Photo stories
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Your life is your art
“An artist’s real contribution isn’t what he paints, but the way he sees.” ~Martha Beck Whenever I visit an art museum, I notice that the same universal themes and subjects have been rendered throughout the centuries. Mothers and children. Landscapes and seascapes. Fruit and flowers on tables. Pastoral scenes. Yet each painting is completely different in style and technique, reflecting the individuality and vision of the artist. So it is with everything we create — whether it’s a painting, a piece of writing, a wardrobe, a garden, a photograph, or a recipe. How do you express your own vision or viewpoint? ~CL For more like this: Check out additional posts…
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Cheap shots
“Tune out the cheap shots people take at you. Don’t waste words on people who deserve your silence. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is nothing at all.” ~Angel Chernoff These days, I have to limit the amount of time I listen to the news. Political rhetoric is nastier than ever. Sometimes I’m tempted to risk being uninformed — even though I know better. At the end of the day, what worries me most is the fact that the brutal political rhetoric has a ripple effect on the folks we encounter in our daily lives. Road rage is worse than ever. People don’t smile as much. (One of…
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You be you
“Forget popularity; focus on sincerity. Do what you do, not for applause, but because it is what is right for you. Practice respecting yourself and becoming a reliable part of your own support system.” ~Angel Chernoff, Marc and Angel Hack Life The word “popularity” still sends me back down Memory Lane to junior high school. And today’s quote from Marc and Angel got me thinking about the difference between sincerity and popularity. When we focus on being popular, we value the number of friends we have rather than the quality of their character, or their compatibility. Likewise, when we try to stay “on trend” with our creative projects, we risk lowering the quality…
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Wilderness survival
“There will be times when standing alone feels too hard, too scary, and we’ll doubt our ability to make our way through the uncertainty. Someone, somewhere, will say, ‘Don’t do it. You don’t have what it takes to survive the wilderness.’ This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself, ‘I am the wilderness.’” ~Brene Brown Not long after college, I had a job in reference book publishing. Every weekday for nearly five years, I took a bus downtown to an office in Detroit. As much as I enjoyed book production and the friends I made at the company, something was missing. I wasn’t writing. So…
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The hero of your journey
“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.” ~Joseph Campbell Mythologist Joseph Campbell believed that everyone’s life is a “Hero’s Journey.” Along the way, we battle our own metaphorical dragons and monsters. We encounter life-changing challenges and obstacles. And while we rarely realize it until later, our darkest moments contain the most profound lessons. I recall the time I had both hips replaced within five months, in my forties, after a crippling battle with osteoarthritis. (That was back in the day when hip replacement surgery was more complicated than it is now.) My recovery required weeks…
