It takes courage to offer beauty and love to the world. It takes internal momentum. To build the momentum that you’ll need to persist through indifference and setbacks associated with creating original and unique work; your belief in yourself will need to be nurtured. Your belief in the beauty of your own internal world needs to be nurtured.

A great work, and life, is based on a connection with the creator’s inner world. It grows out of still and musing meditation. It draws from the pre-verbal, the half-understood, the subconscious. There is a wisdom inside each of us that often cannot be put into words but, with practice, can be used to guide and shape our lives and our work. It is that which is holy inside us.

Your reservoir of goodness is in your inner world. You need to relax to access that world. Make time each day to let your mind wander. The time just after you wake up in the morning, the half-awake stage, can be an important point of access. Sitting by a river or lake with your eyes closed can be another.

Let your imagination take you where it wants to go. Write down what bubbles up. Go back and look for patterns.