Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments below. If creativity was a recipe, what ingredients might you want to prepare ahead of time?

Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments below. What shift are you noticing that feels small, but significant? Sometimes it is the tiniest changes that wind up making the biggest difference in the long run.

Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments below. What helps you be brave in your creativity?

Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments below. Boundaries can be hard or soft. Temporary or long-term. Sometimes they look like fences. Other times, like a silent mode on your phone. What is one of the most valuable boundaries you have set to date? How can it encourage you in the next boundary you are ready to set?

Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments below. What is one lesson you have learned through making a creative mistake or through an attempt that went sideways?

Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments below.

Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments below.

Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments below.

It’s difficult to believe we are now almost 2 weeks into #100daysofwonder! I’ve had some of you mention getting the daily email is a little much in your inbox, and gosh, do I get that.

Starting Saturday, I’m going to send you a week at a time in advance. Basically, I’ll email you each Saturday of our challenge with the following 7 days linked in the weekly email, and you can respond as usual. Also, that means you can batch days (do a few at one time) if that suits you better.

MY REFLECTION:

Sometimes, we try things that seem like they will work… and they do, for a time. I think one of the biggest skills in growing creatively is the ability to adapt and iterate. It’s also a joy and part of what makes it an adventure!

When we are afraid to acknowledge when something isn’t working, that’s when we get stuck.

This is short because I’m a bit under the weather today. But I’ll be back in your inbox with our first weekly digest version tomorrow. I think it will be more flexible for everyone!

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Leave a comment

All my love,

MY REFLECTION:

When I think of creative momentum, I think of creativity as an embodied experience. Sometimes “creative” gets paired with “thinking,” and it is easy for creativity to be considered an abstract mental concept when creative momentum lives just as much in our muscles and our movement.

Embodied creative practice grounds momentum in our presence and our practice rather than just our outcomes.

If creativity remains intellectual, momentum can feel tied to visible results: finished pieces and published posts.

But when creativity is embodied in our practice, momentum can be felt in the middle of the process before anything else is complete.

There’s a moment for me that sometimes comes when writing feels like flying. Like I’m standing on the edge of a coastal cliff at sunrise with my arms held wide enough to hug the sun. It used to come more frequently before my brain injury, but slowly I’m finding it again.

This is the kind of momentum that is magnetic and sacred and brimming with joy.

And embodied creativity builds a reservoir of resilience and tolerance for the times that aren’t comfortable. For the moments when language feels more like quicksand and writing like sinking. The awkward early drafts. The glare of the empty page. The anxiety of wondering if the right words can be found in the fog.

The more my creativity is approached as an embodied experience, the doorways I have for inspiration, and that can make all the difference in the world.

Share your thoughts in the comments. How do you experience creative momentum? What are tiny actions you can take to set yourself up for finding momentum again when things feel stuck?

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All my love,

MY REFLECTION:

Sharing your work is hecka vulnerable. Putting the work of your heart and hands out into the world is so very brave. It is an act of deep generosity.

I think for me, once my paintings or writing is out online, it changes. It is mine, but it is also shaped by all who interact with it and interpret it. Many times YOU see things in what I share I haven’t yet seen myself.

In the sharing, it becomes richer, wider, deeper. My story becomes intertwined with yours, and that interaction and conversation is one of the most beautiful, sacred acts of creation.

It’s partly why the myth of the self-made artist or entrepreneur irks me. Not one of us is completely self-made. We are made out of all the conversations and connections that form us. We grow in the soil of community. We stand in the river of the creativity and cultural DNA of all those who have gone before us.

In a sense all art is collaboration once it is shared. That is the nature of sharing. And that can be such a beautiful thing.

Share your thoughts in the comments. What does sharing your work mean to you? How has that experience or lack thereof impacted you?

Leave a comment

All my love,

MY REFLECTION:

Eventually I’d love to move north, but until I do… I love my space. But it has gotten crowded and cluttered as health issues really kept me from being on top of things.

It’s my goal this Spring to give some deep attention to clearing out and organizing my studio as well as the rest of my little Florida cottage.

I am deeply impacted by my surroundings, so clutter feels stressful and suffocating at times.

Right now it feels a bit overwhelming… but all I really need to do is just start. So that’s a big part of what I want to do in March before the hot weather gets here.

Once my world gets more organized, I get to start giving it my attention to turn it into an adorable cottage. I can’t wait to start painting my door frames and adding so many whimsical elements. And sharing them with y’all!

