STEPHANIE MORK

These are the questions of life that I frequently ponder. Why are storms these amazingly cozy and curled up bouts of weather that just make you want to sit outside with a steamy cup of a chai latte and let the rain sink into you?

I love Mn summers. I loved my Wisconsin summer and my Virginia summer but Wisconsin was a little too cold and Virginia a little too hot. Minnesota, dear Minnesota, gives a flighty combination of both excruciatingly hot days and days where you need a sweater or five.  But in between those days, we get pleasant sunny days with a high of 75.  ILY MN.

Minnesota summer storms on the other hand are just about one of the most lovely gifts this state gives to us (along with 10,000 + lakes). I think I fell in love with rain when I fell in love with Ireland a few years ago. Why grumble about rain when it gives you a really good reason to snack on coconut milk ice cream w/ pb and watch friends [Not that you need a reason to do that any day of the week].

A thing I have learned in the past year ish is that most of what happens in your day is out of your control. The people you encounter, the traffic (urrgh), the weather, the cute guy in Cub foods… But the good news is, we CAN control ourselves and our reactions.

If you’ve seen it, the movie About Time, gives a good idea of how I want to live my life. Despite how the world acts and reacts around me, I want to be the person that makes the stressed out cashier’s life a little brighter, the person that talks to the homeless man on the corner, the person that loves to wake up just for the sake of it being morning. To enjoy each moment the first time, because well, it won’t come again. Unless you are a time traveler.

So I’ll leave you with this:

“We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.” – Jack Gilbert

Risk being the happy person on the bus today, the one still smiling after sitting in traffic, the one that enjoys the mundane beautiful tasks of doing laundry or going grocery shopping simply because you get to.  Its easier said than done, I know. I struggle on the reg.

BUT happy is sometimes infectious and if you are happy then the people around you will be happier which has the potential to make the world around you a happier place.

What will you delight in today?

The inspiration for this post (or really, to start blogging again), is from a book called Big Magic and my beautiful, magical porch in my new house.  S/O to Elizabeth Gilbert for the inspo and to MN summer nights for being perfect. This is what I have learned from this book so far:

Living creatively means being motivated by curiosity rather than fear.

Living creatively doesn’t have to be for anyone but me.  I can write because I enjoy it and that’s that. If someone else likes my art along the way, bonus!

I do not need anyones permission to be creative. I can define what creativity means to me and I don’t need to wait for someone else to give me the green light.

I can define myself and my creative pursuits instead of wishing they were true.  I am a writer, I am a photographer, I am a cook, I am healthy, or a painter, dancer, wood worker or whatever you are or want to create.  When I say those words out loud or even on paper, they begin to take shape and I become what I say I am.

My creative pursuits do not have to be motivated by money.  They are and can be motivated purely by the soul filling, magical, cookie dough finger licking satisfaction that comes from taking what is in my head and making sense of the world around me with words.

So there.  Here I am trying to do this thing called life and figure out – what is it exactly that I want to do again?  Maybe I don’t need to have an answer.  Maybe I can just do what feels right, go where the flow of ideas takes me, and make enough money to get by.  And along the way, find what makes me feel most alive and full and then do as much of that as possible.

Do you have the courage to live creatively?