moved to act

i'm moved by this campaign playing out in front of me on the accidental glance at tv screens and newspaper headlines. just the other day, my mother told me she was going to Barak Obama headquarters to figure out what she had to do to get a sign or a button or a bumper sticker. now my mom is a hardcore, sometimes embarassingly unforgiving republican. she got it from my dad. she got it from the surrounding cultural requirement, in kansas, that one be conservative, christian and as close to the far right at conservative values will allow. but oprah and her candidate have gotten to her. she's seen the light. she's seen the goodness of the man in a masquerade of skin that makes him unique--and garners a place in the spotlight of the times.

myself, i'll be voting for hilary. it's a requirement of my sex. it's a requirement of my deep appreciation of the lineage of my voting history and how and why and how hard it was won. secretly, i wish that hilary and obama would declare themselves co-presidents and run together toward a landslide victory that would, in fact, incite every voting american to get to the polls.

even more secretly, i think, that perhaps, john edwards is, indeed the best candidate.

and i have been thinking these silent thoughts with the power of a secret passion--and now, today, in this moment, it is necessary to act. i am going to write down my silent thoughts and post them on this blog. i will take at least that much action. later, i may doodle in a journal, and i might even venture out of my cozy, lit up, holiday home, to do that in public at a table in starbuck's or, if i am deeper in my authentic choosing, at denica's (a local, family owned cafe i want to support). if i like my doodles, i'll take a picture of them, and perhaps post the picture on one of my many blogs. i may continue this thread of thought and do a little compare/contrast research and self-education so that i can be smarter about why i intuitively feel the way i do. i might even start a conversation with my husband or my kids or people i already know in the world, and, through that conversation, share my inclinations and start something, respond to something, learn something from them. and, if i feel smart enough, the next time i am at a dinner party or in a larger small group, i might mention this inquiry and what it is leading me to. and then, perhaps, i will do it again, in another small group. i might stop deleting what moveon sends me. i might sign a petition or craft a letter to my congress people or send a note to the candidates themselves. it's unlikely, at this moment in my monetary reality, that i will send a check--but i might make something that accurately reflects my sentiments and put it up in public view. and in this way, i will be moved to act. i will use the power of this keyboard, this search engine, this mouth, these hands, this art maker's heart. and i will begin, as i have been today--finally, moved, to act.

ten things you can *always* do...

i'm submitting this to Heart of the Visionary, a collaborative e-book created by the Cosmic Cowgirls, Ink--and held together by the love & vision of Shiloh McCloud (http://www.wisdomhousecatalog.com/welcometowisdomhousegallery.html). the e-book comes out in december--in time for this giving season--so that people we know and love and others held in our hearts (who we have yet to meet) can access some bit of inspiration that will have some accompanying effect, and help women and girls into action around co-creating the life and work of their dreams.

here's the article:

often, when it’s our heartvision we’re trying to make room for in the world, we need a lot of dream time. we need a lot of incubation. we need a lot of holding precious and growing solid and making strong. that’s why, i think, i takes a lot of us years to get to the moment of announcing ourselves to the world. and it’s okay for it to take as long as it takes—and it’s okay to never get “there”—the heaven you imagine for your self and your business. but it’s okay to get there, too. i think, sometimes, risking at the big stuff of soul we sometimes make excuses about holding back or put some aspect of ourselves in the way of getting on with it. and, without judging, i want to use this space here to do a little nudging. even when it’s daunting, there are always ten things you can do.

1. breathe

in and out, the deeper the better, every moment of every day.

2. see

see your vision for yourself and your business in its final glorious state—imagine every detail—then let it go. exhale as you do it. let it go completely. practice the seeing and letting go like breathing. trust the vision. let go of the dream. get down to the basics.

3. start showing up for yourself

just like you did when you had a “guaranteed” paycheck. many people, who had regular paycheck gigs, got paid, primarily, to show up. if you were paid by the hour, had a time clock to punch, held a “salaried” position, then showing up was the first and most important thing you did monday to friday, week in and week out, and that is, in fact, what you did to guarantee the paycheck. your salary was based on a complicated formula that was a mere fraction of what value your work offered to the company as a whole.

working for yourself, your dream, your vision, is always a straight commission gig. for straight commission gigs, you are paid well, you make your own hours, you determine your strategies and ethics—but you have to show up for yourself.

4. cultivate consciousness

which means notice, track, write down, collect, enter, the ins and outs, the flow of your business and business activity. write down what you do each day. what time you start and end each part of your project. write down how much you spend and what you spend it on. write down how much you earn and who you earned it from. track. write down. collect (receipts). enter data. make it a mantra. do it like you brush your teeth—every day, sometimes twice.

5. do what comes to you to do.

when you’re in the space of your business, you’ve envisioned your business, the unseen collaborators of your business will tell you what to do. take a concrete action, a practical action, a physical action every time you feel their inspiration. writing down the inspiration counts. putting the stamps next to the envelopes counts. SARK calls these micro movements. micro movements count.

