A Creative Spirits Update

A quick hello and thoughts on my new Creative Spirits project.

Hello, fellow Creative Spirit!

I hope this newsletter finds you well. The last time I wrote a piece for Substack was back at the end of January - The misalignment of good intentions. Since then life has been a rollercoaster to say the least!! I had surgery in April to remove an ovarian dermoid cyst. The surgery went well, but the recovery period has been a lot longer than expected and with various bumps along the way. I feel like I have been through hell and back. I am only just now finding my feet again. I documented some of it on Instagram, but don’t want to share it here.

Instead, I am looking towards the future and making plans that give me hope. I have been struggling to read long articles, never mind write one myself! My focus and concentration is slowly coming back. So I haven’t engaged or read any articles on here. I will slowly catch up on my favourite reads over the coming months. I appreciate everyone who has remained a subscriber during this difficult period of my life. Going forward, I plan to write at most 1-2 newsletters every month. To start with they will be short, and then I will look at writing longer essay pieces again.

I have turned paid subscriptions back on, as the last few months have brought some unexpected expenses. Please unsubscribe from paid if you can no longer afford it. I won’t mind. I’m all about the community on here rather than earning a lot of money from my writing. I just have it as an option in case anyone would like to financially support this space. I appreciate everyone who is part of the Creative Spirits community. Thank you for being here. It means a lot.

Currently, I am working on setting up a Creative Spirits Teemill store. It gives me the option of selling my art in an environmentally sustainable way. I have plans for some t-shirt designs. But I have decided to start simply with some mug designs, to get a feel for what I want to create. I decided the first mug I wanted to create was one with the Creative Spirits logo on. This is the design and mock up.

I plan to order a sample and then work on finishing my Teemill website. It’s a project I am excited to immerse myself in. There are so many creative projects I want to start, but this will be my focus over the coming months. I would also like to create a zine with my tiny poems in too.

I have found reading poetry very beneficial in recent months. It has given me hope when I have needed it. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Jenna Nicole Stevens poetry book - Breakfast on the Terrace & Wine by the Sea . Such beautiful poetry and photos. I highly recommend you buying a copy. I have been dreaming of sunshine along the Mediterranean coastline. Unfortunately, our British summer is rather cold and wet at the moment! I’m hoping the sun will come out for the school summer holidays that will be upon us soon!!

I will leave you with a couple of tiny poems that resonate with me right now. I hope they provide some meaning to you too.

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Useful

I’m not sure we understand what useful means
Or we quickly push it aside in pursuit of something else.
Can how useful something is even be defined?
A subjective term dependent on your viewpoint.

Our world doesn’t always reward the most useful work.
There is more money to be made in selling weapons
than caring for people.
Or fuelling consumerism at the expense of the planet. 
Is it useful to race towards our own destruction?

Sometimes I think
The most useful things are given freely -
A kind word, a listening ear, a supportive embrace.
Understanding for each other and our home we live on.
What does useful mean to you?

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Listening 

Swept along by other voices
All vying for my attention
A dizzying haze
Surrounds me,
My path unclear.

I follow others’ thoughts and ideas
Not always aware of how they entwine with mine.
Influencing the path I take.

Deep down within
A small voice whispers
Wanting to be heard.
Faint against the outside noise.

I chase what I’ve been told
Wondering when I will feel like me.
I pause,
Feeling little ripples within.
Finally hearing my own voice
Revealing the guidepost of my soul.

---

Layered

Depth doesn’t emerge from one layer
A painter’s brush knows of the layers that make the art.
The bold strokes and tentative dabs,
Raw emotion swirled with precision.
Not all obvious to the viewer.

Life’s paint is experience.
It doesn’t always land where you had hoped
But brings depth to a person’s life.
Allow yourself to see all that makes the whole.

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Also this is me enjoying a latte whilst reading the book - Landlines by Raynor Winn. I love her series of books. I have found them really inspiring to read.

And these are the pink roses I bought myself recently to bring some sunshine my way.

I hope your week is going well. Thank you for being here. Please let me know how you are in the comments, and if you have any plans for the summer. I might be a bit slow to reply, but I will!

Let your creative spirit soar!

Love Emily xx