“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall.”

It’s uplifting to observe the magic in everyday life.

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”

What good is the warmth of life, without the cold of mortality to give it sweetness. The value of much is in the contrast rather than the peak. If the weather were beautiful all the time, the beauty of a summer day would quickly fade.

Like the first line of Mike Radford’s ‘White Mischief’ (1987, shot by Roger Deakins): [Curtains are opened by the eccentric aristocrat Alice de Janzé (Sarah Miles) to reveal a wide Kenyan landscape]: “Oh God, not another fucking beautiful day!”.

“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”

Well, that was a summer and a half! It’s hard leaving the summer behind, but autumn arrives with a new burst of energy, ideas and ambition…

“If you would have your son to walk honorably through the world, you must not attempt to clear the stones from his path but teach him to walk firmly over them – not insist upon leading him by the hand, but let him learn to go alone.”

Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Helping create an independent and happy/content individual with a love of learning and a sense of purpose is the best you can do.

A daily commitment to creativity amounts to something worthwhile. Like, say, commenting on an illuminating quotation every day for a year.

Or taking street photos daily. The quote is from a street photographer character in the novel ‘Lazarus Man’ to another budding young street photographer/videographer after a day shooting a local political/charity fair.

“…the trick is to keep moving. If you stop, if you start thinking, you lose your focus. You lose your concentration. You’ll be a casualty. The idea, the perfect idea is to keep moving.”

Ike’s advice to a scared paratrooper applies to many situations beyond landing in occupied Europe in the dark under heavy enemy fire. Often the best approach to a challenging situation is to simply keep moving forward.

The excellent movie ‘Pressure’ from Working Title is in UK cinemas now, showing how Eisenhower eventually managed to keep moving on one of the grandest scales in history.

“I still do have a burning curiosity about just about everything, except country and western, of course. But other than that, I really like to understand the society that I’m living in and how it works and functions and what people are thinking… You have to sort of know where you are to write.”

Bowie saw himself first & foremost as a writer. Writing feeds off its context. Bowie thought a key question for all artists is: How do I relate to society?

“Always remember that the reason that you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that you felt that if you could manifest in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you co-exist with the rest of society.”

Bowie in 1997 interview

Humans have recognised the importance of dreams since long before Freud. Whether they reveal our deepest selves or the mysteries of the future, we know they are worth paying attention to and can contribute to our creative explorations.

“Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.”

Take that first step and you may well be surprised how quickly your enterprise advances. But that step must be taken to set things in motion.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

Patience is a difficult virtue to exercise consistently but many creative projects benefit from it as the ‘brewing’ time can help you avoid false starts. Creations have their time.