Thoughts From Marsha

The following is what I just sent out today as a newsletter. I am reprinting it here for my blog because I feel strongly about what I have written . . .

This newsletter is a bit of advice I have read in many different places. It seems that as I have aged, the ideas of how to work on my artwork, and even how to live my life, are at the forefront of what I read about. How did they know?

I do quite a bit of reading first thing in the morning with my coffee and while the house is relatively quiet. Newsletters I sign up for entice me to read it first! Which one? Oh dear, and at least an hour later I am still reading and thinking about those pieces of advice I have gleaned from them.

It has been my thought to use these to create my newsletters from, or to include in the book I am writing. I have hoarded these little tidbits for many years. I am going to give you several of the phrases and sentences and some exact quotes.

So how do I do this?
On my desktop I created a “shortcut” link that I can click on quickly to open my “Inspiring Quotes” document to copy or write in. These may not have an official quote, but the gist of what I read is what I put down. If I can give a complete quote, I will and give credit to that person.

Here goes, and in no order that seems perfect. But I believe they are all talking about the same area of thought of how to live our lives, or how to do what we do every day in a better or more thoughtful way. See if you get from these what I did.

1. “Coming from an authentic place” a very important phrase... caught my eye one morning so I copied it. Now why didn’t I put who and where it came from? I do think it may have come from John P. Weiss. His newsletter comes one time per week. But my thought is how to apply this to my writing, teaching, and my artwork.

2. Another one I copied from a John P. Weiss newsletter “The Gift of Productive Daydreaming” ... here is a quote from a book he recommended:

“Cal Newport has a new book coming out, titled “Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout.” I read a sample... and thought he talks about “a belief that good work requires increasing busyness” ... which is possibly wrong. You may think I have a wrong word, or something missing in this, but it is what I got from his writing. The quote is exactly as he wrote it.”

“His (Cal Newport) website offers the following in a free read sample: “A philosophy for organizing knowledge work efforts in a sustainable and meaningful manner, based on the following three principles:
 
1. Do fewer things
2. Work at a natural pace
3. Obsess over quality"

3. Charles Becker newsletter: “Castles in the Sky” where he talks about his father who owns a book store and works hard at it, loving what he does:  “ . . . not for the hustle or for the grind, but because they love it, and because it's what they value, and because it's who they are and they can't be any other way.”

... and from that same newsletter he said: “He is immediately in touch with what matters most to him in a way most people either envy or just can’t understand. He’s always connected to the immediacy and importance of his work, and how it fits into the world.”

... someone wrote in a comment to that newsletter of Charles Becker this: “There’s such a deep intuition from those who have spent their life listening to their souls ...”

4.  From Clintavo (Clint Watson - FASO Marketing / Bold Brush) which is the website for my artwork and this newsletter you are reading. His post on 2/17/2024 was about “Search Engine Marketing for Artists.”

So to confuse you a bit (sorry), he posted a link a year earlier, his Mar. 4, 2023 “The Myth of the One True Way” post. Both these quotes are from that article:

His words “successful people found their own truth

and their own way to success.”

AND

Bruce Lee said, “Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless

and add what is specifically your own.”

5. In an Austin Kleon newsletter on 1/30/24 he had this:
“Something I learned a long time ago is that it is a great help to the artist to believe that there are no coincidences. One way to boost your curiosity is to just assume that everything in life is a clue left from the universe for further investigation. Follow the clues the universe drops for you, and you will almost always learn something interesting. Take everything as a sign and you’ll be less stumped about what to do next.”

Confused yet?
Or did you gather a thought or two that resonates with you. I know that at many times I had to go back an read a second or third time to get the right idea.

Remember, these quotes are exactly as written by the writers I was reading. It was hard not to correct what I might think is an incorrect phrase. I know that may be funny, but darn, I did have a couple of times of “fixing” the thought, then taking it back out so it was exactly as I read in their newsletter!

These things ... these thoughts ... are good discussion to have with your circle of friends.

I truly believe when we pass along this type of thing, it helps us all.

The two paintings you see here are "my truth" and what I strive for. I love nature!