Intention Inspired

Today, let's listen to our anger to better understand where we have betrayed ourselves.

View today's full session: https://intentioninspired.com/artist

Watch today's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZeuW26U5d8

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INSPO FROM JULIA CAMERON:

Anger is fuel.

We feel it and want to do something. Hit someone, break something, throw a fit, smash a fist into the wall, tell those bastards. But we are nice people, and what we do with our anger is stuff it, deny it, bury it, block it, hide it, lie about it, medicate it, muffle it, ignore it. We do everything but listen to it.

Anger is meant to be listened to.

Anger is a voice, a shout, a plea, a demand. Anger is meant to be respected. Why? Because anger is a map. Anger shows us what our boundaries are. Anger shows us where we want to go. It lets us see where we've been and let us know when we haven't liked it. Anger points the way, not just the finger. In the recovery of a blocked artist, anger is a health sign.

Anger is meant to be acted upon. It is not meant to be acted out.

Anger points that direction. We are meant to use anger as fuel to take the actions we need to move where our anger points us. With a little thought, we can usually translate the message that her anger is sending us.

When we feel anger we are often very angry that we feel anger. Damn anger!! It tells us that we can't get away with our old life any longer. It tells us that our old life is dying. It tells us that we are being reborn, and birthing hurts. The hurt makes us angry.

Anger is the firestorm that signals the death of our old life.

Anger is the fuel that propels us into our new one. Anger is a tool, not a master. Anger is meant to be tapped into and drawn upon. Use properly, anger is use-full.

Sloth, apathy, and despair are the enemy. Anger is not. Anger is our friend. Not a nice friend. Not a gentle friend. But a very, very loyal friend. It will always tell us when we have been betrayed. It will always tell us when we have betrayed ourselves. It will always tell us that it is time to act in our own best interests.

Anger is not action itself. It is action's invitation.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 61 - 62)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

Anger is a loyal friend that shows me where I am being invited to grow.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE CHALLENGE:

Describe five traits you like in yourself as a child.

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TODAY'S QUOTE

"I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues."

– Duke Ellington

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TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

What is one healthy way you can tap into and drawn upon your anger today?

Share in the comments below👇

Today, let's notice that each moment is not without its beauty.

Explore The Artist's Way online community journey: https://intentioninspired.com/artist

Watch today's video here » https://youtu.be/Q-qcJ99IQDA

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INSPO FROM JULIA CAMERON

Writing about attention, I see that I have written a good deal about pain.

This is no coincidence. It may be different for others, but pain is what it took to teach me to pay attention. In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. The precise moment I was in was always the only safe place for me. Each moment, taken alone, was always bearable. In the exact now, we are all, always, all right. Yesterday the marriage may have ended. Tomorrow the cat may die. The phone call from the lover, for all my waiting, may not ever come, but just at the moment, just now, that’s all right. I am breathing in and out. Realizing this, I began to notice that each moment was not without its beauty.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 54)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

In the exact now, I am always, all right.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE:

Inner Compass: Each of us has an inner compass.

This is an instinct that points us toward health. It warns us when we are on dangerous ground, and it tells us when something is safe and good for us. Morning pages are one way to contact it. So are some other artist-brain activities—painting, driving, walking, scrubbing, running. This week, take an hour to follow your inner compass by doing an artist-brain activity and listening to what insights bubble up.

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TODAY'S QUOTE:

"The noun of self becomes a verb. This flashpoint of creation in the present moment is where work and play merge."

– STEPHEN NACHMANOVITCH

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TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

What is one tiny change you'd like to make for yourself?

Share your insights with the Intention Inspired community » https://intentioninspired.com

Today, let's find delight through our capacity to pay attention.

Explore The Artist's Way online community journey: https://intentioninspired.com/artist

Watch today's video here » https://youtu.be/fF1BtHvP-Po

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INSPO FROM JULIA CAMERON

Very often, a creative block manifests itself as an addiction to fantasy.

