A Book on How to Be

[Portions of this post were originally published on January 13, 2025]

I’ve just borrowed Rick Ruben’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being from the library. Ruben describes it as “a book on how to be” which seems like an accurate self-assessment. Here’s just one pearl of wisdom:

“To live as an artist is a way of being in the world. A way of perceiving. A practice of paying attention. Refining our sensitivity to tune in to the more subtle notes. Looking for what draws us in and what pushes us away. Noticing what feeling tones arise and where they lead.”

After thirty years of writing poetry, I've only recently started calling myself, out loud, to other people, a poet. Now that I've said it out loud, it unlocked something in by brain, and I've started to see the poetry in everything I do: my illustrations, my animations, the clothing I sew, the videos I make, and the photos I take. I'm starting to see what draws me in and what pushes me away. I'm starting to take notice of the feeling tones that arise and where they lead.

As I begin a new generation of this blog, my goal is to better understand the themes that I'm consistently weaving into my work. I deliberately chose to import the blog I wrote 10+ years ago because I hoped that it could stand as a stitch marker. I wanted to see how far I've come, but just as importantly, I wanted to see the threads that have been there from the beginning.