Rudyard Kipling

"I always prefer to believe the best of everyone; it saves so much trouble."

— Rudyard Kipling

English Writer

1865 - 1936

Do you look for the good in others?  Or are you a fault finder?  Do you point out the weaknesses of others?  Or do you pay them compliments?  Do you believe in people or do you think that everyone is out for himself?  How we view others impacts how we live our lives.  If we learn to find the good in others, we will be happier and more successful.  If we spend our lives finding fault with others, we will be unhappy and cyncial.  The easiest thing to do is to find fault in others.  It is much harder to look for the good.  Sometimes we have to dig deep.  So spend the day looking for the good in the people you meet.

Jim Henson

"My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here."

— Jim Henson

American Puppeteer

1936 - 1990

Everyone should desire to leave the world better than they found it.  For me that is why we are here.  We are here to help others in their time of need.  How are you leaving the world better than you found it?  Did you plant a tree?  Give someone a ride?  Write a story that made someone cry?  Paint a picture that touched someone's heart?  We will all reach the end of the road some day.  What is your legacy?  How will you leave the world a better place?  What gifts have you given back?  Did you make someone smile today?  Did you give someone a hug?  Did you listen to someone who needed to get something off her chest?  Did you say thank you to your parents, your mentors and your friends?

Thomas Carlyle

"A strong mind always hopes, and has always cause to hope."

— Thomas Carlyle

Scottish Writer

1795 - 1881

Hope is a crucial ingredient to leading the creative life.  Without hope we have no reason for living.  There is little meaning to life.  Hope is the breath of life.  Breathe deeply and you will live a much happier life.  In these troubled economic times it is easy to become discouraged.  Read some history and you will learn that this too shall pass.  Nothing stays the same; everything will change.  In the 1970's with the emergence of a united OPEC, gas prices soared higher than they are today if you take inflation into account.  We lived through a period of years of high inflation with interest rates running in the teens.  Today you can get a mortgage interest rate of under 4%.  This too shall pass.   Have hope.  Believe in your future and the world's future.  Read the history of the Great Depression and/or the novel, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck and be grateful that you are living in these times.  Cultivate an attitude of hope.

Anais Nin

"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country."

— Anais Nin

French Writer

1903 - 1977

Dreaming is an important technique for creative leaders to master.  We need to master both our sleeping dreams and our waking dreams.  Our dreams have so much to teach us about ourselves.  Your sleeping dreams have a number of origins.  Some of these dreams come from the events of the current day, things that happened to us.  Our minds are reliving the day.  Some dreams come from the problems and challenges that we are facing.  If we learn to interpret these dreams, we can often solve our problems.  Other dreams come from our future and often will predict things that will happen to us.  And still other dreams will have a spiritual source.  Do you study your dreams?  Do you keep a dream journal?  Success comes from mastering the art of dreaming.

Margaret Atwood

"Writing is an act of faith: I believe it's also an act of hope, the hope that things can get better than they are."

— Margaret Atwood
Canadian Writer
1939 - 

Does your creative work give you hope?  Does your painting give you hope that your life will improve?  Does your writing give you hope about the progress of the human race?  I believe creative leaders have to have lots of hope.  Why else would they struggle for years with no prospect of success?  Every time a writer sends his short stories, poetry and novels to a publisher he is full of hope that this time it will be accepted.  A painter may paint for years and never sell a painting, always hoping that the next one will sell.  Never give up.  There is always tomorrow.  Have faith.  You will succeed.

Eileen Goudge

"I will always have a story to tell.  I take elements from my life and throw them in a pot and stir the pot and see what happens."

— Eileen Goudge

American Novelist

1950 -

We all have a story to tell, but we do not have to tell it through memoir.  We can tell it through short stories, novels, songs and even paintings.  What we have to learn to do is learn how to change our story.  The story does not have to be factual.  Our story is only the beginning — the starting point.  The emotion should be true, but not the facts.  We may have been born in a small town in Illinois, but we can change it to a coastal town in Oregon.  Our grandfather could have died when we were fourteen, but we can change it to our father when we were ten.  We should take elements from our lives and make story soup.  For some of us changing the story is easy.  For others, it takes patience, imagination and hard work.

Here is Eileen Goudge talking about how she wrote her way out of poverty.

Robert Persig

"Finally you understand that the real motorcycle you're working on is yourself."