Rather than working or living in now, we spin our wheels and indulge in daydreams of could have, would have, should have. One of the greatest misconceptions about the artistic life is that it entails great swathes of aimlessness. The truth is that a creative life involves great swathes of attention.

Attention is a way to connect and survive.

Success or failure, the truth of a life really has little to do with its quality. The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.

The reward for attention is always healing.

It may begin as the healing of a particular pain — the lost lover, the sickly child, the shattered dream. But what is healed, finally, Is the pain that underlies all pain: the pain that we are all, as a Rilke phrase is it, "unutterably alone." More than anything else, attention is an act of connection.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 52 - 53)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

Survival lies in sanity, and sanity lies in paying attention.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE:

Add five more lives to your list of imaginary lives.

Again, check to see if you could be doing bits and pieces of these lives in the one you are living now. If you have listed a dancer's life, do you let yourself go dancing? If you listed in monk's life, are you ever allowed to go on a retreat? If you are a scuba diver, is there an aquarium shop you can visit? A day at the lake you could schedule?

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TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

What is one small thing you will do today explore one of your imaginary lives?

Share your insights with the Intention Inspired community » https://intentioninspired.com

Today, let's set skepticism aside to further examine beliefs that keep us stuck and imbalanced.

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Watch today's video » https://youtu.be/vNSgDVbgWVI

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One of the things most worth noting in a creative recovery is our reluctance to take seriously the possibility that the universe just might be cooperating with our new and expanded plans.

We've gotten brave enough to try recovery, but we don't want the universe to really pay attention. We still feel too much like frauds to handle some success. When it comes, we want to go.

Of course we do! Any little bit of experimenting and self-nurturance is very frightening for most of us. When our little experiment provokes the universe to open a door or two, we start shying away. "Hey! You! Whatever you are! Not so fast!"

Setting skepticism aside, even briefly, can make for very interesting explorations. In creative recovery, it is not necessary that we change any of our beliefs. It is necessary that we examine them.

More than anything else, creative recovery is an exercise in open-mindedness. Begin, this week, to consciously practice opening your mind.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 50 - 52)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

In the act of paying attention, healing begins.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE:

Create a Life Pie.

Draw a circle. Divided into six pieces of pie. Label one piece spirituality, another exercise, another play, and so on with work, friends, and romance/adventure.

Place a dot in each slice at the degree to which you are fulfilled in that area (outer rim indicates great; inner circle, not so great). Connect the dots. This will show you where you are lopsided.

As you begin the course, it is not uncommon for your life pie to look like a tarantula. As recovery progresses, your tarantula may become a mandala. Working with this tool, you will notice that there are areas of your life that feel impoverished and on which you spend little or no time. Use the time tidbits you are finding to alter this.

If your spiritual life is minimal, even a five-minute pitstop to a synagogue or cathedral can restore a sense of wonder. Many of us find that five minutes of drum music and put us in touch with our spiritual core. For others, it's a trip to a greenhouse. The point is that even the slightest attention to our impoverished areas can nurture them.

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TODAY'S QUOTE:

"No matter how slow the film, Spirit always stands still long enough for the photographer It has chosen."

– Henry Miller

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TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

When you set skepticism aside, what is one thing that you're interested in exploring?

Share your insights with the Intention Inspired community » https://intentioninspired.com

Today, let's look at the inner enemy we harbor ourselves.

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Watch today's video » https://youtu.be/EHpf4hcl9ZM

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TODAY'S INSPIRATION FROM JULIA CAMERON:

Perhaps the greatest barrier for any of us as we look for an expanded life is our own deeply held skepticism.

This might be called the secret doubt. It does not seem to matter whether we are officially believers or agnostics. We have our own doubts about all of this creative/creativity stuff, and those doubts are very powerful. Unless we air them, they can sabotage us. Many times, and trying to be good sports we stuff our feelings of doubt. We need to stop doing that and explore them instead.

