Creative Zen Transitions

Every year we feel the allure of the fresh start that this day brings.

Whether we succeed or fail in our creative projects may not depend on how strict we can be with ourselves and our New Year's resolutions, but how forgiving. The truth is that the best of us will likely not fulfill a vow to create daily. Why? Because life is delightfully unpredictable and quirky ... and so are we!

The ability to reach our creative goals this year depends primarily on our ability to fall short one day, and begin again the next. Rather than thinking of January 1 as a new beginning, maybe we should think of it as a year full of new beginnings.

It doesn't matter how many consecutive days we manage to create before hitting that day when we don't, what matters is how many times we are willing to begin again, as if nothing had happened. What matters is not the occasional day when we don't create, but increasing the number of days we do. The only way we can do that is to release our vows, forgive ourselves, and begin creating again the next day.

What we need is a New Year's resolution that will allow us to create sustainably and with joy, not a sledgehammer to pound ourselves with when life shows up in an unexpected way ... as it always does from time to time!