— Robert Pirsig

American Author

1928 - 

In the final analysis, life is about growth and self-development.  We become who we are meant to be through our work.  In essence we are working on ourselves.  Everything else is a tool to help us become who we are meant to be.  Whether you paint, write or speak, you are involved in a process of self-development.  Are you learning the lessons that you are supposed to learn?  Or are you having to suffer through the same experiences over and over.  One of the best examples is the relationships that people develop.  How many women or men choose the same type of partner over and over again only to be hurt and rejected in the end?  Remember the person you are working on is yourself.  The only person you can change is yourself.  

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance took Pirsig four years to write and was rejected by 121 publishers before it found a home.  Because Pirsig had a day job writing computer manuals, he wrote the book between 2 am and 6 am.  More than 5 million copies of the book have been sold.

Louise Bourgeois

"It is a great privilege to be able to work with, and I suppose work off, my feelings through sculpture."

— Louise Bourgeois

French Artist

1911 - 2010

 

I want to take this one step farther.  I believe that it is a privilege to be an artist.  What we do as writers, storytellers, painters, actors, sculptors and musicians is very special.  Most people are not willing to risk themselves or make themselves vulnerable as artists must if they are to be successful.  We must open ourselves up and reveal our innermost feelings if we are going to touch others with our creative work.  That does not mean that we have the answers.  In fact, many creative people live difficult painful lives and often emotionally harm the people they love.  If we are lucky, our creative work will heal our wounded spirits.  But if we don't heal our wounds, people will be confused by the multiple personalities within one body.  They will not understand how a mean-spirited drunk could write such lovely prose or paint such a beautiful picture.  For some of us, our creative work heals us and we are stronger for it.  For others, the creative work destroys them.  They give up their lives for their art.





Maman



John Burroughs

"The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are."

— John Burroughs

American Writer, Naturalist

1837 - 1921

The grass is not greener somewhere else.  We need to build our life where we are at.  If we live in a farming community, we are attracted to the sounds of the big city.  If we live in a big city, we seek peace and quiet in the country.  The pied piper is singing and we will follow him anywhere.  Don't be taken in by the flash and glammor of somewhere else.  Find comfort in the familiar because there you will do your best work.  If you live near a cornfield, paint cornfields.  If you live near mountains, paint mountains. 

Harley Brown

"Making art is the most relaxing, joyous, therapeutic stimulating way to spend your time, as you unleash the part of your brain that's been itching to get at it."

— Harley Brown

Canadian Artist

1939 - 

Unlike like writing which sometimes can be difficult, painting for me can be very relaxing and fun.  I become lost in the process and sometimes wake up several hours later only to realize that I had disappeared in the work.  I experience some of the same feelings when I write long-hand and do not use a computer or a typewriter as in the old days.  There is something about putting pen to paper that makes a difference in how one experiences the process.

Are you eager about your creative work?  Do you wake up in the morning anxious to go to work?  Or do you find excuses to avoid going to work?  Do you stare at the canvas or paper unable to lift brush or pen?  Do you enjoy the process of creating or do you agonize over it?


Here is Harley Brown talking about his art.

Jimi Hendrix

"I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to."

- Jimi Hendrix

American Musician

1942 - 1970

When it is our time, it is our time.  No amount of begging, praying or demanding will delay the shade of death from stealing a soul.  No amount of laughing, crying or forgiving will prevcnt death from pushing his way into our lives.  No amount of preparation, prevention or power will keep death at bay.  When it is our time, it is our time whether we are 57 or 28.  May my sister rest in peace.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

"It's not the failure that holds us back but the reluctance to begin over again that causes us to stagnate.

— Clarissa Pinkola Estes

American Poet, Psychoanalyst

1945 -

Anton Chekhov

"I have the feeling that I've seen everything, but failed to notice the elephants."

— Anton Chekhov

Russian Writer

1860 - 1904

Deepak Chopra

"The less you open your heart to others, the more your heart suffers."

— Deepak Chopra

Indian Author/Speaker

1946 -

Seneca

"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart."

— Seneca

Roman Writer/Speaker

54 BC - 39 AD

Gratitude is not a new attitude.  It was not invented by the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock nor by the legions of motivational speakers who ride circuit and preach from the pulpit of love.  Gratitude has probably been with us from the beginning of man's time on this earth — from the moment someone offered to share her drumstick or her fur or her fire.  

Gratitude is not a one day act of thanksgiving, but a way of life.  Do you have an attitude of gratitude?  Do you wake up with a smile on your face and love in your heart?  Or are you like most of us who need to cultivate an attitude of gratitude.  Try this  exercise: every day write down ten things that you are grateful for.  Slowly, you will develop an attitude of gratitude and learn to stay focused on what is important.

