Harry Emerson Fosdick

"Picture yourself vividly as winning and that alone will contribute immeasurably to success. Great living starts with a picture, held in your imagination, of what you would like to do or be."







Harry Emerson Fosdick

American Author, Clergy

1878 - 1969







Do you see yourself as a successful writer, successful artist or successful actor?  Success begins in the mind.  If you want to be successful, you need to see yourself as a success.  You need to believe in yourself and your talent.  Another word for it is visualization.  You need to visualize your success.  The mind is very powerful.  You must first see yourself as successful.

Do you ever worry?  Maybe you worry about having enough money to pay the bills.  Or maybe you worry about those you love.  Most people worry at one time or another.  Worry is a negative form of visualization.  Worry is visualization of your deepest fears.

Harness the visual power within your mind to create your success as an artist, a writer and a creative leader.  See yourself writing a novel, painting a picture, or writing a screenplay.

Read More

Henry Ward Beecher

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures."

— Henry Ward Beecher

American Clergy, Author, Speaker

1813 - 1887

If you have ever read the biographies of famous artists and writers, you may have discovered that some of these creative geniuses were not the best of human beings.  They may have been mean and cruel to those they loved.  They may have had affairs of the heart.  They may have been paranoid and psychotic.  They may have been insecure and boorish.  Their personal lives never seem to match the beauty found in their art.

So where does the great creative work come from?  Every person has some good and bad within himself.    The best creative work comes from being in touch with the good within one's souls.  By doing so, creative leaders create great work that connects with what is best in all humans.  But the cost of such greatness is often the chaos of their personal lives.

Read More

Tobias Wolff

"We are made to persist.  That's how we find out who we are."

— Tobias Wolff

American Author

1945 - 



The difference between the winners and the losers is that the winners keep going long after the losers have quit.  Many people want to be writers, painters, musicians, and actors.  Most quit too soon.  They let rejection and negative criticism cause them to give-up.  The creative journey takes a lot of stamina and persistence.

In 1914, Thomas Edison was 67 years old. He had lived a lifetime and invented hundreds of gadgets including the light bulb. He was a multi-millionaire living in Menlo Park, New Jersery. One night in February 1914 his phonograph factory burnt to the ground. Overnight he lost more than 3 million dollars and he had no insurance. The next day he was walking through his burnout factory and his son came over to console him. Edison turned to his son and he said: "There is great value in disaster. It burns up all our mistakes. Thank God we can start anew." He redesigned the phonograph, rebuild the factory and gave the world a brand new phonograph within three months. I don't care what challenges you face today or what is preventing you from continuing your creative journey. The difference between the winners and the losers is the winners keep going long after the losers have quit.

Read More

Jonathan Hull

"Without art; without paintings, books, sculpture and music, the human soul would be quite impenetrable, don't you think?"

— Jonathan Hull

American Novelist, Journalist

Can you imagine a world without art?  No books to read.  No writers of poetry.  No paintings.  No sculpture.  No music.  No theater.  No movies.  No stories.  Could you live in such a world?  And yet there are people who live lives without creating and appreciating the world of art.  They have no interest in books, paintings or music.  I for one could not live in such a world. 

I have a strong need to create a work of art.  To write a poem.  To sing a song.  To paint a picture.  To tell a story.  Without creative work, my soul would die a slow death.  Celebrate the fact that you have the ability to appreciate great works of art.  Believe that you have the skill to create great works of art.

Read More

Gordon B. Hinckley

"Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great purpose in heart."

— Gordon B. Hinckley

American Author, Religious Leader

1910 - 2008

Do you know what your purpose is?  Why you are alive on this planet in the 21st century?  We all have a reason for being.  Some people take a lifetime to figure out their purpose in life.  Others know and understand what their purpose is at a very young age.  Purpose is what gives our lives meaning.  Purpose requires that we do some soul searching to help us understand why we live the life we have chosen.

I believe that everything in life is a choice.  We choose how we want to live.  Sometimes by not making a choice we have chosen.  If you don't like something in your life, then choose something different.  We have no choice over what happens to us.  Our key choice is how we respond to what happens to us.  Do you have a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face?  Or are you grouchy and grumpy?  Do you respond to the hand that life has dealt you by moaning, groaning and griping?  Or do you pick yourself up and stay focused on your purpose — the great reason you are here?

On the days when you are discouraged, refocus on your purpose.  Remind yourself of where you want to go — of the legacy you want to leave behind.  

Read More

Joan Miro

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music."

— Joan Miro

Spanish Artist

1893 - 1993

Hand Catching a Bird
(1968)

Our lives are touched with color whether we are artists or not.  We are attracted to color and repulsed by color.  We wake to color in the morning and some of us dream in color.  We love the color of flowers in spring and summer.  We love the color of leaves in autumn.  Our lives our filled with color.  We often buy our clothes based on color.  We paint the walls of our houses with color.  We choose the color of the car we buy.  Color is an important part of our lives.  Chefs use color to make the meal appealing.  Advertisers use color to convince us to buy things.

In a study of the colors blue and red, scientists at the University of British Columbia discovered that red makes us more cautious and attentive to details while blue makes us more creative and receptive to new ideas.  Experiments showed that with a red background people performed as much as 31 percent better on tasks like proofreading.  When blue was used, people were more open to new ideas and creative solutions.

What are your favorite colors?  Do some colors make you happy?  What colors make you sad? What colors excite you?  How does color shape your art?  What colors are you attracted to in a painting?  How does color shape your writing?  Do you use color as part of your description?  How does color affect your music?  

Red Sun

Read More

Ansel Adams

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.  When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence."

— Ansel Adams

American Photographer

1902 - 1984

Sometimes words are not enough.  And sometimes pictures fail to communicate what we are feeling.  And all we have left is the silence.  If the writing is blocked, pick up a brush and paint a picture.  If the painting is blocked, walk into the woods and listen.  Life goes on even without the human voice.  Listen to the sounds between the silences.  Listen to the heartache in another human being.  The universe is bigger than mankind.  And yet the universe is contained in the soul of one individual.  We will not live forever.  And some day the civilizations we are so proud of will vanish and be replaced.  Change never ends.  Focus on what is possible and forget about what cannot happen.  




When we let the small things make us angry, we lose sight of the bigger picture — that in the grand scheme of things it will not matter a thousand years from now.  Where were you when Rome burned?  So take a deep breath and take the the beauty of the universe into your soul and create a masterpiece.  And give back to the universe a portion of what you have been given.  What is to be, will be.

Now, listen to Ansel Adams in his own words.

Read More