Danny Kaye

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can."

— Danny Kaye
American Actor

1913 - 1987

We are in charge of our lives.  We make choices every day that lead us where we want to be.  Life is like a canvas and we are the artists of our lives.  We paint the person we want to be.  Or we paint the person we think we are.  We tell our stories through the art.  Are you painting the life you want?  Have you chosen a large enough canvas?  Are you too stingy with the paint?

Helen Keller

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.  Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

— Helen Keller

1880 - 1968

The first 35 years of my life I was more of a pessimist than an optimist.  I saw the glass as half empty, not half full.  I've had to learn optimism and the need to see the glass as half full.  It is something that I struggle with still today.  Often my first reaction is that something can not be done.  I have learned that I need to believe in myself before I can accomplish anything.  I seek to find hope in a negative world.

It is easy to find all the reasons something can not be done.  It is easy to be a pessimist.  Pessimists believe that they are the realists and that optimists have their heads in the clouds.  The truth is that it is much harder to believe something can be achieved.  It is much harder to be an optimist.  And research shows that optimists actually achieve more than pessimists.

As creative people, we need to have faith that what we create has value.  We need to believe in our ability to create something that can benefit others.

Doug Larson

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk."

— Doug Larson

1926 -

While talking can sometimes help us understand ourselves, listening helps us understand others.  And by understanding others, we will better understand ourselves.  If we listen to the words of others, they will teach us about life — both what to do and what not to do.  We probably learn more from the failures of others than we do from their successes.  As writers, storytellers and artists, we need to understand other people.  The better we understand people, the more realistic and truthful our art will be.

Henri Matisse

"One gets into a state of creativity by conscious work."

— Henri Matisse
French Artist

1869 - 1954

I have heard many want-to-be writers and artists say they are waiting for the creative inspiration.  They can only write or draw when they are inspired.  Unfortunately, that is not the real world.  If we wait for our muse to come, she may never arrive.  The key to finding your inspiration and creativity is to work every day.  Maybe it is for a half hour or an hour, but one must work.  And you might feel that what you did was terrible.  But let it sit and come back to it later and you will see it in a different light.  Creativity is a process.  To produce great work, one must produce junk.

Michelangelo

"Your greatness is measured by your horizons."

— Michelangelo

1475 - 1564

Our progress is depended on our vision and the goals we set for ourselves.  If my goal is to own a house in the small town where I live, then I may never achieve the greatness I was meant to achieve.  If you want to achieve great things, then you need to set goals that will take you there.  Many of us underestimate our potential.  Set bigger goals for yourself.  See yourself bigger than you are today.  As an artist or writer, don't limit your opportunities.  Stretch yourself.  Shoot for bigger magazines and larger galleries.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." 

— Ralph Waldo Emerson
American Poet

1803 -1882

Barry Lopez

"The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them.  If stories come to you, care for them and learn to give them away where they are needed.  Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other's memories."

— Barry Lopez
American Writer

1945 -

Do you care for the stories in and about your life?  Stories are the memories of who we are and where we have gone.  Stories remind us of what is important and what we want to remember.  Do you take care of your family stories, those tales that create the collective you?  Each time I share a story I am giving a piece of myself away.

One of those stories that circulated in my family was the time when I was six or seven and lived on a farm. My father was working the second shift at a factory because the farm did not give us enough money to live on.  One summer afternoon after my father had left, the cows meandered out into the cornfield.  Now these can be dangerous for the cows because they don't know when to stop eating and they could kill themselves by eating too much corn.  My mother and I attempted to chase the cows back into the barn but were unsuccessful.  She went into the house to call my father and have him come home from work.  She told me to come in as well and leave the cows alone.  I prayed to God and asked that He helped me drive the cows back to the barn.  And by some miracle, I did.  God answered my prayer.  What I have never understood is why the prayer was answered when the result was I disobeyed my mother.  That story has circulated within my family for years and gave me the impression that I had a special connection to God.  That connection was broken when I was seventeen, but that is a story for another time.

Joseph Campbell

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek."

— Joseph Campbell

1904 - 1987

Sometimes that which we fear the most is what is best for us in our personal and spiritual growth.  Inside the darkness is the opportunity if we have the courage to enter.  What fears haunt you?  Do you have the courage to confront these fears and find the treasure hidden there?

Ben Franklin

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."

— Ben Franklin

1706 - 1790

For many people learning stops after graduating from high school or college.  They stop investing in themselves.  While education will not cure all the world's problems, it will help us understand them and give us the skills to find the answers.  If you read a book a month, you are in the top one percent of the intellectuals in the United States.  When was the last time you learned a new skill?  When was the last time you invested in yourself?

Henri Matisse

"The character of a face in a drawing depends not upon its various proportions, but upon a spiritual light which it reflects."

