Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

American Writer & Poet

1803 - 1882

Sometimes we let our worries, doubts and fears control us.  There is nothing we can do to change yesterday and the things that happened.  Yes, we may alter the consequences by apologizing, but the action is still there.  Worry is creative imagination.  We create all kinds of scenes and stories in our minds that are not based in reality.  

My mother was a worry wart.  She was always dwelling on something that happened or was caught up in what she thought was going to happen.  And she seemed to get worse with age.  She and my father had a big fight on the morning he died of a heart attack.  He had been sick and she did not want him to go to work.  Being the stubborn person he was, he went anyway and died on the job.  My mother never forgave herself.  During the nine years after my dad died, she worried about what happened and punished herself.

So, of course, some of this worrying behavior rubbed off on me and there have  been  days when I struggled to overcome it.  But the older I have grown, the less I worry.  I have learned to accept what happens and to forgive myself.  But every now and then, worry will raise it's silly head and bite me.  

Are you a worrier?  Does your imagination run wild?  Have you learned to forgive yourself when you make a mistake?  Take heed of Emerson's valuable advice:  Begin each day anew!

Jack Penn

"One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks."

— Jack Penn

South African 

Surgeon, Sculptor, Author

1909 - 1996

To be human and to live with other humans is to face challenges and difficulties.  We experience death, love and heartache, not necessarily in that order.  How we respond to the challenges that life deals us is a measure of the type of person we are.  Do we pick ourselves up and make something of what has happened or do we remain in the mud, wishing to die?  As creative leaders, we have the gift of creativity which can help us turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.  So get out your chisel and chisel away at that stumbling block in your way.  

Dame Barbara Hepworth

"I found one had to do some work every day, even at midnight, because either you're professional or you're not."

— Dame Barbara Hepworth

English Sculptor

1903 - 1975

Discipline is one of the keys to being an artist or a writer.  One needs to work every day.  People often say: 'I work when I am inspired.'  If you wait until you are inspired, you will be waiting a long time.  If you work whether you are inspired or not, you will find that soon inspiration will become a constant companion.  Work opens up the creative spirit and the inspiration flows.  So my message is simple:  work every day even if it is for only 15 minutes.

Miles Davis

"Do not fear mistakes — there are none."

— Miles Davis

Jazz Musician

1926 - 1991

The older I have become; the more I subscribe to this philosophy.  Mistakes are in the minds of those who need to find fault.  When I write something, it is not a mistake.  It is where my mind wanted to go — where I am meant to go.  Perfection is an illusion.  It does not exist and if it did we would invent mistakes.  The world is not black or white.  It is all gray.  As a painter, you used a green paint when convention says you should have used red.  It is not a mistake.  Learn to give your mind free rein — to explore and change the universe.  We are where we are because it is where we need to be.  Things happen for a reason even if we don't know what the reason is.  So go ahead and make mistakes today.  Taste the favor of them in your mouth and be happy.

Albert Camus

"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer."

— Albert Camus

French Algerian Novelist

1913 - 1960

Inside each of us is more strength than we realize.  We are stronger than we think and often it isn't until the winter of our lives that we realize how strong and capable we were.  You can do more than you think you can.  You can achieve more — paint more, write more and dance more.  And you can bear more pain and suffering than you think you can.  Don't forget to call on this strength when you need it.

Mother Teresa

"We can do no great things — only small things with great love."

— Mother Teresa

1910 - 1997

Each painting we paint, each poem we write and each story we tell is an act of love.  Don't try to do great things.  Try to create small things with great love and you will accomplish great things.  It is important to love what you do and to feel that it matters — to know that you make a difference each day you paint or write.

Jackson Pollack

"Every good artist paints what he is."