Boil down to their essentials, the doubts go something like this: "Okay, so I started writing the morning pages and I seem more awake and alert in my life. So what? It's just a coincidence… Okay, I have started filling the well and taking my artist on a date and I do notice I am cheering up a little. So what? It's just coincidental… Okay, so now I am beginning to notice that the more I let myself explore the possibility of there being some power for good, the more I notice lucky coincidence turning up in my life. So what? I can't believe I am really being led. That's just too weird…"

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 49 - 50)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

As I listen to my creativity I am led to my creator.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE:

Write down two favorite things that you've avoided that could goals for this week.

Reference yesterday's list of 20 things you enjoy doing. These goals can be small: buy one roll of film and shoot it. Remember, we are trying to win you some autonomy with your time. Look for windows of time just for you, and use them in small creative acts. Get to the record store at lunch hour, even if only for 15 minutes. Stop looking for big blocks of time when you will be free. Find a small bit of time instead.

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TODAY'S QUOTE:

"Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself."

– Henry Miller

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TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

What is one small goal you have for yourself this week and how will you manage to fit it into your schedule?

Share your insights with the Intention Inspired community » https://intentioninspired.com

Today, let's acknowledge how others can be a destructive block to our creative work.

Journey through The Artist's Way with our fun, loving community: https://intentioninspired.com/artist

Watch today's video here » https://youtu.be/PinNIYVTZPo

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INSPO FROM JULIA CAMERON

"Crazymakers are the kind of people who can take over your whole life.

Whether they appear as you're overbearing mother, your manic boss, your needy friend, or your stubborn spouse, the crazymakers in your life share certain destructive patterns that make them poisonous for any sustained creative work.

• Crazymakers break deals and destroy schedules.

• Crazymakers expect special treatment.

• Crazymakers discount your reality.

• Crazymakers spend your time and money.

• Crazymakers triangulate those they deal with.

• Crazymakers are expert blamers.

• Crazymakers create drama—but seldom where they belong.

• Crazymakers hate schedules—except their own.

• Crazymakers hate order.

• Crazymakers deny that they are crazymakers.

If you are involved now with a crazymaker, it is very important that you admit this fact. Admit that you are being used—and admit that you are using your own abuser. Your crazymaker is a block. You chose yourself, to deter you from your own trajectory. As much as you are being exploited by your crazymaker, you, too, are using that person to block your creative flow.

The next time you catch yourself saying or thinking, "he/she is driving me crazy!" Ask yourself what creative work you were trying to block by your involvement."

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 44 - 49)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

I acknowledge when others are being self-destructive in my creative growth.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE:

Take a sheet of paper. Draw a circle. Inside that circle, place topics you need to protect.

Place the names of those you find to be supportive. Outside the circle, place the names of those you must be self-protective around just now. Place the safety map near where you write your morning pages. Use this map to support your autonomy. Add names to the inner and outer's fears as appropriate: "Oh! Derek is somebody I shouldn't talk to about this right now."

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TODAY'S QUOTE:

"What I am actually saying is that we need to be willing to let our intuition guide us, and then be willing to follow that guidance directly and fearlessly."

– Shakti Gawain

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TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

What is one way you can lovingly free yourself from the self-destruction of a crazymaker?

Share your insights with the Intention Inspired community » https://intentioninspired.com

Today, let's nurture a space of safety and self-acceptance that will allow our creativity to flourish.

View today's full session & connect with healthy playmates: https://intentioninspired.com/artist

Watch today's video here » https://youtu.be/YENqIQ7Wxpk

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TODAY'S INSPO FROM JULIA CAMERON:

Creativity flourishes when we have a sense of safety and self-acceptance.

You're artist, like a small child, is happiest when feeling a sense of security. As our artists protective parent, we must learn to place our artist with safe companions. Toxic playmates and capsize are artists growth.

Not surprisingly, the most poisonous playmates for us as recovering creative or people whose creativity is still blocked. Our recovery threatens them.

