An Invitation

Weekly wisdom to level up your creative life in 3 minutes, for free.

A SHORT STORY

This past weekend, my friend Randi invited me to run a half marathon with her before the end of the summer. My dear Anastasiia joined me, and we had an incredible time, albeit in the pouring rain. 😉 

But now, I’m left thinking a lot about the power of an invitation. And how the most impactful experiences in my life are a series of invitations.

An invitation to go to a certain school, to join a company, to fall in love, to go on an adventure, and so much more.

Where would I be without these invitations, I wonder? These callings to adventure?

In fact, I recently learned that the Greek root for the word "beauty" is related to the word for "calling," to "kalon" and "kalein."

It means that what you find beautiful is actually calling you, or inviting you.

I love that.

I also love how that relates to creativity, as a way to call something new forth out of you by investigating the things that you find beautiful.

And ultimately, I love how one can see their work as a calling — as a way to make the world more beautiful.

What is calling you today? And what invitation could you make to someone else to join you?

A CREATIVE TOOL

As creative tools become more and more accessible, I often believe it is how we use them that allows us all to learn.

Recently, my friend Kyle Bergman, shared a great example of how he used ChatGPT to create an easy to use tool that has the potential to help athletes!

Check it out below.

A PIECE OF ART

“Everything is Waiting for You” by David Whyte

originally published in Everything is Waiting for You

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the
conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

Grateful,

Michael