6. give your dreams a birthday.

marry the goals for your business to a date on the calendar. thinking of them as “life lines” instead of deadlines allows one the necessary space of anticipation and preparation for things achieved. events, products, collaborations, exhibitions, books, conferences, businesses get BORN—they start something, they live in the minds and hearts and bodies and sensory memories of those that bring them into being, serve them or are served by them. the person or persons birthing them are forever changed for having done so. this “birthday” or “due date” for goals and dreams allows for all the natural cycles to take place. thinking in terms of birth, even god needs 9 months and three collaborators to bring a child into the world. give your dreams a due date. physically write them (in ink) on the calendar. work backwards from the anticipated birthday party to determine what needs to be done to create your thing.

7. talk to strangers.

certainly, you will talk to your friends. you will talk to your neighbors, your former colleagues, the people in the parking lots you frequent, but make a point of talking to strangers. meet people you don’t already know. tell them who you are, what you’re about and what you do. invite them to buy from you. invite them to become your customer. invite them into the secret society of ones who KNOW and SUPPORT you and your business because they have bought what you have to sell. every single human being who breathes has the potential to 1. be your customer or 2. refer you to someone they know who is your customer. talk to every human being that breathes—especially the ones you don’t already know.

8. allow yourself to be assisted.

help is a four letter word. so many of us are not good at asking for or allowing ourselves to be helped. it’s something like charity or hand out or weakness or “they won’t do it like i would do it” or something—something that brings up our control issues. assistance, however, might be a semantic doorway that allows accompaniment. rarely will we say no to the person who sees us struggling with boxes and offers to carry one of them for us. rarely will we make a fuss if someone opens a door or holds the elevator or picks up something we drop on our rushing way to somewhere else. this is assistance. allow assistance. insist on assistance. even god requires three collaborators to create (human) life on earth.

9. write joy descriptions

as you begin to insist on assistance, it will come to you—the kinds and qualities of collaborators you want and need. write what comes to you. not job descriptions, but joy descriptions. all of life is one seduction after another—not always culminating in romance, but we are all supposed to fall in love with each other, and we are all supposed to spend our time on this planet following our bliss and doing what we love. someone is called to work with you—to love what you do not—to partner in co-creation of the miracles your business is designed to bring into this world. get ready for them. remember the mary poppins job description jane and michael wrote? take that for your guide. at this point, just write them. if you have a blog or website, but them up for people to read in the context of also reading about you and your company’s offerings. when you’ve spent ten nights knowing you need help as you go to bed and waking up wishing you had it, put your joy descriptions up on the bulletin boards in all your favorite places. before you put the word out, know what you can offer in exchange. remember that golden rule, “do unto others”, and offer the best, most creative comp plan you can imagine. state the comp plan with the joy description. make sure at least part of the compensation offered is based on results you and your new partner create together.

10. rest.

when you do these things—breathe, see, show up, get conscious, do what comes to you, celebrate birthdays, talk to strangers, allow assistance, write joy descriptions, you’ll need a little rest. it is a dream your making real, after all, and dreams speak clearest when you sleep. make sure to take good care of yourself—eat, rest, relax, see friends, make meals, read good books, watch a little tv, partake of the downtime, spend time in nature, and sleep. it’s often that the greatest breakthroughs come when people take a breather. be sure to make your mind available for breakthroughs by staying connected to the rest of life.

what to do to save your artists life

so my artist's life has been in limbo
trapped in a 15 passenger van full of in-laws i love
and we've wandered from kid camp to family reunion
and my artist has been driving and fixing meals and cleaning up
and being, in other ways, responsible
for other things and people.
and now, today, these are the first days for my artist to return.
and i have wavered on the fence of trying to be a "normal" person--
and going back work and giving up this art dream once an for all
but then
i called an art friend
who wavers on the same edge of respectable suburban lady as me
and she said,
"meet me quick. i must have an in and out burger"
and i met her.
so the first thing to do is have an artist on speed dial who wavers, just like you, on the edges of impossible possibilities or possible impossibilities depending on the the shades.
and the second thing to do is eat good bad food together.
and the third thing to do is tell the truth between french fries.
and the fourth thing to do is hear her tell hers.
and the fifth thing to do is to take out your art notebook or journal or leftover receipts and a pen or a pencil or a marker or a crayon.
and the sixth thing to do is let yourself make marks.
and the seventh thing to do is talk out loud about stuff you could do--things you could count--easy ways to give your artist some air to breathe.
and the eighth thing to do is to commit to some easy way to play art.
and the ninth thing to do is to write down your commitments and those of your friend.
and the tenth thing to do is promise to check in.
and then you hug, you thank your friend for the good bad food and life giving conversation. you get into your own cars and head toward your own obligations.
and then you go home and stumble.
and then you find suziblu who inspires you
and you send the link to your friend
and then you start.
you find your way.
you begin again.
you remember, what you do is important because you do it.
and you declare yourself unemployable.
and you stop wasting time on resumes.
and you start making marks--even marks no one will ever see that will never make any money or amount to anything or lead anywhere or matter to anyone but you.
and you make them.
and it gives you so much joy--
the play of it--
that you write words about it and you post them for other people who might one day need to trip into saving the life of their artist
and you press the magic orange publish button
and you check the link
and you prove to yourself you exist--
at least virtually
and you are alive
at least virtually
and that is enough--
showing up in cyberspace is enough
and if you do enough on-line living
well, it might just be enough life
for your artist
to live
to remain alive
ooooooooh, to remain alive.


