Overdue Encouragement

New Season, New Habits

I imagine we have all beaten ourselves up at some point for not posting in the past week couple of weeks month. But I suspect that - though we would never want to think it - the only person who truly notices is … ourselves.

So I probably don’t need to bother with the “sorry I’ve not been around for a while” introduction. I should just cut to the chase, I know, but that would ruin the premise of the letter I had in mind when I flipped open the laptop and started running off at the mouth.

I had a plan, you see.

I’d say something about being too busy to write about encouragement … I’d play for time for a few moments … and finally, I’d sweep in with a punchline about using all my time to deliver actual encouragement rather than writing about it.

That’s what I would have done. But I think we’ve all agreed, you’ve been busy yourselves … reading, writing, living, all the usual stuff and so (whisper it quietly) you hadn’t noticed I was gone.

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I’m glad we don’t have to go through all that then.

On with the show.

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We have hosted four Encouragement Sessions in the past couple of weeks and there are four more calls booked. September feels like such a good month for having fresh thoughts about ideas and projects. After a long (lazy/distracted) Summer, the ‘new term’ sensibility of the early Autumn is exciting, uplifting even. We are in a spell of trying to create some new habits rituals behaviours.

In the spirit of ‘it’s never too late to join in’, we should share a couple of gorgeous communities we have joined that are helping with those habits.

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‘Kokoro’ is a new book by

Beth Kempton

, an encouragement to gently examine where you’re at in this wild ride we call life, and to see if there are things you can change to allow yourself to be guided by your kokoro, your ‘intelligent heart’. It is truly revelatory and as someone who has never really got on with journaling, I find myself on Day 16 of 36 just going with the flow.

One rainy night in Beijing (On writing to unravel the mysteries of life)

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We are big fans of Noted by

Jillian Hess

, inspiring glimpses into the notebooks of creative souls, a chance to peek behind the curtains of process and practice, a nudge to improve our own. Imagine our excitement in discovering that there is a whole community - indeed a literary history - of note takers out there.

These collections of commonplace books are brimful of quotes and references to fuel creativity. I am an irregular, disorderly note taker and so a month of noting and sharing in companionable community sounded perfect [I should point out that Jillian has very generously given us a complimentary 3-month subscription so we can contribute to the daily Community Chat].

The Commonplace Book Club Begins Today!

Here are a few of my own scribbles by way of further encouragement to join in.

Notes on the theme of life

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And so to Encouragement.

The Encouragement Sessions are personal, confidential, and an opportunity to explore ideas and dreams and ways to unlock them so they become realities. The conversations stay private, of course.

But the themes are universal.

The blockages we bump into are common.

Sometimes we need someone else to point out the possibilities rather than the constraints. That’s where we come in.

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Encouraging Lessons

1. You are not alone. A whole bunch of folk are wrestling with challenges. You are the smart one though … you asked for some help, some encouragement.

2. Being an artist with a creative practice is 50% talent, 50% hard graft, 43% believing in yourself, 37% believing the other people who know you are brilliant and 91% selling things and telling folk about your work.

3. Maintaining your love and passion for the creativity is hard in amongst the practicalities. Finding ways to separate them out helps. Have different spaces/times set aside for different activities.

4. Not all change has to be big bang. Small steps can make a big difference.

5. Make changes for YOU. It makes things so much harder if you think too much about what other folk think. It is YOUR life to live.

6. Back to ‘big change’ v ‘gentle evolution’. Can you set aside a day a week for Project You; dedicate time to making your dream a reality? Tell folk that’s what you’re doing to introduce accountability.

7. Not every Encouragement Session needs to be about new changes. One of our recent calls was a third chat with someone … it was a celebration of progress. The conversation offered a yardstick for the journey taken. Sometimes, more often than we do, we all need to celebrate the steps we’ve already taken.

8. Don’t confuse someone else’s purpose for your own.

9. You don’t need someone else’s permission to give your creative practice (insert other dream, idea, notion) equal standing among all of life’s other demands (and other folk’s priorities).

   But on the off-chance you do, permission granted.

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Just in case you missed it:

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That’s it, fellow encouragers. You are all caught up. Hopefully, there’s encouragement and inspiration aplenty for your own journey, a nudge towards the changes YOU want to make on the way through your life-well-lived.

Who knows, an Encouragement Session might be just the thing you need. We have a handful more slots available in October before I take a break until the new year to focus on my own creative practice. Do get in touch and we could be hopping on a Zoom call before you know it.

Encouragement is our superpower but we reckon it is yours too.

Please ripple out these words to the creative souls you know who need a lift.

Warmly, as ever

Barrie (and JoJo)