Tag Archives: freeing creativity

Living By The Book: Writing Love Notes

My next Inspiration Sandwich task was to take on SARK’s advice to, “Write more love letters.”

Sark Drawing of a love letter.She writes,”Letters are a chance for the soul to speak. A mood captured in the fibers of the paper, a world in an envelope which will not exist until it is opened. Love letters make love stay visible. You can rub it, smell it, touch it, share it and sleep with it under your pillow.”

She then goes on to describe all kinds of love letters one could write – on a sheet that you can sleep under, on the sidewalk in chalk, in the sand, to yourself, on a cotton scarf.

Obviously, mail used to be more important and necessary. Now, some people look down upon it because they are “busy” and have Facebook and e-mail to use when the mood strikes to be chatty. The other day I was reading some comments in an online community and one person said that if anyone he interviewed for a job had ever sent him a thank you note he would have thought them weird and “stalker-ish.”

Continue reading Living By The Book: Writing Love Notes

Living By The Book: Miracle Walks

Hello, welcome to more Living By the Book.

I continue living the book Inspiration Sandwich by investigating the concept of Miracle Walks.

Miracle Walking is walking while being hyper-aware of everything around you. It’s saying hello to people. Not being in a rush. Checking out the sky.

SARK says, “Bring a small bag packed for extraterrestrial travel. Wear a brightly colored hat and pick a destination that delights you… Notice colors. Dream while moving.”

Note: You can skip the brightly colored hat. No, really.

I already walk everyday in every kind of weather. This is because I co-habit with a dog:

Freja the dog waiting to go for a walk.

This dog walks twice a day. When she was a crazy puppy, we trained her to want to walk and now that’s what we’re stuck with twice a day. But, since I walk everyday, I often do it without actually noticing anything at all.

So my mission was to go on some Miracle Walks. This also fits with SARK’s mandate to “Let your dog take you for a walk.”

Continue reading Living By The Book: Miracle Walks

Living By The Book: Inspired By Inspiration Sandwich

Sketch of a book with the text "Let the book fall shut."I’m starting an ongoing series today that I’m calling “Living By The Book,”* wherein I take a book with a message, lifestyle or self-help program, try to live by it or practice its tenets for awhile and see if / how it works.

I was inspired to do this by a book called, interestingly enough, Inspiration Sandwich by an artist/author named SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy). SARK is a writer and creativity teacher who’s been dispensing advice on how to keep your creativity alive since about the late 1980s. You can tell one of her books by their colorful, water-color-ish drawings. This is the cover of Inspiration Sandwich:

Inspiration Sandwich, Stories To Inspire Our Creative Freedom by SARK.

The book is a collection of ways to awaken your creative self. Some of the ideas include inviting someone dangerous to tea, buying a toy for yourself and taking lots of naps. Inside, it says, “In the SARK tradition, it was written while in pajamas, and in between naps. My first job was at age four as the wake-up fairy in kindergarten. I believe in waking up creative spirits.”

Continue reading Living By The Book: Inspired By Inspiration Sandwich