Quotes About Inspiration

Spending time in solitude with your artist child is essential to self-nurturing.

if I had enough time" is the unstated sentence "to hear myself think." In other words, we imagine that if we had time we would quiet our more shallow selves and listen to a deeper flow of inspiration. Again, this is a myth that lets us off the hook—if I wait for enough time to listen, I don't have to listen now, I don't have to take responsibility for being available to what is trying to bubble up today.

Do not be discouraged by the ways in which you fall short. Every shortcoming is to me an opportunity for your growth.

Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness—I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness. AARON COPLAND All

The primary imagination I hold to be the Living Power. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Wherever you are is the entry point," and this is always true with writing. Wherever you are is always the right place. There is never a need to fix anything, to hitch up the bootstraps of the soul and start at some higher place. Start right where you are.

If we are interested in a writing life - as opposed to a writing career - then we are in it for the process and not the product - for the body of work and not for the quick hit of one well-realised piece.

Mystery is at the heart of creativity.

Making art has taught me that the tiniest smidgen of progress is something to be savored.

As a rule of thumb, it is best to just admit that there is always one action you can take for your creativity daily.

Pages clarify our yearnings. They keep an eye on our goals. They may provoke us, coax us, comfort us, even cajole us, as well as prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. If we are drifting, the pages will point that out. They will point the way True North. Each morning, as we face the page, we meet ourselves. The pages give us a place to vent and a place to dream. They are intended for no eyes but our own.

Every child is born an artist. The trick is remaining one as an adult.

When people ask, "Why do we write morning pages?" I joke, "To get to the other side." They think I am kidding, but I'm not. Morning pages do get us to the other side: the other side of our fear, of our negativity, of our moods. Above all, they get us beyond our Censor. Beyond the reach of the Censor's babble we find our own quiet center, the place where we hear the still, small voice that is at once our creator's and our own.

We forget that the imagination-at-play is at the heart of all good work.

The purpose of art is not a rarified, intellectual distillate— it is life, intensified, brilliant life. ALAIN ARIAS-MISSON

It is as though when we allow the slightest bit of positive inflow, we are rewarded by an increase in our creative outflow.

For example, if you remembered the smell of fresh-baked bread, a visit to a bakery could be a wonderful Artist Date.) Never Too Late The joke runs like this: Question: Do you know how old I will be by the time I learn to play the piano? Answer: The same age you'll be if you don't. A year from now you will wish you had started today. —KAREN LAMB

Fostering our children's creativity, we are fostering our children's spirituality as well.

We knew each other in Taos, New Mexico, where a deep source of our creativity sprung. I know her now also in Santa Fe, walking her dog through the chamisa.

Doing it all the time, whether or not we are in the mood, gives us ownership of our writing ability. It takes it out of the realm of conjuring where we stand on the rock of isolation, begging the winds for inspiration, and it makes it something as do-able as picking up a hammer and pounding a nail. Writing may be an art, but it is certainly a craft. It is a simple and workable thing that can be as steady and reliable as a chore—does that ruin the romance?

Gently set all ego aside and be a channel for my thinking to come into the world.

The success of Morning Pages hinges on our doing them as close to awakening as we can.

I do not put in long hours at the keys - or very seldom. Instead, I snatch time. I write in the crannies of my life.

us a place to vent and a place to dream. They are intended for no eyes but our own. Virginia