Newsletter

Commitment

Until one is committed
there is hesitancy; the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)
there is one elementary truth,
the ignorance of which kills countless ideas
and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
that would otherwise never have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the declaration,
raising in one’s favor all manner
Of unforeseen incidents and meetings
And material assistance,
Which no man could have dreamed
Would have come his way.
FIRST BOOK
THE
INSPIRATIONAL
CLIP BOARD

All art is a kind of confession, more or less
oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are
forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the
anguish up. - James Baldwin

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and
paints his own nature into his pictures.
- Henry Ward Beecher

THE AVERAGE PENCIL
IS SEVEN INCHES LONG,
WITH JUST A HALF INCH ERASER -
IN CASE YOU THOUGHT OPTIMISM WAS DEAD.
Robert Brault

THE PRINCIPAL MARK OF GENIUS IS
NOT PERFECTION BUT ORIGINALITY;
THE OPENING OF NEW FRONTIERS.
Arthur Koestler in
THE ACT OF CREATION

IT IS THE WOUNDED OYSTER
THAT MENDS ITS SHELL WITH A PEARL.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

WHERE WORDS FAIL, MUSIC SPEAKS.
Hans Christian Andersen

FOR A MAN TO BECOME A POET
HE MUST BE IN LOVE, OR MISERABLE.
Lord Byron

FOR EVERY PROBLEM
THERE IS ONE SOLUTION
WHICH IS SIMPLE,
NEAT... AND WRONG.
H. L. Mencken

ART EXTENDS EACH MAN'S
SHORT TIME ON EARTH,
BY CARRYING FROM MAN TO MAN
THE WHOLE COMPLEXITY OF
OTHER MEN'S LIFELONG EXPERIENCE,
WITH ALL ITS BURDENS,
COLORS AND FLAVOR.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

THERE'S NOTHING TO WRITING -
ALL YOU DO IS  SIT DOWN AT A TYPEWRITER
AND OPEN A VEIN.
Red Smith
"When you look back on a lifetime,and think
of what has been given to the world by your
presence, your fugitive presence, inevitably
you think of your art, whatever it may be, as
the gift you have made to the world in
acknowledgment of the gift you have been
given, which is the life itself...That work is not
an expression of the desire for praise or
recognition, or prizes, but the deepest
manifestation of your gratitude
for the gift of life."
- Stanley Kunitz

NEWSLETTER FROM JO'S DESK
LATE JANUARY
2012

As this newsletter reaches you....
from my desk to yours....
Have you recuperated from the holiday season?

Have you put 2011
behind you and started fresh?
Or do you have issues nagging
and pulling at you like a pack of hyenas
that you have been avoiding
until the new year?
Well....now it is one month into the new year.

Timing is everything.
There is no time like the present to
acknowledge
areas of your life where
changes would be beneficial.
Chances are you are well aware
just what those issues are
that could stand a little tweaking.....

When something is needing your attention,
that intuitive voice in your soul
begins sending messages
that say, in one form or another,
in a whisper or a shout:
RED ALERT! LISTEN TO THIS!
DO NOT IGNORE ME!
DWELL IN THE NOW!
PAY ATTENTION TO MY
ADVICE!
I HAVE ONLY YOUR BEST INTERESTS
AT HEART!
BE TRUE TO YOURSELF!
FOLLOW YOUR HIGHER SELF!
LIVE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT
THERE IS ALWAYS ENOUGH TIME TO
INSTIGATE CHANGE!

If you have heard this voice
before - recently - and put it off or
chosen to allow it to fall on your deaf ears,
you are asking for problems.
It WILL return, louder and more
demanding of your attention.
It will not be ignored
without some nasty consequences.

You must not resist
an epiphany -
to receive a message of epiphany is
only half the equation.
You must act on the message that
epiphany brings
in order to avoid
the calamity of inaction and
poor judgement.

That little voice in your soul will  
always return,
and it might decide that you need
a bigger jolt of realization
in the form of a rude awakening
that cannot be ignored.
So....
When heads really begin to roll and
chaos ensues,
it is always because
intuition's clear advice has been
thrown out the window.

Mayhem is easy to avoid!
BE AWARE.
BE LISTENING.
KNOW YOURSELF.
FIND YOUR HIGHER SELF.
Turn the enlightenment on
and point its glow
in the part of your understanding
that needs a bright and
shining, non-refusable
EPIPHANY.
IT IS ART THAT MAKES LIFE.
AND I KNOW OF NO SUBSTITUTE  
WHATSOEVER FOR THE FORCE AND
BEAUTY OF ITS PROCESS.

THOSE ARE MY THOUGHTS,
STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART.

JO

THE WORRY GAME

THEY SAY THAT IF YOU WERE ABLE TO TOSS ALL YOUR WORRIES
INTO A BIG PILE
WITH HUNDREDS OF OTHER PEOPLE,
AND YOU ARE GIVEN THE OPTION
OF SELECTING A NEW SET OF PROBLEMS
FROM THE PILE
INSTEAD OF YOUR OWN,
MOST PEOPLE WOULD MAKE THE
CHOICE TO  DIG AROUND,
LOCATE THEIR OWN PROBLEMS
AND CARRY THEM BACK
HOME FROM THE PILE
RATHER THAN TAKE A CHANCE
WITH ANYONE ELSE'S.

THE KNOWN IS ALWAYS LESS DAUNTING
THAN THE FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN.
HOWEVER,
IN REVIEWING YOUR OWN PROBLEMS
IT IS USEFUL TO ASK YOURSELF
WHETHER OR NOT YOU
SEEM TO BE DEALING WITH THE
SAME KINDS OF PROBLEMS
ALL THE DAMN TIME.

DOES HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF IN YOUR LIFE?
HOW MANY TIMES WILL YOU KEEP
TAKING  BACK THE FAMILIAR PROBLEMS?

DO THE SAME LESSONS KEEP COMING
BACK AROUND
TO HAUNT YOU, TO TEACH YOU,
TO TORTURE YOU
AGAIN AND AGAIN,
BUT IN DIFFERENT DISGUISES?

YOU CAN BE SURE THAT
WHEN YOU FAIL TO GET A MESSAGE,
IT RE-VISITS YOU PERIODICALLY,
RETURNING LIKE A BAD DREAM,
BECOMING LESS SUBTLE,
MORE GLARING,
LOUDER AND STRONGER,
UNTIL IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE
IN SPITE OF YOUR DENIAL,
YOUR PREOCCUPATION,
AND YOUR FAUX CONFIDENCE
TELLING YOU THAT YOU NEED NOT HEED
ITS DEMANDING VOICE.

AND THAT IS USUALLY WHEN
THINGS BEGIN TO FALL APART.

LIVING IN THE MOMENT
IS THE BEST WAY TO PREVENT
THE  CHAOS OF THE
UNEXPECTED AND THE DISASTER
OF THE REPEATING CATASTROPHE.
GET A GRIP, LEARN A LESSON,
ABSORB THE REALITY,
AND BE WISER FOR IT. DEAL WITH IT!
THEN TOSS IT AWAY IN THE WORRY PILE
FOREVER.

JO ANN BROWN-SCOTT

WRITING IS THERAPY!
As Dr. Seuss says -
"Be who you are and say what you feel
because those who mind don't matter,
and those who matter don't mind."