Andrew Wyeth

Late Fall
(1981)

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape — the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show."

— Andrew Wyeth

American Artist

1917 - 2009

What is your favorite season.  My favorite, autumn, is coming to an end.  Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees.  The squirrels are burying the last of the nuts.  The geese are flying south.  Bare branches now reveal the sky.  Death hides around the corner — waiting for winter to pounce.  We have had a good autumn.  Warm, gentle and full of life.  Not too much rain, just enough to keep the creeks flowing.

How do the seasons effect you and your art?  Do you produce more creative work in one season or another?  Do the seasons enrich your art?  Can you taste the winds of autumn?  Are you counting your blessings?  Has the harvest been abundant?  Are you thankful for what you have?

Photo by Harley King
(2011)

Thomas Cole

(1846)

"The sky is the soul of all scenery.  It makes the earth lovely at sunrise and splendid at sunset.  In the one it breathes over the earth a crystal-like ether, in the other a liquid gold."

— Thomas Cole

English Painter

1801 - 1848

Arch of Nero
(1846)

Have you stopped to look at the sky lately?  There is so much to see.  So many stories to hear.  So much beauty to enjoy.  The sky changes how we see the world.  On a cloudy day people feel down.  When the sun breaks through, our hearts take a leap.  

Have you ever stared at the white fluffy clouds and imagined various creatures.  Have you ever been above the clouds looking down?  Wouldn't it be fun if we could actually ride on the clouds?  How about those storm clouds that light up the sky with lightning and thunder.  Maybe the angels are crying or having a fist fight.  

How about a clear blue sky without a cloud to be seen!  And the various shades of blue.  I love a winter sky, especially at sunrise.  The colors seem so brilliant.  Or the sky as seen from a farm on a cold winter night with the stars glittering and no city lights destroying your view.  The sky is truly the soul of the world.  A place we long to call home.  

Charles Kuralt

"The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines."

— Charles Kuralt

American Journalist

1934 - 1997

Most of the stories one finds in the media create a very negative image of people as greedy, corrupt and immoral.  The truth is that only a small segment of society fits that image.  Most people are by nature kind and generous and go out of their way to help others in their time of need.  

Given the stories that we hear every day, it is easy to lose faith in people and the institutions they manage.  Yet, for every corrupt, greedy person, there are thousands of kind, caring people who shovel the sidewalks of their neighbors, serve food to the homeless and share car rides to work.  Remember most people have good hearts and give of themselves to help others.  Don't let the greedy few distort your view of the world.

Here is an update to one of Charles Kuralt's famous stories about the Chandler family.

  

Pierre Alechinsky

"When I paint, I liberate monsters . . . They are the manifestations of all the doubts, searches and groping for meaning and expression which all artists experience . . . One does not choose the content, one submits to it.

— Pierre Alechinsky

1927 -

Belgian Artist

Do you choose the content of your creative work?  Or does the content choose you?  This is probably one of those chicken and egg questions that we will never know the answer to.  Most of the time my content chooses me.  I sit down and start writing.  I don't have a plan.  And the content appears out of no where.  Rarely, do I make a conscious choice about what to write.

Does your creative work liberate the monsters within your heart and spirit?  For me it does.  We all have a dark side whether we want to admit it or not.  Most of us most of the time keep this dark side under control either through drugs, religion, sports, creative work or sheer will power.  Yet I am amazed at some of the monsters that emerge from my writing.  What monsters have emerged from your creative work?  Here are a couple of my short poems.

Saviour

Sometimes while alone

in the corner of my cell

I have second thoughts

about the recent return of Christ

and how I could have saved her

from the outpourings of his wrath

if she would only have rocked me in her arms.

Nightmare

A hand reaches out of the closet

and slits the throat

of the young man with black hair.

We all fall upon his body

like scavengers picking tidbits

from the evening garbage.

I slurp his brains from my cupped hands.

(Quote source:  The Painter's Keys)

Chuck Palahniuk

"We all die.  The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will."

— Chuck Palahniuk

American Writer

1962 - 

No one lives forever no matter how much we try.  No amount of plastic surgery, pills or prayer will keep us young.  When we die, we will live on only in the memories of those who knew us and one day all those with memories will be gone.  As artists, writers and creative leaders, our creative work is the key to keeping our memories alive.

(Quote source:  Goodreads.com)