I must know that I am, at least in part, the very thing I am seeking.*
(Richard Rohr)

We become original through practise.**
(Seth Godin)

I liked the way these thoughts played together.

What we need are the right kinds of environment for our original practise.

*From Richard Rohr’s Eager to Love;
**From Seth Godin’s blog: Two kinds of practice.

Discovering the right medium is often a tidal moment in the creative life of an individual.*
(Ken Robinson)

AMEN!

*From Sir Ken Robinson’s Out of Our Minds.

the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty*
(John Muir)

It was John Muir who wrote,

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.*

When we have found our thread of beauty it will take us on quite a journey if we are open ourselves to the places and people it leads us to.

*John Muir, quoted in Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings: The Universe as an Infinite Storm of Beauty.

What we call the beginning is often the end. And to male an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we begin from.*
(T. S. Eliot)

Before getting stuck with the thought that the years leading up to this moment have been wasted or have brought you to a blank end, take a little time to notice where you are.

Identify your talents, articulate your values and notice what you’re energised by … and not.

You may just find that you’ve accomplished quite a lot providing yourself with a new place to begin.

*T. S. Eliot, quoted in Benjamin Hardy’s Personality Isn’t Permanent.

It’s true that how we spend our days is how we end up spending our lives. We can deliberately choose to spend them wisely.*
(Bernadette Jiwa)

Just a When it comes to the main thing, I need to ask:

Am I sharing my heart and spirit in this?

(*From Bernadette Jiwa’s The Story of Telling blog: Always, Sometimes, Never.)

Thank you to all followers and subscribers of thin|silence, including those who have recently subscribed.

I just wanted to let you know it means a lot to me that you are part of this challenge to blog and doodle every day about the things that catch my attention.

It began as a challenge for a year back in 2014, but I find I just can’t stop.

Never mind who you are. Search for the person you aspire to be.*
(Robert Brault)

One way in which aspiration can feel different to inspiration, is how it provides a path to walk each day, and while we’re walking rather than waiting, inspiration may join us.

*Robert Brault, quoted in Benjamin Hardy’s Personality Isn’t Permanent.

I is a dream-blowing giant.*
(The BFG)

The bigger your future the better your present.**
(Dan Sullivan)

As regular as clockwork, the sun rises and sets, encompassing another day.

We may sometimes take it for granted, saying, There’s always another day.

But a day is an extraordinary phenomenon in the universe, holding more than a few surprises for us, and providing many moments for dreaming.

There are plenty of practical things to be done, many ordinary tasks to be performed, but, as you feel the day’s breadth and length, its height and depth, may you also dream, and then believe your dream into being.

Dreams enable us to open a future we may never have otherwise know was possible.

Just a little stillness, gazing, silence, reading, listening can help.

*The Big Friendly Giant, from Roald Dahl’s The BFG;
**Dan Sullivan, quoted in Benjamin Hardy’s Personality Isn’t Permanent.

Knowledge of the self is as important as knowledge of the external world.*
(Ken Robinson)

You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. **

Whether all the ducks in our outer world line up or not, there comes an itch.

For those who don’t find some way of distracting themselves there’s the itch for meaning and purpose.

Then we notice there are some ducks to line up on the inside, too.

*From Sir Ken Robinson’s Out of Our Minds;
**Psalm 51:6.

Discovering the right medium is often a tidal moment in the creative life of an individual. … Creativity can be inhibited by the wrong medium.*
(Ken Robinson)

many of us have a shot at creating experiences and projects whose effects can continue longe after we are gone**
(Victoria Labalme)

In 2006, newly arrived in Edinburgh, I sought to make connections with people and began meeting with a group of artists who would meet up over lunch to support one another.

The introductions shared what each artist used as their medium.

Then it was my turn.

Pause.

People, I said.

I wasn’t really sure about this, but as I said it, I knew I liked it.

I like it even more today.

It’s not about making people, but freeing them from what constrains, not unlike the characters Michelangelo saw within the blocks of stone he selected for his art.

All of which makes me wonder, what’s your favourite medium for bringing something meaningful into the world?

*From Sir Ken Robinson’s Out of Our Minds;
**Victoria Labalme, from her post for gapingvoid: Risk Forward: Victoria Labalme.