Inspiration/Perspiration Fridays

Self-Help Wisdom for the Weekend

Ms. Bockle: Going through my mountains of papers and old writing pads, I came across a notebook I used when I was reading a self-help book called ‘The Artist’s Way’.

I took notes on different chapters, and looking through what was written, I calculated that I read this book nearly 10 years ago. Yikes: an entire decade has gone by: did all my aims, dreams and plans come true? Did I help myself?

Here are some ‘positives’ that I wrote down–some of my own making, some taken from the book, and some I can even give credit to the author:

• My creativity is possibly unlimited.
• If the creator gives to one Artist, then he’ll provide for me.
• I can’t escape fear. I’ve just got to accept it as a companion on my adventures.
• Do it. If you win, you win. If you lose, you win.
• Paul Gardner: ‘A painting is never finished. It simply stops at an interesting place.’
• Agnes de Mille: ‘The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.’
• Sometimes the stuff that keeps me awake at night are the images of pictures in my mind, working out how to get them down on paper.
• You’re lucky that you’re not 8 anymore: stop pretending to still be a child and grow up. (whoopsie, that wasn’t v. positive.)
• For your own children and grandchildren, start learning how best to help them be their own selves–and not a support group for you. You need to cheer them on, not be so dependent on their praise to get you going.
• Take care of the world you’re in.
• If losses aren’t shared, they become scar tissue.
• What we can handle intellectually far outstrips what we can handle emotionally. (no duh)
• The lack of audacity may cripple many artists.
• Say: ‘What next?’ instead of ‘Why me?’
• There wasn’t an event or one person who controlled my choice of career. I was my own limiting factor.
• “I’m too old” is ego-saving nonsense, and is always used to avoid fear of failure: an evasive tactic.

[Img.Src: Elephants]