found thousands of ways for it not to work.

It was all feedback. “I was never myself discouraged or inclined to be hopeless of success. I cannot say the same for all my associates,” he wrote. “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Source: Brave Thinking, pp. 42-43

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her book, Let It Be Easy: Simple Ways to Stop Stressing & Start Living, life coach Susie Moore shares insightful gems. Here’s a thought-provoking one for anyone contemplating a second, third, or nth act in life:

There’s nothing worse than adding milk to your tea, taking a sip, and discovering that the milk is…sour. You check the carton and the expiration date tells you it went off days ago. The milk has a “line-in-the-sand” expiration. Do not use it after this date—it will taste gross and might make you sick.

But why on earth would we think that humans have an expiration date? Let’s say we did. When would it be? Age thirty-five? Forty? Fifty-seven? Says who? And for what practical reason? As Oprah says, “So long as there is breath in your body, there is more.”

I love to hear stories of people who started things at later life stages. My mum went back to school in her mid-fifties to study childhood education. Julia Child released her first cookbook at fifty. Vera Wang entered the fashion industry at forty. Harriet Doerr published her first novel at seventy-four.

You are not behind. When people come to see me hoping to launch a new venture but think they might be “too late,” they overlook the fact that they already know so much. Their experience is a huge advantage, not something to underplay or discount. No experience is wasted. It can be gloriously transferred. I work with former (“recovering” they tell me) lawyers who now coach stepmoms to navigate the challenges of a blended family. Accountants who create art and sell it all over the world. Didn’t they get the memo that January 1, 2013, was their expiration date and that they’re breaking the rules? I guess not. Someone should arrest them.

I once heard an investor say, “We prefer to invest in slightly older CEOs. They’ve experienced more. They can be wiser. We have better outcomes with them.”

It’s never too late.

Source: Let It Be Easy, pp. 247-248

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

Here’s an inspirational message from bestselling author and motivational speaker, John Maxwell:

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

In her book, Let It Be Easy: Simple Ways to Stop Stressing & Start Living, life coach Susie Moore shares insightful gems. Here’s one of my favorites:

If you argue for your limitations, you get to keep them. But if you argue for your possibilities, they expand.

We are experts at knowing our limitations. We defend them doggedly. We set up Judge Judy-style courtrooms in our heads and play the part of the prosecution—against ourselves. Against our own possibilities.

What if we flipped the script?

Next time you’re about to prove a personal limitation, pause. Is it helpful, to you or anyone else? I’ve never found it to be so.

Are you “too sensitive”? Maybe you’re highly empathetic, and that’s a superpower!

Are you “disorganized”? Maybe you’re an action taker who focuses on the overall mission over tidy perfection.

Are you “on the bossy side”? Maybe you’re a natural, confident leader.

What’s there to apologize for or explain away, exactly, here?

Here’s a fun exercise. Imagine you’re responsible for defending your possibilities in a courtroom. If you had to be your own attorney for just five minutes, what would you say about who you really are and what you can do?

Source: Let It Be Easy, pp. 65-66