Blocked friends may find your recovery disturbing.

You're getting unblocked raises the unsettling possibility that they, too, could become unblocked and move into authentic creative risks rather than bench sitting cynicism. Be alert to self-sabotage from your friends. You cannot afford their well-meaning doubts right now. Their doubts will reactivate your own.

Be very careful to safeguard your newly recovering artist. Often, creativity is blocked by are falling in with other people's plans for us.

The essential element in nurturing our creativity lies and nurturing ourselves.

Through self-nurturance, we nurture our inner connection to the great creator. Through this connection, our creativity will unfold. Paths will appear for us. We need to trust the great creator and move out in faith.

Repeat: the Great Creator has gifted us with creativity. Our gift back is our use of it. Do not let friends squander your time.

Draw a sacred circle around your recovery. Give yourself the gift of faith. Trust that you were on the right track. You are.

You will learn to enjoy the process of being a creative channel and to surrender your needs to control the result. You will discover the joy of practicing your creativity. Process, not the product, will be your focus.

Your own healing is the greatest message of hope for others.

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 42-44)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

Though nurturing myself, my creativity will flourish.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE:

Where does your time go? List your five major activities this week.

How much time did you give to each one? Which were what you wanted to do and which were sheds? How much of your time is spent Helping others and ignoring your own desires? Have any of your blocked friends triggered doubts in you?

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TODAY'S QUOTE:

"Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness."

– Shakti Gawain

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TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

What is one thing you can do today that will provide protection around your creative recovery?

Today, let's neutralize self-doubt before it turns into self-sabotage.

View today's full session (free): https://intentioninspired.com/artist

Watch today's video here » https://youtu.be/7MGC6p6Xtt8

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TODAY'S INSPIRATION FROM JULIA CAMERON:

Trusting our creativity is new behavior for many of us.

It may feel quite threatening initially, not only to us but also to our intimates. We may feel—and look—erratic. This erraticism is a normal part of getting unstuck, pulling free from the muck that has blocked us. It is important to remember that at first flush, going sane feels just like going crazy.

There is a recognizable eb and flow to the process of recovering our creative selves. As we gain strength, so will some of the attacks of self-doubt. This is normal, And we can deal with these stronger attacks when we see them as symptoms of recovery.

These attacks are groundless, but very convincing to ourselves. Buying into them enables us to remain stuck and victimized.

These attacks can come from either internal or external sources we can neutralize them once we recognize them as a sort of creative virus. Affirmations are a powerful antidote for self-hate, which commonly appears under the mask of self-doubt.

Do not let your self-doubt turn into self-sabotage."

(The Artist's Way, 2016, p. 41 - 42)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

I neutralize self-hate with self-love.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE:

List 20 things you enjoy doing.

(rock climbing, rollerskating, baking pies, making soup, making love, making love again, riding a bike, riding a horse, playing catch, shooting baskets, going for a run, reading poetry, and so forth).

When was the last time you let yourself do these things? Next to each entry, place a date. Don't be surprised if it's been years for some of your favorites. That will change. This list is an excellent resource for artist dates.

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TODAY'S QUOTE:

"All sanity depends on this: that it should be a delight to feel heat strike the skin, a delight to stand upright, knowing the bones moving easily under the flesh."

– Doris Lessing

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TODAY'S JOURNAL PROMPT:

What is one thing you're inspired to do today?

Today, let's turn negative blurts into affirmative allies.

Watch today's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBd9NR7jtG4

View today's full session: https://intentioninspired.com/artist

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INSPO FROM JULIA CAMERON:

Affirmations help achieve a sense of safety and hope.

When we first start working with affirmations, they may feel dumb. Hockey. Embarrassing. Isn't this interesting? We can easily, and without embarrassment, bludgeon ourselves with negative affirmations: "I'm not gifted enough/not clever enough/not original enough/not young enough…" But saying nice things about ourselves is notoriously hard to do. It feels pretty awful at first. Try these and see if they don't sound hopelessly syrupy:

"I deserve love."