PS. I found the most amazing free PDF book from 1885 on Victorian embroidery patterns that could also be gorgeous painting templates. Here’s a link from Archive.org

Get the patterns

Share your thoughts in the comments. What would you like to change in your creative setup? What’s one big dream? And what are smaller changes you could make right now or in the near future?

Leave a comment

All my love,

MY REFLECTION:

It’s more like… When hasn’t collaboration expanded my ideas?

One story comes to mind. I was taking a 3-month creativity practicum, and as part of our assignments, we had to write or create every day. A lot like we are doing here.

Except that we basically kept an individual online log or journal. And then, as you got to know people, you posted your daily creations, responded to comments, and made sure to comment on 3 other people’s posts.

I was writing about the frustration of not finding words and how my brain injury impacted my creative writing… or at least the ease of said writing.

Someone commented something I will never forget. They said it seemed like I had a peculiar synesthesia. When I couldn’t find the word, I would instead use a metaphor or story to get the point across. And perhaps that very thing will actually make me a better writer in the long run.

Honestly, that one piece of feedback is a big reason why I kept pushing, am still writing, and began this Substack. We never know the incredible impact one little bit of thoughtful encouragement might have.

As Van Gogh is quoted as saying, “There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

Share your thoughts in the comments. How has collaboration stretched and shaped your creativity?

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All my love,

MY REFLECTION:

The first time a reel went viral on Instagram I was shocked. It was so simple… I was just showing myself cutting paper for a 100-day challenge. I had no idea that it would lead me to starting The Wonder Habit® and creating this space here.

Sometimes we don’t know we are in a beginning when it is happening. And I think how easy it would be to miss. This inspires me to keep showing up for my creativity even when things feel like they are stagnant or waning.

The day I made that reel, I felt small and unseen and stuck. We never know what will change when we simply start.

Maybe the quiet is just the hush of something new forming.

Share your thoughts in the comments. What beginning has surprised you?

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All my love,

As the season begins to change and lean towards spring, it seems like a great time to introduce something I’ve been experimenting with and dreaming about for a while now.

I needed an excuse to get off…

Read more

MY REFLECTION:

This question. Pretty please tell me in the comments, because I am so all in on shaping this space to be a beautiful, inspiring, real, human place to be who you are.

• Places where we get to share ideas and drink coffee.

• Places with a massive variety of people and cultures.

• Space that is beautiful and close to nature.

• Kitchen tables

• Libraries and bookstores

• Gardens

• Old Cathedrals

• Local ART supply stores

• Farmer Markets

• Kind, generous, supportive spaces

Tell us about the community spaces that inspire you. How and why do they capture your imagination or kindle hope? How might we build our community here? How can I serve you? Please tell me all the things.

Leave a comment

All my love,

Yesterday found me in a place I didn’t know existed a week ago, sitting around a table with kind new friends talking about insights and thoughts from a book study we are doing over the coming weeks.1

It was lively, tender, diverse, and so very welcoming. For me it was a full-circle moment. I was raised in the Episcopal church. I have loved the space of spiritual seasons and contemplative rhythms lived together since childhood.

In my teenage years, I moved over to the evangelical side of things until they told me women weren’t allowed to preach or lead. I eventually found my way into the charismatic/independent corner of Christendom, where I worked professionally for almost two decades in different capacities around the world.

But the last 13 years have been a journey of deconstructing my way home to my contemplative roots. I haven’t spoken of this part of my life a lot here. But much of how I experience the world with wonder and metaphor has its beginning in seeing all of life as a sacred space.

I rose before dawn Wednesday to get genetic testing for my very long list of pharmacological sensitivities. It would have been my mama’s 84th birthday. The irony didn’t escape me. The dawn sky looked like a paint palette of light had been poured across it.

Grief and goodness, beauty and loss, hope and pain… they can all grow up together. More than one thing can be real at the same time. Wonder helps us lean into nuance and see the sacred spaces of our ordinary lives.

Wednesday night, at a Lenten study with new friends and a bowl of homemade soup in a cozy room that looks like it fell out of a CS Lewis novel, I remembered. My mama always wanted me to find in-person community, as I am naturally very happy with paint, books, coffee, and a garden.

But looking around that room, I felt so privileged to get to listen and witness the sacred ground held in our skin and our stories.

Much as I am privileged here to read and respond to your comments and insight as we share these 100 Days of Wonder together.

I’m replying when I can do so with thought rather than haste. You are so important to this community, and I am beyond honored by you being here. It may take me a little while, but I will be responding.

