What's your empty basket?

All of life is a creative act.

A Way of Life, paper collage, 2022

Well, it happened. After all this time successfully dodging Covid, it came and got me. I’m on Day 11 of this nonsense, coughing like crazy, but finally seeing the light. I think.

I’m a terrible sick person. Really bad. It’s hard for me to just…stop. To be still, rest, and let my body do its thing to heal. I get tired of reading, bored of Netflix, annoyed with social media, carried away by my overactive brain.

I remember learning that a tendency towards depression can be rooted in a focus on the past, whereas anxiety is future-focused. I’m definitely the latter. As I’ve been laid out on the couch, just trying to live, my mind is on overdrive about art I want to make, trips I want to take, things I want to do.

It reminds of a newsletter I sent recently, Dreaming is form of planning. I still think that’s true, but I also wonder if doing isn’t a form of planning, and perhaps my preferred mode, and also why I’ve been feeling anxious in this Covid downtime.

Last week an artist-friend posted this.

It’s true that so much of creativity lives in the shadows: experimentation, exploration, research, reading, making mistakes, self-care, relationships, experiencing new things, etc. etc..

That book you hold in your hand? It’s years and years of all of that. No one sits in a room and writes a book. I mean, they do, but they couldn’t do that without all the ingredients that make up a big, juicy life to write about in the first place!

And it makes me rest just a little bit easier if I can sink into the belief that everything I do and experience: from brushing my teeth, to vacuuming the rug, to having Covid, contributes to my future plans and everything I dream to do and be.

Can it be true?

Poet Mary Oliver said Poetry isn’t a profession, it’s a way of life. It's an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that. So too with writing a book or building an app or really just loving others and being in the world with intention and purpose.

All of life is a creative act. What’s your empty basket?

my little corner of the universe

+ ART FOR CHRISTMAS

Prints in my store are now $50. They are all limited runs and once they’re, they’re gone. Who doesn’t love getting art for Christmas?

+ HEY LOCALS

I have teamed up with another local art maker, Sarah Shay Mirk, for a zine swap. We will be demoing how to make a zine and probably drinking beer. Thanks to Vortex for the sweet graphic. See you there?

+ JUST FOR FUN

A creative medium that's actually alive? Yes, bacteria art is a thing. Check out this episode of NPR’s Short Wave. Life is art is life - literally.

Have a great weekend.

Jump + Pray,

Joce

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Email : joce@misslujo.com or reply to this email

Mailing Address : 509 N Ventura Street, Ojai, CA, 93023