Pema Chödrön on Tigers, Strawberries and the Preciousness of the Moment

“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers […]

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Brené Brown on Owning Your Story & the Power of Vulnerability

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will […]

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Find Your Motivation & Increase Energy with These Ancient Techniques

Find your motivation and boost your energy levels with these ancient tools and techniques. Every writer and artist has days where their drive dips or motivation flags a little, when instead of being filled with creative splendour, they find themselves creatively stuck, unable to express much less motivate that expression. If struggling to find that discipline or drive, attending […]

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Joseph Conrad on Fiction, Art and the Power of the Written Word

Fiction — if it at all aspires to be art — appeals to temperament. And in truth it must be, like painting, like music, like all art, the appeal of one temperament to all the other innumerable temperaments whose subtle and resistless power endows passing events with their true meaning, and creates the moral, the […]

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Music | Be Fair With Me Baby By Billie Holiday

“Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.” ― Billie Holiday In honour of Jazz diva, Billy Holiday’s 100th birthday this week, instead of sharing poetry, here’s a little music to brighten your day. Click the Spotify player to have a listen or click here, and scroll down for the […]

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Acupressure to Ease Creative Doubt

Creative doubt can affect every aspect of the creative process, from confidence in your craft to your passion for a project. Try these acupressure points to alleviate creative doubt, no matter the medium of your art. As a prequel to the post on writing doubt, these acupressure points can be used to alleviate creative doubt. Every artist, just as every writer, experiences […]

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7 Ways to Embrace Vulnerability and Write Your Truth

When you create with openness, with a willingness to trust and be vulnerable for your art, your writing is all the more authentic and true because it is uncensored, drawn from the deepest part of yourself — pure feeling articulated on the page — but it can be hard to share our truths, to write without censor, especially when the […]

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John Steinbeck’s 6 Tips for the Aspiring Writer

“A kind of light spread out from her. And everything changed color. And the world opened out. And a day was good to awaken to. And there were no limits to anything. And the people of the world were good and handsome. And I was not afraid any more.” ~ John Steinbeck, East of Eden […]

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Free-Writing: The Secret of All Successful Writers

When the words do not flow or the blank screen stares back at you, mockingly, one of the finest secrets of all to loosen your language and liberate your prose is to use this writing technique. “Whatever exercise you need to do to keep healthy and fit for your body, this is a thing you do to […]

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Creative Overwhelm: Slowing Down and Finding Stillness in a Busy World

Finding stillness in our busy world is crucial not only for our ability to live in such a world, physically, and neurologically, but also for our inner landscape. In stillness we are able to reconnect with our centre, our true, authentic self. To silence the endless clamour of our planet of bleeps and busyness, and disconnect from the demands […]

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