In a time when things are heavy and hard, wonder and connection are acts of resistance. Community and compassion stand in the face of oppression. Hope dismantles fear and control.

A few weeks ago I got a rebounder. A little trampoline with a balancing bar now lives behind my couch. I needed a way to move my body that was gentle on my one leg and delightful enough to want to make it happen.

Sometimes we feel stuck in our creative practice because we aren’t moving. I know that sounds like duh… but in order to get our creativity moving, we have to move first. Take a step. Make the first mark.

I take breaks between writing sprints, lightly bouncing. It hit me today. In a world steeped in uncertainty, joy can be elastic. It can cushion our sinking and boost our rising.

Stories. They ground me. And they give me the resilience I need to bounce back.

Ok my friends, your turn. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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All my love,

MY REFLECTION:

I think of this in some ways like a spin on resistance training in building muscle. So the resistance doesn’t always have to soften; sometimes it is there to help make me stronger.

So even if I don’t get done what I want to, the resistance can make my creativity muscle stronger.

Things that stop me from starting range from mundane to medical. Some are unavoidable, and I just need to have grace for the body I am in and the brain that I have.

But so many things are preventable or work-aroundable. Here are a few simple things that are often helpful.

• Getting enough sleep.

• Staying off my devices when I’m tired. See the point above this one.

• Eating low to no sugar helps me focus.

• Screens. Putting them away for a chunk of the day, everyday. I need to do this more.

• Brain dumping my overthinking into its own space.

• Turning my phone notifications completely all the way off.

• Routine. When it works.

• Organizing my supplies the night before.

Your turn. Share your thoughts in the comments below. And if you create something to this prompt you’d like to share, look for my Substack note sharing this post a little later today.

Leave a comment

All my love,

MY REFLECTION:

I improvise in painting all the time. For me it is a leaning into my intuition, especially as to what supplies I decide to use. One of the many reasons why I like multimedia art so much. If it stays still long enough around me, it gets painted.

When we really think about it, anything we explore through creating without a clear plan or structure is a form of improv.

Improv teaches me flexibility, trust in the process, to reimagine and roll with “mistakes.” These things are invaluable in learning to follow where curiosity leads.

Traditionally, improv has been the purview of theater and music. I did a little wandering online, reminding myself of some core principles of improv in theater tonight. (Grown-up theater kid here.)

Here’s what stood out to me1:

• Focus on the Present: A scene is about the people in the scene. The change, the struggle, the win or loss will happen to the characters on the stage. Focus on what is going on right at this moment. « That’s a pretty good rule for creativity just in general. Be in the moment.

• Establish Geography: Good scenes (and stories) take place somewhere at some time. They do not take place on an empty stage. « Our stories and creative expressions have contexts that are powerful foundations to build on.

• Be Specific: Details move a scene forward. « They also move paintings and writing forward.

• Change is a Sign of Life: “Improv is about character change. The characters in a scene must experience some type of change for the scene to be interesting. Characters need to go on journeys, be altered by revelations, experience the ramifications of their choices and be moved by emotional moments.” « The same might be said for knitting projects, journal pages, photography exploration, however you create.

Is it even improv if it is static?

Your turn. Share your thoughts in the comments below. And if you create something to this prompt you’d like to share, look for my Substack note sharing this post a little later today.

Leave a comment

All my love,

MY REFLECTION:

I laughed out loud when I pulled this question. Today was my every-few-weeks acupuncture treatment. We could say the prompt was on point.

I know. I hear the groans from here. You love me. I know you do. 🤣

If I’m being honest, I need to shift how I nourish myself on a number of levels.

I got some labs back over the weekend, and some numbers are higher than I’d like. Inflammation is a beast. But for the last year, I haven’t exactly been helpful.

My rhythms have been out of whack.

After a prolonged recovery from surgery last year, I’ve simply eaten what has been easiest. But now I need to get back on track. So I am back to eating mostly plant-based foods that nourish my body and bring down inflammation.

I’ve been consuming what is easiest in other ways too. I scroll when I could be sketching. Or when I should be sleeping.

Creativity needs nourishment that doesn’t come from short-form social media designed to hijack our dopamine systems and take them on a roller coaster ride.

For me… that means making time to take a new class, try a new technique, organize my space when it feels chaotic, visit a new local place, work in a different setting, read physical books, and spend time with creative friends.

Nourishing ourselves has everything to do with what we consume and how we consume it.

Your turn. Share your thoughts in the comments below. And if you create something to this prompt you’d like to share, look for my Substack note sharing this post a little later today.

Leave a comment

All my love,