These Tools
- My camera is a tool to capture moments of time, like someone enjoying morning coffee. My journal is a tool to slow down the chatter of the mind, a diary of the days events and an ongoing letter to the Divine. My books are a tool that provide seeds, where words take root within the soul. Prayer and contemplation are tools that allows me to stay quiet, resting in the Presence. These tools help in the transformation of the way I see and live in the world. And, I guess you can say coffee shops and mocha lattes are a tool. What are some of your tools?
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There’s a story behind each door
“When we want mood experiences, we go to concerts or museums. When we want meaningful emotional experience, we go to the storyteller.” Robert McKee
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Craftsmanship: Creating with our hands
“Whatever your medium, the goal of any arts practice is to develop a greater set of skills for dealing with challenges. Experience will help you close that gap between your own vision and the piece’s final execution.” Jeff VanderMeer
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I Care
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Dr. Seuss
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Rereading
Morning sunrise at a local coffee shop “A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. It’s only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.” Steven Pressfield, Do the Work
I’ve been rereading a couple of Steven Pressfield’s books on creating art and what stops us from being creative. Thus the quote above.
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Fellow Travelers
I am a man of solitude, enjoying and relishing in silence away from the crowds. Yet, I believe the journey through life is not to be traveled alone that people are vital. I’ve discovered there are times in life we will need to walk alone while at other times we will travel with others. Some of those travellers will be family, friends and some will be strangers. Some will share similar visions and dreams. Some will support us in times of need while at other times we will support them. My hope is we do not see one another as other than and erect walls. I also believe when we’re free from the shackles of our fear of others we will we never get the sense any mountain is too high to scale, or any horizon is too far to conquer. When free from the shackles of fear the storm clouds on the horizon will not deter us from continuing on. May we believe that as we create relationships with all of creation we are also in the act of creating our world.
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Noticing
All the technique in the world doesn’t compensate for the inability to notice. – Elliott Erwitt