— Jackson Pollock

American Artist

1912 - 1956

Painters and writers are attracted to the subjects they are supposed to paint and write about.  Are there certain themes that run through your work?  Do you paint the same type of picture over and over?  I paint, draw and sculpt lots of masks and it does not matter what medium I  am working in.  In my poetry you will find the themes of God, death and sex.  Pretty boring, right.  Every writer talks about God, death and sex, but what makes us unique is our approach to the subject.  I have never met a writer who talks about God in the way that I do.

Han Suyin

"There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness."

— Han Suyin

Chinese novelist

1917 -

Are you gentle in your relationships with others or do you run over people with a Mack truck?  The myth about creative leaders is that they are temperamental and self-centered.  They abuse themselves and others.  I think true strength comes in being gentle with others and in being gentle with ourselves.  As artists and writers, we can be most abusive with ourselves.  Our art never lives up to our expectations.  The product is never as good as we saw it in our mind's eye.  We should learn to accept the gift that we have been given and not compare our work to that of other people.  We are not them.  We are each unique in the gift that we have been given.

Langston Hughes

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die,

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

— Langston Hughes

American Poet/Novelist

1902 - 1967

Are you flying high or do you have a broken wing?  Have your dreams died and lost their attraction?  Then maybe it is time to find a new dream — a new desire to give life hope.  Dreams do change as we age.  What was once important is now less important and something new has to take its place.  Art is a new dream for me in the last ten years.  Writing is a dream that has now held me in its grip for over forty years.  Here is a piece on dreams I wrote when I turned forty.

"If I woke up one morning and realized that all I ever was going to be was a business man, I'd probably die.  All my dreams would be shattered.  Early in life I had many dreams.  I dreamed of being a great basketball star.  I dreamed of being a preacher.  I dreamed of saving the world from war and racism.  And I dreamed of being a great poet.  Today, I dream only of writing."  (From an essay: The Writing Years: A Look Back)

Jonathan Winters

"I couldn't wait for success . . . so I went ahead without it."

— Jonathan Winters

American Comedian/Actor/Artist

1925 - 

Ah, this statement hits home.  If you spend your life waiting for success, it may never come.  Keep doing what you need to do.  If that is to paint, then paint.  If that is to write, then write.  If that is to sing and dance, then sing and dance.  The key is not to wait on success because when it comes you may not recognize.  It may be disguised in the love of a soul mate or in the gift of friends.

Vincent van Gogh

"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"

— Vincent van Gogh

Dutch Artist

1853 - 1890

What stories do you tell yourself about fear and courage?  We all have times when we are afraid and times when we have the courage to conquer our fears.  Being afraid does not mean we do not have courage.  Failing to act because we are afraid sometimes is in our best interest.      Taking action when we are afraid is sometimes foolish.

Morihei Ueshiba

"Contemplate the workings of this world . . . . Study how water flows in a valley stream, smoothly and freely. . . . Everything — even mountains, rivers, plants and trees — should be your teacher."

— Morihei Ueshiba

Founder of Aikido

Japanese Author

1883 - 1969

Robert Henri

"The real artist's work is a surprise to himself."

— Robert Henri

American Artist

1865 - 1929

Are you surprised by some of the things that you write or paint?  Or do you feel like you are in a rut?  As artists and writers we need be willing and open to change.  We need to surprise ourselves by what flows from our pens.  Sometimes it is too easy to paint the same thing over and over.  Or to write the same prose again and again.  Picasso was an artist who reinvented his art again and again.  He never clung to one style or technique.  Some novelists are the same way.  No two novels are the same.  Where as, genre writers tend to create the same person, the same story over and over.  Once they have achieved success they stop growing and changing.  Ask yourself this question from time to time: Am I surprised by what I create?  

William James

"Be not afraid of life.  Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact."

— William James

American Writer/Philosopher

1842 - 1910

Every person is unique.  There has never been a person just like you and there will never be a person just like you.  The life you lead is yours.  Nobody can lead the same life and do the same things, so that makes you special.  

