The world will open up to you.

This is a photo of my mother taken around 1935.  She's about fourteen here, dancing on stage in my grandparents vaudeville troupe.
 

 I have a lot of photos of my mother from this era, but I particularly love this one.

It's the vulnerability that attracts me.  She couldn't possibly know what lies ahead of her.  And I cannot tell her.  I am not part of this picture.  I am a voyeur, looking at a version of my mother that I will never meet.  And yet, this photograph looms large in my imagination and has served as a creative spark for me over the years.

As creative people, I do believe there's a reason why we're attracted to certain images, memories, musical riffs, colors, and characters.  And only you know what these things are or why they speak to you.  

Make a list of all these things.  They don't have to have anything in common, at least not on the surface.  However as you look at your list, you'll find there are re-occurring themes and threads.  Perhaps it's a particular color, or flavor.  A landscape, a dream, a memory.  Perhaps it's an expression or a line of dialogue that keeps coming back to you, echoing through the years of your life.

As an artist, your mind connects the points from the past and the present.  If you follow your finger on the map of your memories and connect the points, you'll find the secret to your own creative journey unfurling in front of you.

Your prompt for this week is the consider one thing you're attracted to.  It can be strange or weird.  In fact, it should be strange or weird.  It should feel like a mystery even to you.  Trace the memories to where you were attracted to something similar, something mysterious, and then draw a line connecting each of these memories.

Now, my creative friend--right before you, you have your own treasure trove of inspiration, your secret sauce--a toolbox of creativity sparks.  It's completely unique to you, and it belongs to you alone.  

The world will open up to you in vivid colors and symbols, and secret meanings.    This is your constantly regenerating map to your own special journey and your own unique gifts.  

And this is my gift to you.

Love,

Jamie