Protecting Our Future Normal

“I just can’t wait till things go back to normal.” How many times have you heard someone say that on a news broadcast lately? How many times has that thought crossed your own mind, even if you don’t believe it’s really possible? Living in this time of COVID-19 is hard, and one of the things...

Actually, This Isn’t Unprecedented

I confess that I, too, have been using the word “unprecedented” to describe our current condition during this COVID-19 pandemic. And in so many ways, the word seems to fit. But then I came across these lines in Bill Bryson’s book, Shakespeare: The World as Stage, “London’s theaters were officially ordered shut, and would remain...

All Kinds of Creative

I had a visit with a health care provider today, and she demonstrated a method she’d come up with for one of her procedures that was vastly different from how most of her colleagues perform the same service. Vastly different from how I’d ever seen it performed. I found that very intriguing. Later, she asked...

Do You Even Have an Inner Artist?

When people ask what my blog is about, I often say it’s an inspirational blog to help people tap into and support their inner artist. “Oh, that’s not for me,” some reply. “I’m not creative. And I’m certainly not an artist.” I’m always a little surprised by that response. It makes me realize somewhere down...

Working in Sunshine

I was an “indoorsy” kid, as comedian Jim Gaffigan would say. My idea of a relaxing Saturday was sleeping in late, eating a big breakfast, reading my book, and then watching back-to-back showings of classic movies on one of our four channels. My mother would often push me outside and tell me to stay there....

How Not to Help an Artist

I read an interesting article recently about how men talk to women entrepreneurs about their new projects or businesses. They tend to issue warnings about pitfalls and to caution the women, as if they’re not aware of the challenges and don’t know what they’re doing. Women, on the other hand, tend to give the speaker...