My nephew is paralyzed by possibilities. He’s graduated college and is living with us while he figures out his next moves. But he seems stricken by the many possible paths.

During his short life he’s lived in three isolated places:

— Saudi Arabia during his teen years, where his Dad worked at the time;

— a small burg in Alabama far removed from population centers for his first college experience;

— then an out-of-the-way desert town in New Mexico while he earned his engineering degree…

Place weighs heavily on him. Specifically, the wrong place.

He doesn’t want to be in the wrong place again.

This is as true geographically as it is vocationally.

What is the right company?

What is the right job path?

Might more schooling be the answer?

Are you frozen by possibility in some area?

I’ve been there! Incapacitated by possibility. It’s a sometimes delicious — look at everything on the menu! — but mostly dispiriting limbo.

The array of choices befuddle you.

This has happened to me with writing projects. Oh so many ideas dart into my neocortex I’m dazed by the lightning of my own brain activity.

The secret to finding the right path is simply starting down any path. Whatever path holds a slightly greater charge for you, a little more electricity, start down it.

There’s something about starting — on a bookito — or job hunt — or career decision — that clarifies. In a way that doesn’t happen without action.

Say I start on the wrong bookito — within minutes or days the right one suggests itself!

Many creatives will do preliminary work on several projects till one takes over. Till one asserts itself. Energy will always gather for one choice over another — if you are taking steps forward.

Take real action on a job hunt and I guarantee you’ll begin clarifying what you want quickly. You may even find yourself creating a matrix of wants that helps you decide where you apply first.

Life choices become easier when daily micro-actions are taken — in any direction that seems promising.

Very few steps are unalterable. Just taking a step has a way of illuminating the next step. Even if it’s a side step.

. . . . . . .

There are near-infinite paths
to where you want to go.
They all start with starting.

#NotesForCreators

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For insights and stories on the connected creative life, check out these bookitos:

The Creative Morning Challenge

Burn Baby Burn: Spark The Creative Spirit Within

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We just got back from our annual summer art trek to far-flung parts of America — nothing demonstrates the above principle better than travel — where every problem that arises must be resolved by finding the right strangers. 

It’s my favorite aspect of commerce — people you don’t know taking care of issues that matter to you. 

You can’t travel the breadth of this country by camper and not experience some challenges.

A plucky young woman we met on our way into the mountains of Arizona joined us the next day, to go hiking with our nephew. On her way up the mountains to Sedona her Check Engine light came on. 

A woman in the campground office knew an honorable mechanic: “But he won’t pick up the phone for you! Let me call him, he’ll pick up for me.”

Two or three hours and a modest bill later — how do they make money if they virtually give away their services? — they’d got her Prius with 422,000 miles on it in travel shape.

The old guy who owned the shop kept marveling at the longevity of that Prius. He’d admired the hell out of its endurance, like we admired the hell out his integrity — and his ability to back up a tram past a motorhome mere inches away

This is just one example.

I’m kind of blown away by the sweet confluence of people showing up to enrich our experience. 

— A woman who’d embarked on #VanLife living who played frisbee with us

— A glass artist we stumbled upon walking her dog during a sunset hike (we’re looking for glass artists at our gallery)

— The dudes at a Vietnamese noodle shop in Phoenix whose good-hearted banter made us feel right at home (Shout out to PT Noodles!)

In a campground in Santa Fe I moseyed over to the laundry area to help Ann — she introduced me to the owner, who’d been teaching tango earlier to willing campers. 

I expressed how bummed we were to have missed it. Without missing a beat, he says: “Got a moment?”

We followed him into an intimate event hall — where he and his dancing partner tangoed for us to a Santana song! Me, my 16-year-old son and 24-year-old nephew watched from mere feet away. 

Ann came in and peeped around a pillar to watch for a moment too (turns out she was afraid he’d couple us up and make us dance too!).

It was magical in the way that any spontaneous human playfulness is.

Serendipities trip all over you when you prepare to be delighted.

. . . . .

Emanate
(all the gooey goodness
you’ve got inside)
(then watch small wonders
pop up in your day)

#NotesForCreators

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For insights and stories on the connected creative life, check out these bookitos:

The Creative Morning Challenge

Burn Baby Burn: Spark The Creative Spirit Within

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Sometimes I desperately need the message a #Note provides. This is just such a case.

I write from the vantage point of having two gigs. Our art gallery and my writing gig.

Three gigs if you count my home life. Which I do. And for sure Ann does. (Maybe not so our teenage son : )

I’ve been grooving along during our high-season at the art gallery clocking about 8-10 hours a week average for my creative practice. And I know that I need to kick it higher to accomplish the target I’ve set for myself: Publishing 3 bookitos this year.

So yes, this message screamed at me. To commit to an average of 2 hours a day, 14 hours a week.

I saw this older #Note, acquiesced to its message and posted it!

#NotesForCreators

— Commit —

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Delve into notes and stories on the connected creative life in these bookitos:

The Creative Morning Challenge

Burn Baby Burn: Spark The Creative Spirit Within

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