— Henri Matisse
French Artists

1869 - 1954

Like an artist or a novelist, we all need to see beyond the surface characteristics of the human face.  We need to see the individual person who lives within.  We have been taught not to judge a book by its cover, yet how many times do we still do it.  Inside every person, beyond the hair and the clothes, is something very special.  Sometimes it takes work to find that person because the person has hid himself behind so many masks that he does not even know who he is.  And the same can be said of ourselves.  How many masks would you have to take off before the light within you would shine through?

Dale Carnegie

"Take a chance!  All life is a chance.  The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare."

— Dale Carnegie

1888 - 1955

Many of us are afraid to take a risk, to try something new.  We keep waiting for the right time.  Unfortunately, there is never going to be a right time.  When we stop risking, we start dying one day at a time.  The more safe we feel the less risk we take.  Security and safety are illusions of the mind.  We are never 100% safe.  Is there a risk that you should be taking but are not?  Take the risk.  

Henry David Thoreau

"The world is but a canvas to the imagination."

— Henry David Thoreau

1817 - 1862

What we create in the world and how we live begins with our imagination.  We can create the life we want to live by simply applying our creativity.  So pick up your paint brush and paint the beauty of your life.  Pick up your pen and write the story of your life.  Your mind is fertile soil for your imagination.

Helen Keller

"Your success and happiness lie in you.  Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invisible host against difficulties."

— Helen Keller

1880 - 1968

We are responsible for our own happiness and success.  Others are not responsible to make us happy.  Not our spouses.  Not our children.  Not our parents.  Life is full of challenges and difficulties.  Nothing is perfect.  If we blame others, we will never be happy.  We must learn to forgive and move on.  We must take charge of our inner world and resolve to be satisfied and happy.

Helen Frankenthaler

"If you have a gift, it is your halo and your cross.  There is no choice.  You are what you are, what you have been born.  And what is inherent in that condition is the loneliness that goes with it."

— Helen Frankenthaler

1928 -

We all have gifts.  Some that we know about and some that we don't. We need to accept our gifts and celebrate them.  The ability to create is a gift.  Whether you are a painter, a poet or a novelist, you have a gift.  Some days you will wish you didn't have the gift.  It will feel like a burden you have to bear.  Other days you will feel as if you are blessed because of your gift.  And there will be those who don't understand your gift.  They won't understand why you have to wake up at 4 am to paint, to write and to create.  They will ask why you can't be normal like everyone else.  And there will be days you ask yourself the same question.  "Why can't I be normal?  Why do I have to write?"  The answer is simple: you are blessed with a gift.  Accept it and thank the heavens that you have been blessed.

Mort Walker

"Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart."

— Mort Walker

1923-

Sometimes the heart grows stale and tired with the routines of life and needs a good spring cleaning.  Laughter is a powerful cleanser that helps to heal the pain we feel and revive our hopes that have been buried under layers of dust.  A deep belly laugh is like a breath of spring air on a winter's day.  Find those special moments of laughter and enjoy them.

Bernie Siegel

"If you watch how nature deals with adversity, continually renewing itself, you can't help but learn."

— Bernie Siegel

Nature has a way of renewing itself quickly and swiftly.  In the 1970's Lake Erie, which is up the road from where I live, was declared dead.  Today it is alive.  If you ever watch how quickly a forest renews itself after a fire, you will understand the meaning of this quote.  In fact, I believe nature uses adversity has a way of cleansing itself from the rot and finding new opportunity.  One simply has to observe the seasons to understand how nature renews itself.  And since we are a part of nature, we also have this gift.  We can renew and reinvent ourselves as needed.  Let go of your old tired habits and plant new habits.

Henri Matisse

"Look at life with the eyes of a child."

— Henri Matisse

1869 - 1954

A child looks at the world around her with wonderment and joy.  She laughs at new and strange things.  She enjoys the moment without worrying about tomorrow or yesterday.  She smiles at strangers and trusts them.  She shows little fear and puts herself at physical risk.  She sees everything and takes it into herself.  What can you and I learn from a child?  What can the child teach us?  Don't you think it is time we hug life?  That we listen to our hearts?  That we see the world through the eyes of the child we once were?

Opportunity

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Opportunity

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Alice Mackenzie Swaim

"Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow."

— Alice Mackenzie Swaim

1912 - 1996

Strength often comes from unexpected places.  We sometimes misjudge people when we only look at the outside.  Inside is what counts.  As artists, writers and storytellers, we must look deep inside and see the truth beneath the surface.  We must find the courage to tell our story in words and images.

Charles Dickens

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else."

— Charles Dickens

1812 - 1870

Even the most challenging of individuals has redeeming value.  No one is useless.  We all have something to offer our fellow human beings.  Maybe it is a piece of bread.  A handshake.  A pat on the back.  We all have something to give.  The winners in this world are those who give more than they get.  Reach out to those around you and share of yourself.  As artists and writers, we touch the lives of the people who view our paintings or read our writings.  And sometimes, often unknown to us, lives are changed.  So appreciate what you are sharing with the world.  You are not worthless if you make someone's life better.