make your marks.

art action in your neighborhood

in my artist in society class with karen sjoholm, we are studying eco art--or environmental art--using weekly sessions to reiterate what we are finding as we walk through our neighborhood--in pursuit of making a map.

today we wandered on mt. tam and searched the landscape for a way in. we wandered, we walked together, we stayed in a couple hours of silence in our own little corners of the heaven we'd found there. when we reconvened, she gave us little green pieces of paper and invited a drawing, a blurb, a haiku about our experience. then, she gathered the main arteries of our sojourn and asked us to place our little pieces of paper in the spaces we'd claimed as our own. she invited us to name our places. she invited us to share.

one by one we journeyed around the circle sharing what came up for each of us. as we placed our little slips along the makeshift map, she noticed how we elevated to art that which was simply a matter of getting to a place. she mentioned how inviting it is when a place is elevated to the level of art--how a map, filled with quotes and sayings and haiku about various sites might encourage her journeying to parts formerly unknown.

she mentioned how, on one of her neighborhood walks, she'd found a poem about a tree on the sidewalk underneath a tree--and how the poem opened the tree experience for her. and she invited, perhaps, a neighborhood collaboration--signposting for those of us who look for the art in our own landscapes, to leave some fruit of inspiration in the spots that most inspire us as we make our daily rounds.

and i thought how lovely this would be--to leave evidence of inspiration in the landscape that inspires us. and i can't wait, really--to make my poems and little slips of valentine to leave around my loop.

where can you leave evidence of your inspiration?
how might your community collaborate to follow your example?

if you try this--please, let me know what happens in your world.

10 things anyone can do to demonstrate their art action in their own community

i'm interested in using this forum to keep track of ideas that can help us "come out" as artists--certainly for issues and politics and big things we feel compelled to say something about--but also, simply, as artists. in the past, i've felt a bit lonely in my community. when i look around, i can't tell where the artists live. i can't tell, when i'm in line with people at Safeway or even Whole Foods, if these are *my* people--that i might play with or make stuff up with or try things with. sometimes, I feel afraid, like i don't fit in, like i'm alone--and i may be, but most likely, there are other people who live in my zip code who share my interests and views. as a way of "coming out" as an artist interested in making a visual difference in my beige draped suburb, i am using this blog to think out loud about what i can do to demonstrate my artist's nature.

i can

1. make a sign that says "artist lives here--come say hi" and put it in my front yard
2. make a button that says "i'm an artist looking for community. are you an artist too?"
3. invite my neighbors to an art experience i'm creating or participating in
4. make art in public--visibly on my porch or at a park or in a cafe or...
5. post a saying or phrase or quote on a poster in a little corner of my window--having it face outward toward the wider world
6. wear clothes i've painted or clothes that have paint on them
7. buy an art lover license place or frame for my plates and put it on my car
8. make freeish marketing materials at vistaprint.com that say i'm an artist--promoting whatever it is i'm doing or looking for and pass those out randomly or give them to people i meet in line or in waiting rooms
9. sit quietly and set the intention to meet other likeminded folk who live in my neighborhood, trust the intention and move through the world with a sense of expectancy and confidence to start conversations with strangers
10. attend the art offerings of others as i encounter their promotion material on the web or in the world

what are other things anyone can do, wherever they are, to indicate they're willing to take an art action? or be a part of a community of others who use artmaking as their primary expression vehicle?

open call for changemakers

i've just come from an extraordinary 3 days at the first ever HOLISTIC APPROACHES TO ARTS EDUCATION conference at jfku in berkeley. i'll be doing my masters in transformative arts at the school and one of the things i thought might become my thesis is the documentation of what we do here with this blog and the resulting actions we take as a result of our virtual collaboration.

over time, some of us may choose to create visible community by coming together to DO something in a collective and publicly visible way--but this is not a call for MORE stuff to attend and stress out about and create and make, necessarily, outside the perameters of our normal, daily lives.

one of the ideas issued from the illustrious panel of transformation arts professionals assembled for our inspiration and edification was this: WE MUST LEARN TO BE CREATIVE WITHIN THE CONTEXT IN WHICH WE FIND OURSELVES. maybe it was Karen Caroll? or Peter Milne? i want to give credit where credit is due.

so the question is, when we feel powerless in our lives or powerful in our lives, how do we express that? visually? in some manner in which might allow for connection with others? how are you, i, we, being in the world, such that changemaking is possible--when we feel a change is required? what are we up against? how do we get over it?

anyone?