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.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

As a child you impressed and inspired yourself on a daily basis. You ran, jumped, swung, sang, and danced openly without a care in the world — without worrying about what everyone else thought of you. You didn’t need anyone else’s constant approval, because deep down you knew you were amazing.

But as you grew into adulthood the pressure from peers, popular media, and society as a whole began to wear on you. You started comparing yourself to everyone around you. You judged and measured your body, your lifestyle, your career, and your relationships against other people’s lives. And when you realized that many of these people have things that you do not, bitterness set in and you gradually stopped appreciating all the great things you do have in your life.

Optimists defend themselves against this self-dislike in two primary ways. First, they get back to trusting their own intuition when it comes to their daily activities. They stop asking for everyone else’s approval and simply do what they know in their heart feels right. Second, optimists don’t judge themselves against a set of unrealistic, third-party ideals. They let go of the ideals and instead hold on to the belief that they are always good enough just the way they are, even as they grow into stronger, wiser versions of themselves.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’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 a thought-provoking reflection from international speaker and bestselling author Joyce Meyer:

You’ve probably heard someone say, “You might end up eating those words.” It may sound like a simple expression to us, but in reality, we do eat our words. What we say not only affects our friends and the people around us, but it also profoundly affects us. The question is, how will your words impact your life: positively or negatively?

Words are wonderful when used in a proper way. They can encourage, edify, and give confidence to the hearer. A right word spoken at the right time can be used to change a life.

You can increase your own joy and greatly reduce stress by speaking the right words. You can also upset yourself by talking unnecessarily about your problems or about things that have hurt you. The choice is yours to make today and everyday.

Source: Quiet Times with God by Joyce Meyer

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.

A long-time fan of bestselling authors and coaches Marc and Angel Chernoff, I look forward to reading their emails and blog posts. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

It’s incredibly easy to overestimate the significance of a single decision, outcome, or event in the heat of the moment. But you must remind yourself to take a deep breath when things don’t go your way. Your results in the long run — good or bad — are always the byproduct of many small steps, outcomes, and events that transpire over time.

The truth is we all fail sometimes. The greater truth is that no single failure ever defines us. Learn from your mistakes, grow wiser, and press on. Character and wisdom are sculpted gradually. They come with loss, lessons, and triumphs. They come after doubts, second guesses, and uncertainty. The seeds of your success are planted in your past troubles and failures. Your best stories will come from overcoming your greatest challenges. Your praises will be birthed from your pains. So, keep standing, keep learning, and keep living.

Note: I highly recommend subscribing to Marc & Angel’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.

Best-selling author Brianna Wiest inspires readers to reclaim their power and improve their lives in The Mountain is You. Here’s a thought-provoking excerpt:

Don’t worry about doing it well; just do it.

Don’t worry about writing a bestseller, just write. Don’t worry about making a Grammy-winning hit, just make music. Don’t worry about failing, just keep showing up and trying. At first, all that matters is that you do what your really want to do. From there, you can learn from your mistakes and over time get to the place where you really want to be.

The truth is that we actually do not accomplish great feats when we are anxious about whether or not what we do will indeed be something impressive and world-changing. We accomplish these sorts of things when we simply show up and allow ourselves to create something meaningful and important to us.

Instead of perfection, focus on progress. Instead of having something done perfectly, focus on getting it done. From there, you can edit, build, grow, and develop it to exactly what your vision is. But if you don’t get started, you’ll never arrive.

Source: The Mountain is You, p. 37

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.

A long-time fan of bestselling author Claire Cook, I look forward to reading her monthly newsletter. Here’s an excerpt from her creativity self-help book,
Life Glows On:

Being creative is not about being discovered or getting famous or becoming rich or producing a mountain of award-winning work. Not that there’s anything wrong with those things, but I think they’re different goals altogether. Or at least add-ons, like extra cheese and guacamole.

Sometimes the creative goal or project is secondary to the creative journey it takes us on. Sometimes it’s all about the goal, and we just want the satisfaction of hitting that creative finish line.

One person’s creativity is not another person’s creativity. There are no rules. But even though I can’t find your creativity for you, the good news is you can find it for yourself.

Being creative is about touching hearts. It’s about finding our own heart. It’s about tapping into our past and remembering the unique experiences and insights that make us who we are. It’s about flipping our adversity and challenges and experiences into a point of view, a vision, a style, a voice. It’s about standing strong in our authenticity and individuality and distinctiveness.

Being creative is about reaching forward and seeing things in new ways. It’s about growing and learning new skills. It’s about sharing not only what we create but also how we create it, as a way of providing value to others, because we can, because we want to.

Creativity is a habit, a practice, a style of living. It’s a way to find and refine your story, to share what you have to share with the world. It’s a safe haven, a place that is always there for you when you need to get away from it all.

Once we decide to let creativity in, it’s ours. To find it, we don’t even have to click our ruby slippers like Dorothy did in The Wizard of Oz.

We simply have to keep doing creative things until creativity becomes a habit that enhances our life. Our creative pursuits can be as simple or as complicated as we want them to be. One way of being creative isn’t better than another way of being creative.

We can play. We can dabble away to our heart’s content. We can choose a goal and then put a structure in place to reach that goal. We can go the professional route and earn money from our creativity. We can shoot for the moon and go as big as we can go. Or keep it small and close. It’s up to us.

I think it’s basically a matter of finding the approach that suits our personality as well as our goals and priorities. One approach can eventually lead to another. Or not. It’s all about choice.

But thinking it through ahead of time and being intentional about the creative path we’re choosing, at least as a jumping off point, is important. It can make a huge difference in terms of both getting where we want to go and enjoying our journey along the way.

You can follow Claire on her website.