motivation Archives - Writing From The Kitchen

Writers Create – Air Plants Breathe

April 30, 2019April 30, 2019by Erika K Rothwell6 Comments

I was where you are once, staring at a blank piece of paper or an empty screen. If I were to be completely transparent, I would admit to still being there at times. So I want you to know what I have discovered while examining the life of a tiny air plant.

Fascination with the botanical world incites my inspiration and motivates my writing this morning. My air plant needed water today. Following instructions given to me, I completely immersed it in water for its bi-monthly drink of water.

This amazing little plant uses air to thrive, not soil, as so many other plants do. I feel this plant. Often, I attempt to put down roots in projects that focus my efforts. Yet whims and fancies pull my attention in other directions, forcing me to recognize my obvious need for air and authenticity more than soil. This airy approach to life satisfies my soul and allows me to thrive. However, a deep ingestion of life-giving water and refreshment is needed to ground my flittering thought process.

Taking the form of deep reflection, my time is spent turning inward, absorbing the results of a meditative process as it nourishes my dreams. The very dreams that propel projects forward in a style that I have come to accept in myself.

While I am not advocating this fragmented approach to production, I am supportive of you finding your own creative style and learning to work within your set of needs. Your story is most likely quite different than me, so it goes to say the structure of your day will look slightly different as well.

The desire for connection eventually culminates in creative action. To spend our days in the sweet spot of inspiration while only drafting artistic expression remains a stagnant dream that will eventually dry up. It is not enough to get a creative job done. We must share our gifts with others.

So if you are like me, find your sweet spot and hydrate. But at the point of saturation, take a step forward and breathe the air, put your pen to paper and simply write.

Connect and Create.

©Erika K Rothwell

appreciation, encouragement, hope

Hope – Appreciating Simplicity

February 11, 2019February 12, 2019by Erika K Rothwell2 Comments

Simplicity does not signify weakness nor unimportance.

Small forces that appear insignificant can cause powerful effects. A tiny drop of water over time can drill its way into rock. Words of hope written from one’s heart and understated actions can dig deep into the crevices of our beings.

There is a world to be found in simplicity. Treasures, discovered in the appreciation of just one word or even a small gesture.

The simple letters in H-O-P-E continue to spell out a life-changing motivation for me. However, at times my search for hope becomes disguised as a quest for happiness.

And I discover, seeking happiness is not equal to simply being happy.

Yet if you are a believer that happiness can be found, it must reside in the simplest, yet a most profound, symbol of joy on this planet that is neglected when we forget to smile.

How many times have we caught ourselves in a tense situation because we forgot to smile? Or rather, how many times have we gotten out of a sticky situation because we chose to smile?

Our simple and genuine smile shares positivity with others and conveys our hope of happiness for them.

Connection with words can be much like a smile. I send you my smile and a final thought.

😊

Smiling will make your heart happy, no matter what you may be facing. It’s really that simple.

hope, inspiration

Hope – Path of Inspiration – Day 29

January 30, 2019by Erika K RothwellLeave a Comment

When inspiration takes you down side roads for a meandering moment, space is opened between what must be done and what is possible. Traveling along the road of life reminds me that we often focus on an endpoint while forgetting to make time for inspiration along the way. Why are we always in such a hurry? Do we actually ever arrive in life?

In a hurried life, paths we choose may not allow time for whimsical detours or perceived frivolities. Likewise, when we travel, our planned arrival time typically sets in motion the fastest and most efficient route to our destination.

I still mourn a missed opportunity during my last road trip to stop for a moment, to capture a “photograph to be” calling to me, once the goal of arriving took over as the priority.

Remember when time seemed to last forever. You didn’t count the minutes or the hours because you didn’t know they even existed. Your days were filled with adventure, entertaining inspiration, while learning and growing.

At what point did we allow a clock to determine our life’s path? When did our accomplishments become measured between numbers and our purpose quantified by a dictated plan on a to-do list?

Once inspiration is lost, motivation fades and energy wanes.

Productivity is a sum of variables and can be looked upon as so much more than a completed checklist of tasks. So, I remind myself to take the time to savor the joys of inspiration. Without it, life seems drab and daily motions become robotic.

Our life may indeed hold a hidden algorithm, but we can always input new variables.

Look around you and sense your current environment. We were meant to do more than simply survive, we were meant to use our senses and dream of possibilities. Anything is possible especially when time is not dictating what is possible. Inspiration changes the clock.

As we head toward a planned destination, the joy of inspiration will expand the frame along the way.

The stars come out every night, but our view of those stars changes with our perspective. On days of hurry or disinterest, we miss them completely. On nights where gloom clouds their view, they may not appear at all. When we make the time to see them, we know the plan is so much bigger than what exists in the 24 hours we are given each day.

Hope lives in the inspiration of living life to its fullest, when we remember to smell the flowers, listen to our hearts, take the pictures, and gaze at the stars.

Take some time to meander down the path of inspiration.

-Erika K Rothwell

Growth, hope, transformation

Power of Hope – A Transformation – Day 22

January 26, 2019by Erika K Rothwell4 Comments

A door opens to tomorrow. What I hope for today may not be the same for tomorrow. Each day brings growth and change. As I subconsciously step through the doorway of today, a picture begins to materialize bringing me closer to a conscious choice, the next door.

A calling from deep within combined with enticing opportunities placed in front of me sets the stage for personal transformation, a process I cannot avoid but have learned to appreciate.

In the past, I found myself frustrated as I wavered between possibilities. I now welcome the flexibility and freedom of thought and feeling that it brings. There is comfort in knowing that I do not have to choose all the doors at once. And I lean on self-acceptance throughout the odyssey as I slowly regain my balance.

We cannot avoid the imbalance caused by sudden changes or obstacles set in our way, especially if we find instant decisions difficult. But, harnessing the power of hope and letting it lead us in the decisions of the day, while we regain our footing, can help guide us in choosing the right door for tomorrow.

-Erika K Rothwell

Discovery, hope

Hope – A Profound Purpose – Day 17

January 20, 2019January 23, 2019by Erika K Rothwell4 Comments

After calling out some obstacles along my way, the path has been cleared for a greater purpose.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
-Mahatma Karamchand Gandhi

Perhaps there is a reason I have so many of my inspirational thoughts in the kitchen. I don’t always enjoy cooking. The question, “What’s for dinner?” still continues to give me a small amount of anxiety. However, I began to appreciate the art of cooking and all the special ingredients discovered in family gatherings around the kitchen table. Precious moments were also found in this simple service to my hungry family as a perfect time to process the evocative happenings of the day.

When I moved my writing from the kitchen to a desk, I believe I brought the spirit of the kitchen with me. My intention for beginning this blog was to share with my children and their children small, yet significant, lessons that I’ve learned throughout my life. Overcoming apprehension as I shared my writing publically awakened a greater purpose.

Helping others, while following a path I felt guided to pursue, became my deeper hope. And this hope continues to shape my writing style and voice.

I believe writing is similar to photography as writers share their unique perspective, presenting a view from a subjective angle. My passion for writing appears to match my photography style as I love focusing in on a world that exists right in front of us, yet can still appear hidden. The intensity of some of the images I’ve seen while following WordPress and Instagram photographers have been mind-expanding.

So many artists serve others with their inspiring work, fulfilling a passion, being driven to create. I am one of those “others”. It is with great admiration and recognition of their work that I summarize…when we follow our dreams and passions, we lose ourselves in the work of serving. And, what we find sometimes is the best gift of all.

-Erika K Rothwell