Since I turned fifty I have had a creative renewal. Well actually it was not just a one time thing. It is a constant thing. In the last seven years I have become more free in my creativity. I have deepened my creative well in a lot of different ways. This has lead to me making rugs that I never imagined possible. I think of the rug on the cover of the Sunday letters book. It happened because I was able to let go and not try to control the outcome.
This renewal has also lead me to a lot of peace and acceptance. I think showing up daily at the frame is restorative. You are forced to come to terms with yourself and your life. There is acceptance because you are paying attention to your life, to your own thoughts and ideas.
That is what it has been like in my fifties. Now I understand that there are too many things I cannot control in a way that was not clear in my thirties. I said it then but I did not deeply know it then. Now I know it. Now I feel it. And this knowing, this deep knowing brings a strong force of gratitude with it for the ordinary days, the simple friendships, the freedom to create and to make.
In no uncertain terms we are sure that when we show up to make we show up for ourselves. And when we show up for ourselves we are better able to show up for family, friends, community, because showing up for them is in a way showing up for ourselves.
I am approaching sixty now. I am past midlife. I am in the thick of growing older and I am carrying my creativity with me like a badge of honour. I am honoured by it and I am going to honour it.
I think of it as better than a wrinkle cream.
Creativity is a very special serum that makes life more beautiful, and that in fact will make us more beautiful. For we can age beautifully if we want to. We won't find it in a bottle. We will find it in ourselves. In what we bring to ourselves and what we put out into the world.
Creative renewal.
This time is not the winter of my life. Because of my creativity there is an ongoing spring of goodness that I am able to tap into it. It strengthens me. It brings me joy. It deepens me.
Thank you for reading. For being here with me these Sundays. It means so much.
