Being creative is its own reward.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. Sylvia Plath

What an interesting weekend! On Saturday I attended Breakthrough To Writer’s Success put on by the Mississauga Arts Council and hosted the last event of the day, the Self-Publishing Panel.

When we are part of things where we feel out of our league but others think we belong is intimidating, but wonderful. The keynote address was by Eric Walters, who has written 120 books, won over 100 awards, and presented to more than 1.5 million students worldwide. He is a writer who does a lot of research for his books. When he talked about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, desert sand storms, and co-founding a children’s program in Kenya we were inspired to reach higher.

A woman asked if she could have the seat next to me. She has had the most incredible life as a singer, and event planner, and now wants to write a book. I was amazed sitting beside someone so accomplished I had a little advice to offer as a self-published author.

If we call ourselves writers but haven’t written anything in four years, can we still call ourselves writers? It’s a good question and the woman who was asked this returned to the questioner and told him she started writing again. We have to watch we don’t talk about our writing more than we write.

We can spend our time going to events, book clubs, and writer’s groups without getting any writing done. I’ve done this with art and writing, often I would find myself going to bookstores, buying books on art or writing instead of doing art or writing. It is great to have a library of art and writing books but unless we practice the craft, we don’t progress, and that idea was pushed throughout the day. Writers write and thinking about writing is not writing, it is a faster or slower process for some of us, but persistence is important.

To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it. Kurt Vonnegut

Life is a journey, and where it will take us we cannot know. Inspiring his students by writing about them and where they lived started Eric Walter’s writing journey, and what a journey it has been. The singer I sat beside started as a cast member of, “Jesus Christ Superstar.” It isn’t so much where we start, but where we end up that inspires others. What people overcome, what they learn, and what keeps them going is inspiring.

We are where we are, we’ve done what we’ve done, but the future spreads before each of us, and what we do with it is up to us. Serendipity, luck, and faith play a role, but if it is to be, it is up to me, is also important. Twenty or thirty years will go by whether we do anything or not. We are told, “We can do anything,” but do we believe it? Are we willing to get out of our comfort zone?

If there is something we want to do we haven’t done yet, what is holding us back? If we don’t have what we want and someone tells us no; how is that worse? What if it takes ten no’s to get to yes? What if it takes twenty? What is the worst thing that can happen if we work hard to make our dreams come true? If all our dreams are on the other side of our comfort zone, don’t we have to get out of our comfort zone if we want them to come true and lead a more interesting life?

I’m not advocating giving up day jobs or security, family is still the most important thing, but we still need to grow and develop. Creativity feeds our soul, and finding ways to bring it into our lives is worth it.

Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen. Oprah Winfrey

A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Elizabeth Gilbert

There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns. Edward De Bono

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Siblings are the greatest gift we are given after, life itself.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The bond between a sister and a brother is sometimes tightly woven, sometimes loosely held but never broken. Unknown

Today my heart is filled with gratitude. My daughter went into early labor and delivered a healthy baby girl. She’s a tiny five pounds fourteen ounces, Mommy and baby are doing well. When things start happening before term we worry and every precious day is a blessing but she decided she was getting out of there, and came with a force.

Today our grandson will visit his new sister. At two-and-a-half, he is missing his mommy and this morning he asked me to make her coffee. He saved her popcorn the first night, and yesterday he saved her part of a gummy and licorice. He was very stoic yesterday and I thought he was waiting for his Daddy to come home standing at the window, but when I went to see what he was up to he ripped the wallpaper in the office. He did this when he was much younger and ripping it yesterday is a sign of how hard he was trying to be good, but he needed an outlet for his frustration.

I can’t remember when my brother next to me was born, but I think I can remember when my youngest brother was born and Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. How do we process a new baby coming into the family, is it the best gift ever, or do we feel a loss in status we never recover from?

When I had my daughter I saw it from the mother’s point of view, now I am watching it from my grandson’s point of view, and it is interesting to watch and hear what he is saying as he takes in this momentous event.

Sister and brother friendship is the rainbow between two hearts sharing seven colors: feelings, love, sadness, happiness, truth, faith, secrets, and respect. Unknown

The first night he slept alone and when his grandpa asked if he had a good sleep, he said, “No, I miss my mommy.” Last night he woke up not long after going to bed and didn’t want to go back to bed, so when he went back to sleep I stayed with him and all night a little hand reached out to see if I was still there. This morning, Grandpa asked if he slept well, and he said, “Yes, Grandma slept with me.”

Meeting our new sister or brother has to be one of the biggest days in our lives, even if we don’t remember it, as most of us don’t. Does sibling rivalry start now, and if it does, how do we create a supportive sibling relationship instead of the rivalry that sometimes exists?

Having siblings is one of the great joys in life, and those who don’t have siblings might think they know what they are missing but truly they can’t understand the depth of the sibling relationship. Siblings fight, and we pick on each other, but woe to anyone who thinks they can treat our brother or sister unfairly.

If we have siblings we know we have a port in any storm, and is the greatest gift we can give our first child, a brother, or a sister?

Siblings are like branches of a tree. We grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one. Unknown

Your parents leave you too soon and your kids and spouse come along late, but your siblings know you when you are in your most chaotic form. Unknown

Brothers and sisters are special. They fight. They make up. They laugh. They cry. They’re far from perfect. But when you really need them, they have your back. Unknown

Thank you for reading this post, Please come back and read some more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Gratitude makes our soul blossom, changing our attitude, brightening our outlook, and broadening our perspective.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Take one thing with another, and the world is a pretty good sort of a world, and tis our duty to make the best of it and be thankful. Benjamin Franklin

People are gathering in their homes to celebrate Thanksgiving. We give thanks for the bounty and blessings we’ve received. Is it as easy to give thanks as to complain? Isn’t there always something that is not quite right we can complain about, but blessings flow to us daily?

