"To foster psychological richness in our lives, we must lean into the unfamiliar, the risky, and the challenging. ... Being a generalist requires broader perspectives than being a specialist."
–– Shigehiro Oishi, Japanese psychologist, professor and author
Source. Shigehiro Oishi. Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life. New York: Doubleday, 2025; p. 91.
via: Commonplace Book, 2024, 2025, p. 50.
"Hardwood grows slowly."
–– Jewel (Kilcher) (b. 1974), American singer, songwriter, poet, actress, activist, author
Source: Cal Newport. Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2024; p. 170.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 79.
"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's "own," or "real" life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life –– the life God is sending one day by day."
–– C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer, scholar, and lay theologian
via: Commonplace Book, 2024, 2025, p. 45-6.
"The best way to change the world is to change your mind, which often requires feeding yourself. It makes for biochemical peace. It's almost like a prayer: to be needy, to eat, to taste, to be filled, building up instead of tearing down. You find energy to do something you hadn't expected to do, maybe even one of the holiest things: to go outside and stand under the stars, or to go for a walk in the morning, or in such hard times, both."
–– Anne Lamott (b. 1954), American writer
Source: Anne Lamott. Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith. New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Group), 2007; p. 252-253.
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 93.
"Creativity and imagination are not frosting on a cake: They are integral to our sustainability. They are survival mechanisms. They are of the essence of who we are. They constitute our deepest empowerment."
–– Matthew Fox (b. 1940), American priest, theologian, and author
Source: Matthew Fox. Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2004 (2002); p. 31.
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 65.
"As I have said, the purpose of emptying ourselves is to make room for the new. The only reason to give up something is to gain something better. Peace is undeniably better than war. Thus we must ask, "Of what do we have to empty ourselves in order to gain peace?" What traditional attitudes and styles of behaviour must we lay aside? What outmoded viewpoints, policies, understandings, and resentments are we still carrying around? To what hidden opportunities must we be open and empty?"
–– M. Scott Peck (1936-2005), American psychiatrist and author
Source: M. Scott Peck. The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace. New York: Touchstone, 1987; p. 225.
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, 57.
What are you grateful for right now?
What brings you joy right now?
What are you noticing right now? Do you see a pattern of what you are noticing?
"Every arrow that hits the bull's eye is the result of one hundred misses"
– Buddhist saying
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 90.
"Contrary to the myth that artists are eccentrics, leaping from one peak of inspiration to another, [Philip] Pearlstein exemplifies the greater truth that most artists live as they work: incrementally, day by day, in the same way that they build up a canvas or chisel a sculpture. They are creatures of habit. The dancer Twyla Tharp wakes up every morning at five-thirty and takes a cab to the gym –– a trite ritual, but as she has written, "a lot of habitually creative people have preparation rituals linked to the setting in which they choose to start their day. By putting themselves into that environment, they begin their creative day." ... Novelty in creative endeavours usually arises from routine –– you have to be familiar with something before you know what is novel."
–– Michael Kimmelman (b. 1958), American critic and journalist
Source: Michael Kimmelman. The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa. New York: Penguin Press, 2005; p. 150-151.
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 116.
"What shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think to ask."
–– Sam Keen (1931-2025), American author, academic and philosopher
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 117.
"Small things with great love. ... It is not how much we do, but how much love we put into the doing. And it is not how much we give, but how much love we put into the giving. To God there is nothing small."
–– Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Albanian-born Indian Roman Catholic nun
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 117.
"Confront the difficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts."
–– Lao Tzu (c. 500 BCE), Chinese philosopher and writer
Source: Tao Te Ching
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 118.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
–– Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Prime Minister 1940-1945; 1951-1955
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 121.
"I am done with great things and big plans, great institutions and big successes. I am for those tiny, invisible loving human forces that work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of the world like so many rootlets, or like the capillary oozing of water, yet which, if given time, will rend the hard monuments of human pride."
–– William James (1842-1910), American psychologist and philosopher
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 129.
"Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother."
–– Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), Lebanese-American writer and poet
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 132.
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."
–– Mark Twain (1835-1910), pen name of Samuel Clemens, American writer
via Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 132.
"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up."
–– Babe Ruth, nickname of George Herman "Babe" Ruth (1895-1948), American baseball player
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 133.
"When we have arrived at the question, the answer is already near."
–– Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American philosopher and writer
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 42.
"For the happiest life, days should be rigorously planned, nights left open to chance."
–– Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983), American journalist and author
via: Commonplace Book, 2006-2009, 2007, p. 41.
"Here's a good reason to push yourself –– you will always learn more about life and your capacity to succeed when you are uncomfortable. Often when your back is up against the wall of fear, the greatest breakthroughs appear."
–– Jack Canfield (b. 1944), American author and motivational speaker
Source: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Hewitt. The Power of Focus. Deerfield Beach, Florida: Health Communications, 2000; p. 68.
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 86.
"You are not here to merely make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."
–– Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), American politician
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 88.
"The road to life is not wide and straight; it is steep and tricky, and those who only travel on sunny days will never reach their destination."
– Old Buddhist saying
"Challenge is the core and mainspring of all human action. If there's an ocean, we cross it. If there's a disease, we cure it. If there's a wrong, we right it. If there's a record, we break it. And if there's a mountain, we climb it."
–– James Ullman (1907-1971), American writer and mountaineer
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 91.
"To venture causes anxiety; not to venture is to lose oneself."
–– Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, and social critic
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 78.
"Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up to the step; we must step up the stairs."
–– Václav Havel (1936-2011), Czech playwright, poet, statement, political dissident
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 79.
"An inventuring* life finds aliveness at the edges of discovery and growth. The purpose of life is, then, to grow."
–– Richard J. Leider, American life coach and author
*Inventure n. new or original invention, discovery, or idea; v. to create something new or innovative
Source: Leider, Richard J. and David A. Shapiro. Repacking Your Bags: Lighten Your Load for the Rest of Your Life. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1995; p. 87.
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2007, p. 77.
"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves."
–– Carl Jung (1875-1961), Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2009, p. 190.
"Learning theorists now argue for the importance of non-productive play as a critical component of productive advancement. Play is one of the few universal ways in which we test what we know."
–– Eric Booth, American actor, teacher, and author
Source: Eric Booth. The Everyday Work of Art. Naperville, Illinois: Sourcebooks, 1997; p. 143.
via: Commonplace Book 2006-2009, 2009, p. 190.
For the past three years, I have maintained a daily sketchbook practice. It's a durational art practice and the purpose of it is for creative self-care and to see how I and the practice develop over time. In these dedicated sketchbooks (I have now filled 13), I go through phases of collage, drawing, painting, printmaking. Each day I play. Each day I "see and respond."
"Attention is the most powerful tool of the human spirit. We can enhance or augment our attention with practices like meditation, breathwork, and exercise, diffuse it with technologies like email, texting, and social media, or alter it with pharmaceuticals. In the end, though, we are fully responsible for how we choose to use this extraordinary resource."
–– Linda Stone (b. 1955), American writer and consultant
Source: Jeff Karp. LIT: Use Nature's Playbook to Energize Your Brain, Spark Ideas, and Ignite Action. New York: William Morrow, 2024; p. 82.
via: Commonplace Book 2024, 2025, p. 64.
Luck, insights, or breakthroughs are "a reward for not giving up."
–– Gay Hendricks (b. 1945), American psychologist and writer
Source: Gay Hendricks, Lindsay Tinker. The Third Rule of Ten. New York: Hay House, 2014; p. 235.
via: Commonplace Book, 2024, 2025, p. 68.
