“What if, on the first sunny day,

on your way to work, a colorful bird

sweeps in front of you down a

street you’ve never heard of.” –  Mark Nepo

Well, it wasn’t a bird that swept down in this case, but a dog. I was walking by my window when I spotted our neighbor’s miniature schnauzer George gleefully racing by… with no owner in sight. That was my moment of choice. Carry on with the full schedule I had laid out for the day and pretend I hadn’t seen him, or try to catch the dog.

Within minutes I was outside, but he was already gone. I went by the neighbors house and their Italian grandmother, who was visiting and babysitting while the parents were at work, was beside herself about their dog running loose. So I got in my car and drove the direction of the errant pup. I found him far down another street — being pursued by another neighbor on a bike. Since he wouldn’t come when called, we enlisted the aid of a middle aged woman walking her large dog and the three of us herded him down the street. It was a hysterical sight, this happy little dog running and being kept moving the right direction by my car behind him, an orange-jacketed biker on one side and a large dog covering the other side of the street.

Finally we got him home, and I was rewarded with multiple hugs from the relieved, emotional grandmother. It brought back memories of my own robust Greek yiayia and her generous hugs. And of course when I returned to work, my dog herding skills just a tad sharper, I found myself enlivened by the adventure and ready for creative work.

We always have those moments where we must choose – our planned path, or a detour. The planned path might seem to get us to our goal faster, but the detour often is where the juice is…

Pearls for Reflection: When a choice comes up between the planned path and a detour, how do you decide which to take? What might you gain if you choose one verses the other? What does a planned route or detour look like in your writing

Today, the gray zone looked like sitting in a chair in the sun on a Sunday afternoon looking up college campus tours with my daughter on You Tube.

You may be wondering what’s wrong with that? Nothing, per se, except we had been doing it for 1 ½ hours and we had gone from excited about it (let’s research colleges on You Tube!) to less excited to uninspired as we watched people throwing someone in the fountain to celebrate their birthday (a tradition among many liberal arts colleges, we discovered). Our body language said it all as we slumped over various pieces of furniture, eyes glazing, watching the videos.

That’s when my husband walked in, saw us, and suggested a walk.

Part of me resisted, yet part of my awareness perked up just enough to know that it was just what I needed. We shuffled out the door, and within the space of 30 minutes, I went from being passively entertained to actively engaged.  It doesn’t take much. I noticed a bright yellow waterfall of flowers cascading down a huge vine. Look another direction, and I was pondering if the way a person’s lawn was trimmed to reflect their personalities? Then there was the Clydesdale-like sound of my dog’s rounded foot pads rhythmically pounding the pavement.

The more I walked, the more images streamed in and pretty soon any direction I turned my attention brought creative ideas – I started capturing article ideas, workshop ideas and taglines for my new brand.

The seductive part of all this is the trance we get in when we do something and don’t keep tuning in to see if we are still feeling vibrant and connected to an activity or if we have slipped into a more one-celled existence. Gray may be relaxing, but there’s nothing like a shot of hot pink to ratchet up the level of creative living. And I’d much prefer to catch ideas like raindrops on my tongue than to watch them splat and disappear.

Pearls for Reflection: When is the last time you remember being in the gray zone? What were the signs that you were getting there? How did your body feel? How would you describe your brain activity (slow, jumping around?). What was the reason you stayed there? And how did you eventually break out of it (was it conscious, or did you realize after 7 hours on the computer that moving your body somewhere else would do you good?). Don’t judge, just notice.

You may reprint the featured article, in its entirety, by including a byline and a link to Carolyn’s website. www.backyardpearls.com

I’d love to hear your comments on the article, what pearls you notice when you begin reflecting. Please share your thoughts  below in the Reply box …

What I’ve discovered has been very interesting. Typically I can write or create anywhere – on my porch, at my dining room table, just inside the bay window by the bird feeder. As long as I have my laptop, writing materials and associated books, I’m set.

But because this project has been bigger and more complex, the process has been different. Each time I work on it, my process has been to “stoke the creative fire” and then, in the midst of the blaze and with inspiration running high, I create. When I finish, the fire dies down, and the next time I work on it I’m back down to stoking the flames again.

The embers are always burning, but what I’ve found is that I’d like a quicker way to start them. As my friend and I nibbled on souvlaki and pita bread at lunch, she shared with me her secret of getting the blaze roaring at record speed — she rented an office.

She found that her more nomadic writing in different spaces was leaving a trail of sparks from room to room. By renting an office space, she says when she enters the door, it feels as if she’s walking inside the book itself. Hung on the walls is butcher paper with lists of positive affirmations, different scenes, motivational pictures that inspire her, etc. She has created an alternate universe that is just for her writing. And when she enters it, she says her body just knows what she’s there to do and on most days the creativity is high upon arrival.

Now I know what you’re saying – how many of us can afford to rent an office space just for our part-time writing? To be honest, this friend isn’t rich, it’s simply that she’s made it a priority. More importantly is that we bring an awareness to our creative space and what environment works best for us.

