“It’s important always to have a sense of wonder.”
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A couple of weeks ago, I posted a picture
similar to the one above with the caption;
‘Morning Pages …‘
Will, an old mate of mine who lives
in New York piped up with the comment;
“The Artist’s Way ? “
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The Artist’s Way is a book by Julia Cameron,
and comes highly recommended from most who read it.
It turns out Will,
founder of Menswear brand Death To Tennis,
had been to one of her classes, and had read the book.
He recommended it too.
I’ve been doing Morning Pages for a couple of years now;
only in fits and starts though.
The frequency ebbing and flowing.
I honestly can’t remember where I’d initially
heard about them.
It must have been in the ether;
dropping in to a few conversations
I was having at the time.
I had already bought the Artist’s Way, only I’d not yet read it.
Morning Pages is one of the exercises
Julia recommends for creativity.
Three pages, every morning,
of whatever comes in to your head.
No edit.
Just write.
Will’s reminder nudged me into moving the book
from somewhere near the bottom of my pile of
‘to read’ books, to put it at the top.
The next day I opened it, read the first chapter
and I’ve been doing the Morning Pages every day since.
Writing the pages consistently, feels good.
Unearthing all your initial thoughts at the dawn of your day
creates some mental space,
and releases some good ideas.
It seems to help the creative flow.
And feels therapeutic.
Luring you in to the moment.
To focus on the now.
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Extending the Life of a Shoe
Today I was writing about exploring the life of a shoe;
extending the life of a shoe.
How it could be done differently.
Things with more meaning last longer.
Things with more resonance last longer.
I alluded to a sense of this
in a previous post here,
about the different lives of songs.
A song, with the ambiguity of the lyrics,
connects to different people in different ways.
Each listener has their own interpretation.
A song journeys due to its meaning and resonance.
They also get re-mixed in to different songs,
or covered by a different artist.
Giving the song extended life;
an extension to it’s story.
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What we create has the ability to keep telling stories;
a painting, or a book,
rings that we might wear,
recipes we might cook…
Providing inspirations.
Traversing generations.
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A shoe can have many inspirations.
Each one can tell a different story,
resonate with a different moment,
or inspire a different move.
And each one can extend the life of the shoe,
as it continues to inspire.
New notions or ideas.
What stories may appear?
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Curiosity keeps our mind engaged.
It keeps life interesting;
opens our mind to what’s different.
And can take us to different places
…
“There is something delicious
about writing the first words of a story.
You never quite know where they’ll take you.”
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Thank you for reading.
Have a beautiful night.
Anthony Stoker
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