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  Elizabeth Gilbert chooses to dedicate an entire chapter to the topic of persistence in her book, Big Magic. Gilbert defines the persistence necessary in the creative process as what keeps you hammering away at your idea even when the enchantment starts to fade. At the point, when what seemed clear starts to blur, is…

“Make absolutely whatever you want to make. It’s nobody’s business but your own.” ~ Elizabeth Gilbert In living creative lives even with every good intention, the act of granting permission can be paralyzing. Even with a healthy dose of courage summoned and the magical spell of enchantment you can find yourself engaged with an old…

Now that our week of of goodbyes and well wishes has passed, while far from easy, what I feel most deeply is gratitude for the rich and varied experiences of the past years. If you are just joining me, this past week I bid an expected farewell to my longtime loyal assistant Aaron and an…

Living Creatively: Enchantment II Last week I shared with you the concept of enchantment proposed by Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Big Magic. Gilbert shared her belief: Ideas are driven by a single impulse to be made manifest. And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with…

A few weeks back, I shared a book review of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear. Her view so aligned with my own belief on creativity that I thought it might be enjoyable to engage with her message on a personal level through writing a blog series. The ingredients that Gilbert shares for…

Living Creatively: Courage Part III Seriously, here we go, it’s part three on Courage in this Living Creatively series, that I absolutely never intended to be so up close and personal. But hey, we are here and this journey only continues to get more interesting by the day! Last week I shared, with all the…

New Journeys. New Beginnings. Pema Chodron has written a classic book on Buddhist teachings titled, When Things Fall Apart. It took me years of struggles, trying to hold my life together before I could even take a peek at what she had to say. When I did garner the courage to look, I learned Pema…

Living Creatively: Courage Part II “When someone makes a decision he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him places he has never dreamed of when he first made that decision.” – Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist Often we are faced with decisions and the answers that speak from your core of being…

Let me ask you this question: If you could put your fears aside, what would you be doing differently right now in your life? Would it be a new career path, a change in how or with whom you spend your time, a new routine for starting each day, or would you learn a new…

Heroic Pet Efforts Wherever in the world you may be reading this, you have most certainly been touched emotionally by the horrific unfolding of news since Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast. The enormity of it all continues to be more than overwhelming. So many stories and so much love, all at this…

Book Review: Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert Each morning while staying in the Pyrenees, I would wake ahead of the family and hike up the ridge crest trail near our holiday home. There, I would find a sitting spot and, along with nature awakening around me, welcome the day ahead. I would breath in the cool,…

Help Texas Today! No doubt you, along with the rest of our nation, are more than well aware of the devastation that hit Texas, particularly parts of the Gulf Coast and Houston, over this past weekend. When faced with the horrific images and narrative of disasters, we are instantly reminded of two things, regardless of…