Obtaining Books

   One of the people who went through the yoga teacher training with me, was also the one who invited me to join the Tuesday writing group. She talked about a book that she’d purchased from a clothing store in the mall. Apparently, the book was part of a display for hiking clothes. She wandered the store, but kept coming back to the display and the book. Eventually purchasing one copy, it wasn’t but a few days before she was back at the mall to pick up a few more. At one of the writing groups, she ‘loaned’ me the book and thought I might be interested because one of the chapters began with a quote from Patanjali, the yoga guru.

   It took me about a week to get to read the book, knowing my friend said that there was no hurry in returning it. I was very careful to not break the binding or bend a page. I found the writing easy, thoughtful, and several of the sentences were the same as ones I had written in a blog. Interesting that two creative people who don’t know each other can describe how creativity arises and thoughts about the artist and their art so similarly. I was about half-way through when I saw my friend again, and told her that I was really enjoying the book, and that I’d return it to her because I wanted to get my own copy. That is when she said, “Keep it.” She went on to explain that instead of gifting people with a book she thinks they might like, she ‘loans’ them the book. If they really like it, it is theirs. If not, she takes it back and ‘loans’ it out to others. I tried to give it back to her, but she refused. She told me this was a way of giving something she thought others would enjoy without expectation that the intended receiver would feel obligated to accept. What a wonderful idea!

   The title of the book is The Confident Creative: Drawing to Free the Hand and Mind, by Cat Bennett. As I read the author’s suggestions, I can’t help but think that though she directed this book towards drawing, it really can be used with any medium. So I’ve gone back through the pages, and I’ve marked them up. I’ve folded the corners of some, and I’ve inserted sticky notes with arrows and exclamation marks on them. I thought that, perhaps, for the next few posts (unless something else comes up), I would share with you a few of Ms. Bennett’s lines and suggestions. The invitation is to sit with each one for a moment before reading on. If one of them speaks to you, nudges you to pick up your own pencil and sketch pad, your guitar, your camera, your paints and canvas, then sink into that feeling and allow the joy and wonderment of your creative muse to direct the flow.

1) The simple act of drawing can deepen our sense of presence and open the gates to creativity.

2) Learning to connect with our higher creative selves will not just change our art, it will also change our lives and even the world we live in.

3) It isn’t about being “good” or looking “good”. It’s simply about doing and seeing.

4) We forget the wonderous things that drawing did for us as children, how it helped us understand ourselves and appreciate the world around us.

5) Much is lost when we can’t access our own creativity and see beyond the limitations of linear thought, which can only grasp what is already evident.

   So, there are five quotes to get you started thinking about how you create, how the world around you speaks through you, through some form of communication, to show up as a carving, a watercolor, a photograph, a gourmet meal, or a piece of music. As is only fair in a ‘show me yours and then I’ll show you mine’ exchange of how we view the world, visit my website to see where I get my inspiration and what comes out when I interpret what I experience: www.myjoyenterprises.com So, show me yours; leave words or descriptions of your reactions to the above five quotes.