Teresa R. Funke's Blog: Bursts of Brilliance for a Creative Life, page 31

Have You Listened to Your Inner Coach Lately?

My brilliant friend Sandy Scott recently sent out some great advice in her newsletter about ignoring your inner critic and focusing on your inner coach. She describes the qualities of the inner coach as curious, quiet, connected to the head and heart, generating new thoughts, full of love, etc. Pretty much the opposite of the inner critic. I’ve read lots of articles about how to tame my inner...

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Finding That Common Ground

The other day, I was sitting at the dinner theater where the seats are very close together. Before the show started, I heard the couple next to me talking with the waitress about whether they should buy season tickets again. After all, a few of the shows in the last few seasons were a little too edgy for them. The gentleman mentioned almost walking out on one show, and I rolled my eyes.

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So You Say You’re Not an Artist

You say you’re not an artist, then you cut a perfect leaf into the top of the pie crust. You say you’re not creative, but you make up puns on the spot. You say you’re not inspired, then you carefully write the perfect encouragement into that graduation card. You say you’re not inventive, but your homemade Halloween costume blows everyone away. You say you’re not gifted, then you stand up at...

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Art and Gratitude

This year, it’s really simple: I’m grateful for all the art in my life. The art I produce, the art you produce, the art we love, and the art that challenges us. The art that spurs conversation and the art that settles the soul. The art that comes from our hands and our voices, but especially from our hearts. I’m grateful for sappy old country songs that still make me cry.

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What Should You Tell Your Younger Self?

This week I attended a networking event in which a local business owner was given an award. The host of the evening, Nancy, conducted a short interview with the winner, whose name was Trish. One of questions Nancy asked was, “What would you go back and tell your younger self?” Trish gave a long pause. And during that space, I’m sure every one of us was wondering what we would tell our younger...

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Being the Best

The other day, I experienced a little disappointment in my business. A contest I expected to place in, and didn’t. It wasn’t a big deal, really, but for some reason, it got me down. In trying to figure out why I felt so bad, I had a realization. I told my husband, “When I was a kid, I always wanted to be the best in my class at something.” I spent a lot of time as a child wondering what it...

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How to Doodle Your Way Out of Stress

I heard reference to a study that said many of us spend 70-80% of our waking hours stressing about something. We stress about our jobs, our families, our health, our friendships, traffic, the environment, climate change, gun violence, world conflicts, upcoming elections, and so much more. And there is no longer a cultural attitude toward a “day of rest.” Remember when we were kids and people took...

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That Is Not My Art, And That’s Okay

It’s almost Halloween, my least favorite holiday of the year. It’s not the dressing up in costumes or the handing out candy or the parties that bother me, it’s the dark, scary, ugly, gory images and stories, and the fascination with evil and cruelty they sometimes encourage. I’ve always been easily scared. I can’t even watch the trailers for scary movies, much less the films themselves.

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Have You Filled Your Tank Lately?

The other day, a group of writer friends and I were talking. It seems for weeks now, none of us have felt very motivated. We’re not behaving like our usual prolific, proactive, hard-working selves. That’s not to say we’re missing deadlines or shrugging off obligations – Heaven forbid – but we haven’t felt especially ambitious or creative. One writer said she heard it might have to do with...

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Complaining Is Getting Me Nowhere

I recently finished reading Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza. It took me a few months to get through it because I was determined not to rush the learning. In the book, Dr. Joe covers so much information it would be difficult to summarize it here. But one thing he encourages us to do is look at some part of our personality we want to change and change it. I’ve actually...

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