Welcome to my Pillow Fort. Despite the fact that it's a metaphor, there are actual pillows in my immediate vicinity so it does basis in reality. Plus. it 's comfy and safe in both literary and real dimensions.
Art and writing give us metaphors that we can climb into and, if you're like me, you're wanting to climb into something that is far away from the news. My upcoming newsletters will be containing comfort and inspiration, because I need it too, stay tuned.
Today my husband and I purposely walked down a metaphor. It was a alley. and our mission was to find something beautiful on this through-way that was deemed less visual appealing than the manicured side facing the street.
A metaphor.
There were bush clock vines, bougainvilleas, a beautiful peppertree , and simply the art installation an alley can be when you decide to see it as as an art . It really was beautiful when we looked at it that way.
Finding the beauty in unexpected places is a mission right now... it's a quest of not crumbling from reality.
I'm lucky to be in a vortex of magnanimous souls so I see the quotes, wisdom and needed humor of authors, artists, and people who
speak out with precisely the truth I
need to hear right now.
I weed through some of the ones that seem superficial, cliche', or trite, but I'm glad to read the majority. They give me another perspective and seeing things differently is a trait of the artist and writer that I badly need to be right now, as well as having an open mind.
Here are a few sprigs of thought that have been helpful to me (some don't have sources):
Paraphrased from my friend Chess Edwards:
We thought politics would save us from the darkness, but it didn't. Now we have the job of turning to the consciousness of love.
"Dogs aren't just pets, some days they're the only things that makes sense."
"Normalize telling your friends you love them. Tell them a lot."
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."
~Ray Bradbury
"We make art so we don't die of reality." ~Nietzsche paraphrased.
Creativity is remembering who we you are. We are still the same people we were before the election. We still know what love is. There are still beautiful peppertrees in the alley.
*(Actually...everyone who comes to my
Taos retreat in February DOES get a pair of comfy socks, a writing journal, and some art supplies.)
Join me in staving off despair by participating in art as a solution for reality. Scroll down for my offerings. I don't know about you, but I need community and creativity right now.
I recommend the Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Training.
As you go through it, you take your creativity to new levels, using the tools you're learning to break through resistance, procrastination, and all the other usual suspects that stand in our way. I've been teaching now for twenty years, last year it won best creativity coaching training, and as I teach it, I find that creativity keeps unfolding the best in life... and in myself. Take it for yourself or to be a creativity coach.
Creativity Classes, Trainings, Retreats
Art as a Solution to Reality on Zoom through the La Jolla Athenaeum
Thursdays, 2–3:30 PM PST/ 5pm eastern
January 9–30
Stay Drunk on Writing
Wednesdays 2-3:30
January 8- 29
Creativity Immersion
January 17-week KMCC trainingYou can read all about that here,
KMCC
The Muse in Winter Taos Retreat February 8-12, 2025
Creativity at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos.
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The Muse is IN
www.gomnb.com
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The Underground newly named, "Pillow Fort": On going monthly workshops, weekly prompts, and a supportive community of nurturing people. Anti-overwhelm, pro-inspired, chill.
One of the best ways to make creativity more of a priority.
More here.
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The Muse is IN
www.gomnb.com
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Follow me on
Substack for a more regular dose of inspirational humor and creativity tips. Free but perksfor paid members (like class discounts and special benefits including a $50 discount for my Taos retreat).
Dispatching Muses, Wishing Ease and Joy,
Jill Badonsky
"Happiness is available .. help yourself to it."
~ Thich Nhach Hahn
www.themuseisn.com