Do not judge yourself by how much money you make or how much power you have or the creative work you produce.  Your success lies in the lives of the people you have touched.  And if that is only one person, then you are a success.  All of us in some way will touch the lives of our parents and our siblings.  So from the moment we are conceived, each of us is successful.

Dag Hammarskjold

"What is one to do on a bleak day but drift for a while through the streets — drift with the stream."

— Dag Hammarskjold

Swedish Diplomat/Author

1905 - 1961

Drifting is an art that many of us have never learned.  In our fast pace world where we seek to climb the ladder of success and produce more and more artistic work, we never stop and rest.  Even our vacations are full of doing.  We joke about going back to work in order to rest from our vacation.

In farming, there is a concept of letting the field lay fallow for a year — not to plant any crops.  The soil needs a break in order to replenish itself.  And the same is true of artists and writers.  We must learn to rest — to drift without direction or purpose, to lay fallow in order to replenish and restore our souls.  We must learn to enjoy a warm autumn afternoon simply for the sake of enjoying.  

Mark DiSuvero

"To achieve poetry in a piece of sculpture, one must know how to dream, how to draw the dreams, and how to see the interwebbed, interdependent dance of this beautifully colored energy field that we too bluntly call 'life' or 'world.'"

— Mark di Suvero

American Sculptor

1933 - 

Each moment of our lives is a dream.  Let's dance with the energy of the world and see the bright colors vibrating around our faces.  When will we wake from this world of possibilities and take measure of what has happened?  When will we become one with the energy?

Paulo Coelho

"When you find your path, you must not be afraid.  You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way."

— Paulo Coelho

Brazilian Novelist

1947 - 

I remember when I was first writing I would ask the question that many people who first find the creative path ask:  Do I have talent?  And I hoped that some wise teacher would say that I was a talented writer and that I should devote myself to writing.  Now, having trod this path for years, I know that no one can affirm or deny my talent.  It is what it is.  We all have creative talent.  We can either put it to good use or squander it.

But there is a question within the question.  When we ask do we have talent, the hidden question is:  Will I be rich and famous?  And the answer for many of us on the creative path is no.  Most creative leaders will work in obscurity and receive only a pittance for their labors.  If money and fame is your desire, there are easier paths to walk.  To walk the creative path is do it because you love it.

Georgia O'Keefe

"Come quickly.  You mustn't miss the dawn.  It will never be just like this again."

— Georgia O'Keefe

American Artist

1887 - 1986

How much do we miss because we don't take the time to see it?  How many sunrises or sunsets have you spent time just enjoying the beauty?  Or are you like me — running from place to place, not spending time enjoying the beauty of nature?  I have lived through over 22,000 sunrises and 22,000 sunsets.  I would be lucky if I saw 200 of them.  I could probably count on one hand those I remember.  How much we miss because we are busy elsewhere!!

Helen Keller

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.  They must be felt with the heart."

— Helen Keller

American Author/Speaker

1880 - 1968

What is it that cannot be seen or touched?  Love?  Friendship?  Beauty rests in the heart.  We spend a lot of money and time seeking physical beauty, painting physical beauty and writing poems about physical beauty, but true beauty can only be found in the hearts of those we love.

Theodore Roethke

"May my silences become more accurate."

— Theodore Roethke

American Poet

1908 - 1963

Many of us are afraid of silence.  We have a need to fill the the air waves with noise — television, radio, music.  And for those living in cities there are the sounds of cars, trucks, sirens, airplanes and neighbors fighting.  I enjoy external silence because it allows me to think, but I rarely experience internal silence.  My thoughts are always bubbling to the surface, brandishing their weapons.  Can you hear the silence when you are painting?  Do you listen to the silences between the words that you utter?  When I teach people to speak in public, I talk to them about the importance of silence — of learning the pregnant pause, of giving your audience the time to catch up with your words.  Storytellers understand the power of silence.  We must learn to appreciate silence, to enjoy its many flavors.  Sometimes we can learn more from silence than all the words ever spoken or written.