Don’t Hesitate

Don’t Hesitate

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Mary Oliver

Looking to 2025

2024 has been a challenging year for many.
Be proud of all you’ve accomplished.
All your hard work will support your efforts in 2025.
Choose you;
choose the people who truly see you
and love you as you are.
Happy New Year.

Happy Christmas …

Whatever “happy” you celebrate – Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa – I hope yours is just that … truly happy.

The kindness you bring into the world, in both large and small ways, truly does make this a better place to live. Thank you for that on behalf of all creatures great and small. Cheers.

The Quote that Inspires …

My new copy of “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle (mine is old, beat-up and yellowed.) Why this book now? I have not been able to concentrate well on a novel – just too much to do. Until …

I stumbled across a quote I love from this book in one of my own posts here on stilladreamer.com

“It’s a rare man who is taken for what he truly is. There is much misjudgment in the world. Now I took you for a unicorn when I first saw you, and I know that I am your friend. Yet you took me for a clown, a clod, or a betrayer, and so I must be if you see me so. The magic on you is only magic and will vanish as soon as you are free, but the enchantment of error that you put on me I must wear forever in your eyes.

“We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream. Still, I have read, or heard it sung, that unicorns when time was young, could tell the difference `twixt the two – the false shining and the true, the lips’ laugh and the heart’s rue.”

~ Schmendrick the Magician
 from “The Last Unicorn”

Sometimes all it takes is a few words, and we’re back in a book.

This magnificent and well-known tapestry: “The Unicorn Is in Captivity” (1495-1505 ) is one of the “Hunt for the Unicorn” tapestries, housed in The Cloisters, NYC.

The Importance of Showing Up

There are many reasons why we, as artists, don’t do our work, whatever our individual expression is. In the end, it all comes down to fear. I don’t think I need to go into any detail. You know what your own apprehensions are about bringing your beautiful creations to light, or even revealing them to yourself.

But waiting for “the right time” can end up being never. I remember many years ago, analyzing all the reasons why I procrastinated about certain things (most likely my art), and then the comment was, “Sometimes you have to just apply your butt to the chair and just do it.” Point well taken.

So get your tired, unkempt, pajama-clad (if applicable), unfocused, resistant self to wherever you have to be to create and show up for yourself. For your creative self. As unready as you are, get there, and allow something to happen. You’ll be OK. I’ll be pushing myself to do the same.

Meet you at the desk.