Some years ago, I met a girl called Maria. She was seven, I was six. Maria loved jigsaw puzzles more than anything. Other girls had their dolls and pushchairs and plastic jewellery, but all Maria wanted was jigsaw puzzles. Oh, and books, but that’s another story. Maria’s father had made [...] Read more »
Warm And Analogue
You and I are living, breathing, whooping, weeping artists. We’re not machines. Our behaviour’s not binary – one or zero, full on or full off. This weekend your creative options are not limited to just two – spend all 48 hours crafting a resplendent masterpiece, or create absolutely nothing. You [...] Read more »
How To Balance Expectation And Disappointment (v37.3)
Recently, we talked about how powerful a daily stack of habits can be. My own morning stack – yoga, daily gratitudes, meditation and writing – is at the very core of my creative life. Those first two hours of the day are often the most effective and enjoyable of the [...] Read more »
500 Days Of Yoga And Indestructible Daily Practice
In September 2010 I took my first ever yoga class. Soon after, I bought my own mat, and supplemented the weekly session with a few more in between at home, to gain more practice. On October 1st 2010, I decided that I’d like to practise yoga for a minimum of [...] Read more »
First Port
When you set off on your adventures each day, which is the first port you call at? What’s the first thing you give your time, energy and attention to? Is it your creative work? If it’s not, and creating is only the third or thirty third visit of your day, [...] Read more »
Seeking Space And Stillness
In our busy lives, when we talk about seeking space and stillness as if they are elusive entities somewhere out there we might be lucky enough to stumble upon occasionally, we relinquish our power to choose. The truth is, we have the opportunity to choose to create space and stillness [...] Read more »
Creativity And The Heart Of Your Universe
Imagine if you kept your heart up on a shelf. Imagine you’d forced your bare fingers right into your chest, ripped out it, and placed it high out of reach. There it sat, dripping, bloodied and barely fluttering. In this scenario, that old heart of yours isn’t going to be [...] Read more »