From the category archives:

Inspiration

What Would You Rather Be Doing?

by Barbara Hartsook on July 8, 2009 · 13 comments

Yesterday I got a survey-type email from a friend that asked what I’d rather be doing, my favorite foods, fragrances, etc. I don’t normally take such surveys. I just read them and then delete. But this one made me think a minute…
I was asked what smells really good to me?
I like to breathe in…
the early [...]

{ 13 comments }

Does Romance Outlast the Rose?

by Barbara Hartsook on June 18, 2009 · 19 comments

Roses say romance… but does the romance outlast the rose?
Once upon a time, eighteen years or so ago, a young man won his love’s heart with a rose every Friday.
Oh, it wasn’t always a rose. Sometimes it was a dozen roses, sometimes a teddy bear. But always a gift, and always on Friday. And always [...]

{ 19 comments }

When is the Art Done?

by Barbara Hartsook on June 4, 2009 · 12 comments

I was recently asked, When is the art done? And I gave some silly response that had nothing to do with the question.
Maybe if she’d asked, Is the art ever done? I might have answered like this:
No. It’s never done. Not really. Not if the artist uses pigments to tell a story and the lead [...]

{ 12 comments }

What Will You Have Done With Your Day When the Sun Sets?

by Barbara Hartsook on May 27, 2009 · 13 comments

The day is still fresh though the dew has dried. The cool air brushes by softly, but I’m comfortable in sweats. A few birds still sing. A neighbor starts his lawn mower somewhere in the distance…
And I have my day planned. What am I doing with it?
Out of the blocks…

Jamie VanCauwenbergh
By evening, when the sun [...]

{ 13 comments }

Do You Think You’re Good Enough? Do Others Agree?

by Barbara Hartsook on March 5, 2009 · 13 comments

My daily practice now includes reading a few favorite blogs over my second mug of coffee. This morning I found this at Successful-Blog…
Liz Strauss writes: People will tell you that you’re not good enough. Are you going to believe them?
They’ll tell you that it can’t be done. It will take too long. It will cost [...]

{ 13 comments }

3 Fears That (Sometimes) Stop Me from Doing What I Love Doing

by Barbara Hartsook on February 26, 2009 · 21 comments

I love to write and doodle. So why don’t I do more of it? What am I afraid of? And how do I stop the fears and get going again?
1. Fear of Failure…
Maybe my written thoughts won’t have significance to you, the reader. Do you even wonder the same things I wonder? Or explore [...]

{ 21 comments }

Does our Imagination Inspire Us to Act?

by Barbara Hartsook on February 16, 2009 · 13 comments

“We all live best in our own imaginations.” I read that this morning in a novel.
I wondered how often I live there — in my imagination. While I’m driving, or in the shower, or out on the exercise trail. And is it a good thing?

I imagine brilliant conversations with others — in my mind, by [...]

{ 13 comments }

Inspiration Is In the Story… Art of All Kinds Tell Those Stories

by Barbara Hartsook on February 5, 2009 · 18 comments

Stories have always inspired me. Perhaps because I was raised with them, in one art form or another…
When I was a young girl, our family often took Sunday drives through the country-side, with the hoped-for goal of buying ice cream cones. A favorite trip was to a small college town twenty miles due west of [...]

{ 18 comments }

Life-Learning, from a Teacher’s Heart and Pen…

by Barbara Hartsook on September 13, 2008 · 9 comments

One teacher, the kind of teacher we hope our kids and their kids can have at least once in their classrooms, writes a blog called Teacher Time.
She paints such wonderful stories with her words, her poetry. Stories that move in the mind. Like paintings that trigger a memory, we can say Yes! I’ve been there! [...]

{ 9 comments }