Challenge: "Most of us feel uncomfortable thinking of ourselves as artists, but we are. We think artists write novels, paint pictures, choreograph ballets, act on Broadway, throw pots, shoot feature films, dress in black, and line their eyes with kohl. But each of us is an artist. An artist is merely someone with good listening skills who accesses the creative energy of the Universe to bring forth something in the material plane that wasn't here before." Sarah Ban Breathnach. How are your listening skills?
Entry #1: Listening to words is easy. It is listening to the silence between the words that is difficult. If you are listening to that silence, you may find that the co-worker who always seems happy and carefree is actually putting on a front to mask their pain. Your mother or father, who tells you that it’s just a little pain, nothing to worry about, may need to see a doctor. The friend that is laughing about the trials of parenting may need your shoulder to cry on. People don’t always say what really needs to be said. That is why the best listeners are the ones who listen to the silence, to the pause, to the tone of the voice, to the facial expressions; not only to the words being spoken.
Entry #2: Sitting on the beach, the writer and the pianist were arguing about where inspiration comes from. The writer said inspiration has to come from years of life experiences. The pianist said that inspiration comes only with hard work and a lot of concentration. Their conversation was interrupted by their 8 year old son, who was sitting a few feet away from them. They went over to see what he wanted, and he proudly pointed to what he had created in the sand with a large stick. It was a picture of three stick figures, and they were labeled “Mom”, “Dad”, and “Tyler”.
“I was listening to the waves and the birds,” he said, “and it made me happy, so I drew this for you.”
Just listen – inspiration is everywhere around you.
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