For instance, I now have a “ritual” box that I take with me when I start working on creative projects. In it, I have various items to help light my fire, such as small pictures that inspire me, a candle, tea bags, a few small rocks and leaves, favorite hand written quotes, and so on. On my computer, I’ve started a journal that captures the flavor of each creative session with my bigger branding project, so I can re-read that when I sit down and not have to wonder where I was or what’s next. All if this leads to the inspiration coming more quickly.

Yesterday I went to write at a coffee shop, and found the tiny Asian woman next to me creating her own space to work. She moved the table, adjusted the blinds, put a napkin under the foot of the table to keep it from wobbling, and then sat down with a mug of tea and satisfied sigh before she began.

It’s not a requirement that we all have, as writer Virginia Woolf called it, a “room of one’s own” in order to write. The muse will come anyway, even if she has to ride in a dirty laundry hamper or whisper to us as we race down a highway. But she loves being wooed every now and again. She adores having a beautiful space and an open heart when we invite her in. And she responds by holding the match for those creative fires…

Writing Pearls: Think about the space where you create, and what you could add to it that would more quickly move you to inspiration? A special painting? A childhood lamp? Or perhaps there’s something you need to remove from that space? Or to fix? What adds to your experience in your writing space and what takes away from it?

As founder of Backyard Pearls, LLC, Carolyn Scarborough helps people tap into their inner wisdom, then share it with the world through books, blogs and articles. As a Writing Wisdom Coach, she supports you through the journey from inspiring idea to published piece in a way that’s joyful, effortless and profitable.

She’s done almost every kind of writing imaginable, including magazine features, newspaper columns, books, journaling — even ghostwriting for Donald Trump! Her favorite sort of writing is the kind where she has to be really present to find the story, so her life and writing are both a constant awakening to a deeper, richer way to live in the world.

To subscribe to Backyard Pearls Newsletter, visit the site here.

Request your complimentary “Getting to Know You” session to start turning your inner whisperings into a published book, blog or article.

You may reprint the featured article, in its entirety, by including a byline and the following information: “Carolyn Scarborough helps people tap into their inner wisdom, then share it with the world through books, blogs and articles. You can get a free audio on overcoming writers block by clicking HERE.”

Now, just to be clear, before I started writing this newsletter I heated up a cup of tea. And watered the plants. And refilled the dog’s water bowl and put on some chapstick and googled how much fat is in a Starbucks scone. But that’s not frittering. That’s settling. (It’s amazing how helpful language distinctions are when one is rationalizing). So what’s the big deal, you may be saying as you read this. A little frittering never hurt anyone. The problem is that when we look at “what we don’t want to do,” the list includes everything from cleaning the toilet with a toothbrush, to things we actually do enjoy once we begin, like writing.

In other words, everything that isn’t simple and pleasurable and easy to begin. So outside of eating ice-cream, that leaves pretty much everything else. And if we fritter between these activities… well, you get the point. If we look at how we want to spend our lives and put it in two columns – on one side, things that are meaningful and on the other, things where time passes with barely a blip on the aliveness scale, most of us would want to have more things on the first side.

So, given our proclivity to fritter, what’s a human to do?

As I write this, I’m noticing my dog lying down by the window, his breath fogging up a corner of the glass. He appears to be resting, but when I look closer I see that he’s actually eying a squirrel out the window. His body is relaxed, yet his attention is focused. Although it doesn’t appear to be the case, he is engaged.

So when we look at these normal frittering activities, perhaps a small step in the right direction is some degree of engagement? There’s surfing the internet in a way where we are checked out and time is passing, and there’s surfing in a way that perhaps we are still noticing the feel of our bottom on the chair, or the way the tips of our fingers both hit and slightly hug the keyboard at the same time. We may not jump from full-out frittering to full-out fabulousness, but we can take a moment to be conscious. To notice, without judging, what’s going on. And who knows, maybe when we do that, we might surprise ourselves and close the keyboard and get on the phone to book salsa classes because we’ve always wanted to. You never know where one step towards engaging with ourselves might lead……

As founder of Backyard Pearls, LLC, Carolyn Scarborough helps people tap into their inner wisdom, then share it with the world through books, blogs and articles. As a Writing Wisdom Coach, she supports you through the journey from inspiring idea to published piece in a way that’s joyful, effortless and profitable.

She’s done almost every kind of writing imaginable, including magazine features, newspaper columns, books, journaling — even ghostwriting for Donald Trump! Her favorite sort of writing is the kind where she has to be really present to find the story, so her life and writing are both a constant awakening to a deeper, richer way to live in the world.

To subscribe to Backyard Pearls Newsletter, visit the site here.

Request your complimentary “Getting to Know You” session to start turning your inner whisperings into a published book, blog or article.

You may reprint the featured article, in its entirety, by including a byline and the following information: “Carolyn Scarborough helps people tap into their inner wisdom, then share it with the world through books, blogs and articles. You can get a free audio on overcoming writers block by clicking HERE.”