Blogging binge...

One more quick entry -- sort of unrelated to my intro entry. Also, I'm wicked excited about having my own blog and, because it's kinda my thing... it's what I do, I am going to binge like some sort of closet eater...or blogger... whatever. You get the point.

This is my credo. I can't remember where Boho Girl found it, but I found it through her -- and it is wonderful and true and I love it possibly more than I love coffee. Which is saying a lot, because I love coffee.

Here it is:

Your work needs to be independent of otehrs' work.
You must not compare yourself to others.
No one can help you. You have to help yourself.
Criticism leads to misunderstandings and defeatism.
Work from necessity and your compulsion to do it*
Work on what you know and what you are sure you love.
Don't observe yourself too closely, just let it happen.
Don't let yourself be controlled by too much irony**
Live in and love the activity of your work.
Be free of thoughts of sin, guilt and misgiving.***
Be touched by the beautiful anxiety of life.
Be patient with the unresolved in your heart.
Try to be in love with the questions themselves.
Love your solitude and try to sing with its pain.
Be gentle to all of those who stay behind.
Your inner self is worth your entire concentration.
Allow your art to make extraordinary demands on you.
Bear your sadness with greater trust than your joy.
Do not persecute yourself with how things are going.
It's good to be solitary, because solitude is difficult.
It's good to love, because love is difficult.****
You are not a prisoner of anything or anyone.***** 

_____________________________
*I very often find art compulsory. When the muse speaks, I must answer -- and my kids get to eat chips and cookies for dinner. Needless to say, they love it when the muse comes over.
**This one is funny -- and ironic.
***I often felt guilty for trying to live my life, because often "my life" didn't jive with the expectations of normal life. I have finally gotten to the point where I just don't give a shit about normal anymore.
****True story. But tearing down the walls... delicious!
*****I want to tattoo this to my forehead, so every time I digress into the shoulds and coulds and ifs, I can look in the mirror and tell the shoulds and couls and ifs to piss off.