Isn’t it a blessing when we turn on the tap, flush the toilet, open our fridge, and start our vehicle? We pick up our phone, turn on the computer or TV, and are connected to the world. Life has probably never been so simple, we don’t have to lay up stores for the winter like long ago when if we didn’t have enough, death was certain.

We don’t have to spend all our waking hours hunting for food. We have time for pastimes, reading, learning, and discussing world affairs. Do we see a cup half full or a cup half empty? Are we part of the problem or part of the solution? Are we waiting for someone else to do what needs to be done or are we getting in there and making the best of what there is?

We may think we should have made better decisions throughout our life, or just different ones, life might not have turned out how we thought it would, but life isn’t so much planned as meandered through in many ways. If we’ve seen the movie “Up” it was a good analogy of how life works. Something comes along to derail our plans. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make plans, but we need flexibility.

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude. G.K. Chesterton

As life twists and turns is cultivating an attitude of gratitude the best thing we can do? Does it make a difference if we are grateful for the blessings and challenges of life? It’s easy to be grateful for the blessings, the challenges not so much, but facing challenges is where growth lies, and when we meet people who have faced many challenges we are often impressed with who they’ve become. We wouldn’t want to face those challenges ourselves, but aren’t we impressed, and just like coal under immense pressure becomes a diamond perhaps pressure on people turns them into people who sparkle with life, character, and gratitude.

What if we start life as an old lump of coal but could be a diamond someday? Sweet old people who have faced the challenges in life are a joy to be around. They have wonderful stories, insights into life, and an encouraging way about them. They are givers, encouragers, supporters, and uplift those around them.

Who can we uplift, encourage, and support? Times will get hard, situations seem impossible to overcome, relationships may seem beyond repair and if we give up they will stay that way, but what if we don’t give up, what if we keep dealing with the hardships, we keep trying to make peace, we keep looking for common ground, and we look for a way to make things better?

What if in the end, we come out the other side and things are better, the road behind us is rougher than the road ahead of us. Will we be grateful for persevering and being steadfast? Will we have taught our children and grandchildren the benefit of not giving up? In most stories there is a point where the character thinks they can’t go on, what is the use, defeat is sure, but if they continue, though they pay a heavy price they are rewarded in some way.

We all have a story, and we can’t go back and change the beginning, but what if the ending is in a good part up to us?

Being grateful does not mean that everything is necessarily good. It just means that you can accept it as a gift. Roy T. Bennett

The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for. Norman Vincent Peale

Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have. Sanchita Pandey

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Creating an Illustrated Journal to celebrate our life, document our days, and excavate our soul.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open. Natalie Goldberg

Has creating an Illustrated Journal been something you’ve done or would like
to do? I’ve kept journals for many years, mostly written, and I believe they
have helped me in ways too numerous to mention. Most of my journals are written but sometimes we can’t find the words to say what is in our heart and mind.

Long ago I gave up the page-day Diary in favor of the blank page Journal,
but I picked up a few yesterday that inspire me, for 2025 I might try a page-a-day guided journal, and one I like is called “Fit Happens.” It includes gratitude, goals, fitness, and inspiration with a two-page spread for each day. I purchased it at Dollarama.

Our journal is a place, to be honest with ourselves; we can pour our heart
and soul onto a page in words, art, or both. Sometimes it’s hard to find the
words and a picture might let us get all our angst out on the page in a
scribble, maybe we want to color in the blank space, or maybe we don’t. Georgia O’Keefe tells us, “I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way.”

Zentangles are patterns we can add to our illustrated journal.  Lines, circles, and dots create a pattern. Four patterns create a tile, we can incorporate lines and patterns in our journal in any way we choose, and can become a mindful meditative practice. Creating mandalas is another way of expressing ourselves.

Writing is another powerful way to sharpen the mental saw. Keeping a journal of our thoughts, insights, and learning promotes mental clarity, exactness, and context. Stephen Covey

Art is for all of us, and expressing ourselves on the page might be one of
the best ways to sort out our feelings, fears, goals, and aspirations, and help us deal with the problems and challenges in life. Art isn’t only for those whose artwork will end up in a museum or gallery. It doesn’t need to be hung up on our walls, but it can be.

The benefit of art is in making it, expressing ourselves on the page, and when we keep that art in a journal we can look back on it and see our progress. The words and pictures will bring us back to that day. We think we remember everything about our life but I read my journals and am surprised by what is in them. There are events written about in my journal I don’t remember until the journal jogs my memory. We might think we’ve always looked at things the way we see them now, but if kept over a long time, our journal will document how our view on things has changed.

A written journal or an illustrated journal is a way to examine our lives,
we may get more out of life by looking for things to put into our journal, live more fully, and drink more deeply from the cup of life. Does our life call out to be documented in some way? Isn’t this why we love taking photos? They can also be included in our illustrated journal and other memorabilia we can glue or tape in.

My idea of an Illustrated Journal is to excavate the past, document our
present, and plan our future. As a scrapbook, life planner, and vision
board nothing is too small or too big to be included.

Will creating an Illustrated Journal help us to live well from the inside
out? Will it change our lives in ways we can’t imagine? Is it true the more you
put into life the more you get out of it? Would creating an Illustrated Journal
be a way to get more out of life?

In the journal, I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any
person” I create myself. Susan Sontag

Documenting little details of your everyday life becomes a celebration of
who you are. Carolyn V. Hamilton

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. William Wordsworth

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love. 

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end. 

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.