"I deserve fair pay."

"I deserve a rewarding creative life."

"I am a brilliant and successful artist."

"I have rich creative talents."

"I am competent and confident in my creative work."

Did your Censor perk up its nasty little ears? Censors loathe anything that sounds like real self-worth. They immediately start up with the imposter routine: "who do you think you are?"

You will be amazed at the rotten things your subconscious will blurred out. Write them down. These blurts flag your personal negative core beliefs. They hold the key to your freedom in their ugly little clause.

(The Artist's Way, p. 33-34)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

Through the use of a few simple tools, my creativity will flourish.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE

Let's practice dissolving the blockage of our negative blurts.

Start by picking a positive affirmation. For example "I, ___(your name)___, am a brilliant and prolific potter (painter, poet, or whatever you are)." Write that 10 times in a row. While you were busy doing that, something very interesting will happen. Your Censor will start to object. "Hey, wait a minute. You can't say that positive stuff about me." Objections will start to pop up like burnt toast. These are your blurts. Each of them has held you in bondage. Each of them must be dissolved.

Locating the sources of our Censor's blurts.

Using your list of blurts, scan your past for possible sources. Mom? Dad? Teachers? At least some of them will spring violently to mind. One effective way to locate the source is to time travel. Break your life in five-year increments, and list by naming your major influences in each time block.

Transform the blurt into a positive affirmation.

For example, a blurt that runs, "I, Fred, am untalented and phony" might be converted to the affirmation "I, Fred, am genuinely talented."

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TODAY'S QUOTE:

"Affirmations are like prescriptions for certain aspects of yourself you want to change."

– Jerry Fankhauser

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TODAY'S JOURNAL/COMMENT PROMPT:

Your turn!

Create one positive affirmation from a negative blurt.

Today, let's acknowledge jealously as a stalling technique that reinforces our staying stuck.

Watch today's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itDma3VjLSo

View today's full session: https://intentioninspired.com/artist

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INSPO FROM JULIA CAMERON:

Your Ally Within: Affirmative Weapons

All too often, it is audacity and not talent that moves an artist to center stage.

As blocked creators, we tend to regard these bogus spotlight grabbers with animosity. We may be able to defer to true genius, but if it's merely a genius for self-promotion we are witnessing, our resentment runs high. This is not just jealousy. It is a stalling technique that reinforces our staying stuck. We make speeches to ourselves and other willing victims: "I could do better than that, if only…"

You could do better if only you would let yourself do it!

Affirmations will help you allow yourself to do it. An affirmation is a positive statement of (positive) belief, and if we can become one-tenth as good at positive self-talk as we are negative self-talk we will notice an enormous change.

(The Artist's Way, p. 33-34)

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TODAY'S AFFIRMATION:

I am willing to use my creative talents.

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TODAY'S CREATIVE EXERCISE:

Imaginary Lives: If you had five other lives to lead, what would you do in each of them?

I would be a pilot, a cowhand, a physicist, a psychic, a monk. You might be a scuba diver, a cop, a writer of children's books, a football player, a belly dancer, a painter, a performance artist, a history teacher, a healer, a coach, a scientist, a doctor, a Peace Corps worker, a psychologist, a fisherman, a minister, and auto mechanic, Carpenter, a sculptor, employer, the painter, a computer hacker, a soap opera star, a country singer, a rock and roll drummer.

Whatever occurs to you, Jot it down. Do not overthink this exercise.

The point of these lives is to have fun with them—more fun than you might be having in this one. Look over your list and select one. Then do it this week. For instance, if you put down a country singer, can you pick a guitar? If you dream of being a cowhand, what about some horseback riding?

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TODAY'S QUOTE:

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler."

– Henry David Thoreau

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TODAY'S JOURNAL/COMMENT PROMPT:

What is one other life you would love to lead?

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