Creative Magic

In her book Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert (who is best known as the author of Eat, Pray, Love) writes "I believe the creative process is both magical and magic."

I agree. Ideas or inspiration come to me only if I am open to receiving them. Gilbert suggests that ideas have a consciousness of sorts, and are out there in the world, just swirling around waiting to become manifest. 

She suggests that if we are too consumed with our daily dramas, anxieties and duties we will miss the signal. And although the idea may stick around for minutes, or months, trying to get our attention, if one remains oblivious, the idea will leave, off to find someone who will to connect with it.

Perhaps this is true.

But sometimes, if you are lucky and open enough that idea will stay with you. At first it may just be a little spark, something you'd like to play around with, or learn more about. You have to be willing to give it some room to grow. You have to believe that you are worthy to do it.

My goal is to encourage you to explore. Test the waters. Try something new. Write that poem, or if not a whole poem, write down the lines that come to you, before it floats away. Give it a go. Start knitting that wool hat. Don't know how to knit you say? Well then, find a friend to teach you, take a book out of the library, or go to YouTube and watch a video.

Just start. Play. Remember that the fun is in playing. 

Thank you for reading.

~Mary

"Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while working." ~Henri Mattise

It's a New Day: Why Not Make Something?

I love the color of the sky just before sunrise. Today at the horizon there is a pale pink infiltrating the gray clouds above. The day is beginning--- and who knows what's ahead?

What I do know is I am thankful to be warm and safe. I am grateful for my life and family. And I know that my dear husband and I will be quarantining until our (hopefully negative) COVID test results appear online.

I also know that I will make something today. I am not sure what it will be. I might write a poem, or bake cookies, or put the binding on a quilted table runner. I might knit or try to learn more about rug hooking.

You might ask, why do I make things?  Well, I make because something calls to me from deep within. Perhaps it is my soul, or God, or the Universe. Who the caller is I am not sure. I only know that I am called. I also understand that when I remember times in my life where I was unable to create I was frustrated and angry.  So as a matter of self-care I create.

I always have a project going. You could call it my therapy, and maybe it is.  I know that making helps me stay on the happy side of the street. 

Don't get me wrong, I still have challenges. We all carry a bag of rocks. It is the stuff that doesn't show up on Instagram or Facebook posts. It's the real stuff that we all contend with. It is the dent in the car fender. It's the morning with messy hair, no makeup, and a hole in the sock. It is the day you start chemotherapy.

So this morning I am going finish my coffee, pet the cat, and then do a little knitting. I have some yarn leftover from a child's sweater that I completed last week and I think there is enough for a little matching hat. I will find out. There is so much to learn and some things are experiments because you can learn from any experiment.

Enjoy your day and your life because only you can make it sweet.

Thank you for reading,

Mary

This is my variation on the 'Rosemary's Little Sweater' pattern from The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book by Margaret Klein Wilson and the Green Mountain Spinnery,
The Countryman Press, Woodstock,VT, 2003

"Don't wait for inspiration. It comes while working." ~Henri Mattise