February 7, 2011 In appreciation, art, creativity, design By Patricia Saxton

A Plethora of P's / #7: "Patience"

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” ~ Winnie the Pooh

Time. The great illusionist. Ticks slowly when we want something to happen; the fast-forward button gets pressed when we’ve got someplace to be.

Time seems to move faster and faster; like it’s in a race. (The great rat-race?) The world’s in such a hurry.

I grew up hearing that “Patience is a virtue”, and I think that’s true. But it’s more than a display of fine character. Exercising patience allows things to unfold more gracefully, in their own right time. And it’s a challenge!

Patience is about what we can tolerate before blowing a personal fuse. It tests us in many forms ~ patience towards self, patience towards others, towards listening, towards learning, towards a menial task, towards traffic jams, towards time …  Wouldn’t it feel good if we could toss the accompanying irritation out the window? Have it vanish in thin air and just “go with the flow”? Easier said than done ~ but possible, if we re-calibrate our thoughts.

We come into this world packaged with personality intact, “strengths and weaknesses” already flowing through our veins, inborn traits determining whether we have more or less of this or that characteristic.

That doesn’t mean, though, that someone born with an impatient nature can’t develop greater degrees of patience ~ not necessarily reaching levels of saintliness, but we are ever-growing, learning, changing beings who can and do evolve and enhance our existence by stretching, expanding and nurturing the various aspects of our inherent nature. Patience is one well worth the effort. Think about it …

Feeling impatient can be such a maddening, aggravating, blood-pressure-rising experience, the solution might seem to be to hurry through it, be done with it. But we all know that doesn’t work …  it doesn’t make the traffic light turn green, it doesn’t make the baby stop crying, it doesn’t make the pot boil, it doesn’t make the flower grow, it doesn’t erase a mistake you might have made; it only lets you experience impatience.

So maybe we can’t make grapes ripen faster on the vine… and if we harvest them too soon, we end up with sour grapes. (And I’m pretty sure that creating sour grapes isn’t on anyone’s bucket list.)

But we can, instead, think patient anticipation. We can shift our focus to eagerness. Patience then is not a passive burden but steps that light up the path.

A wonderful thing happens when you take a few deep breaths and mindfully infuse patience: resistance backs off.  You can be present. You can even begin to enjoy and participate in the unfolding.

Maybe we should heed the line from the old Simon & Garfunkel song, “slow down, you move too fast,  you got to make the morning last …”. Because when we don’t, we don’t feel so “groovy”.

The river doesn’t ask “are we there yet?”. Like the river, we’ll all get where we’re going.

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January 31, 2011 In appreciation, drawing, illustration, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

A Plethora of P's / #6: "Presence"

Presence is a medium-sized word with larger than life impact. Presence is a simple act, but a very big deal. Presence is about being mindful, being aware, being completely, undistractedly, present right here and now.

Presence is granular. It’s thinking the thought, it’s feeling the feeling, it’s tasting the taste.

It’s not about “showing up”; it’s about being attentive. It’s a decision to listen, to see, to intentionally connect. It’s a very deliberate action based on the deliberate thought to be present. Presence is to choose, in this moment, this moment.

I would go so far as to promise you’ll feel a positive difference in your day when you consciously choose to practice being present. … You will truly enjoy that cup of coffee. You will appreciate the comfortable chair. You will experience an unexpected delight somewhere that you otherwise would have missed. And by allowing yourself the opportunity to make simple yet mindful choices each hour, all day, you even may find that you will slow down time a little bit. You will also give others one of the best gifts you can give – your sincere attention. And if you need to move on, remember that that sincerity ~ your presence ~ even in small doses ~ is far better than any amount of “yea, yea, uh-huh”.

Our world is fast-paced and gaining speed. I say, don’t let that fool us into passing by on the powerful thought, and simple action, of presence in our own lives.

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Note: the complete series of positive P words can be seen unfolding all together on the “Plethora of P’s” page of this blog,

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January 11, 2011 In art, creativity, drawing, illustration, inspiration, words and language By Patricia Saxton

A Plethora of P's / #3: "Perseverance"

Have a dream? A goal? A path to follow? Go for it!  … one foot in front of the other, one task at a time (or several; which we all do, although I sometimes think multi-tasking is highly overrated!) And if you falter, know it’s not failure but a sidestep, just a lesson.

Stay positive. Stand firm. Pursue. Persist. Persevere. Saddle up and keep on keepin’ on!


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January 5, 2011 In art, creativity, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

A Plethora of P's / #2: "Possibility"

Impossibility tries its darndest to lure us from our dreams. But it doesn’t have to succeed.

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. The Beatles were turned away. Thomas Edison was told he was “stupid”. The world is flat. Walk on the moon? Preposterous. “Impossible.”

Possibility though, now that’s good stuff. Possibility presents infinite potential.

Every atom, every seed, every leaf, every breath, every step, every day … is pregnant with possibility. Possibility is wonderfully persistent. It is ­endless; it is perpetual.

Today could be the day you see a shooting star. Today you might climb a mountain. Today you may choose a salad over an extra helping of fried chicken ~ or maybe, like me, you’d rather choose an extra scoop of ice cream. (um, that’s okay, right Mom?)

Today could be the day you make a positive difference in the life of a child. Today could be a day you unexpectedly make someone smile ~ or a day where someone unexpectedly makes you smile. Today you could learn something magnificent. You could feel alive with creative spirit.

Right now, you might make a decision to observe a difficult situation from a fresh perspective ~ and that decision might lead to a new idea that can lead to a new action that takes you on a new path of possibility….

Ponder the possibility in any given moment. What can you feel? What can you imagine? What positive thought can you grab onto? What will you choose?

Baby steps, giant steps, doesn’t matter. Dream it. Believe. Think the thought of “possible”.

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January 1, 2011 In art, communication, creativity, design, typography, words and language By Patricia Saxton

A Plethora of P's / #1: Punch

My newest pet project coincides with a most auspicious day: 1-1-11. (I like that!)

And, as happens every New Year, I feel a surge of renewed hope while the words “THIS is gonna be a great year!” ring in my ears.

This year though, with the intention to manifest more of that “something great”, to avoid disillusionment and an almost inevitable sense of “okay, maybe next year”… I’m going to work with one of my favorite subjects: the power of thought. It’ll be an ongoing journey of sorts, shared through words and pictures.

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The trick with “thought” is deciphering which ones are worthy. Of the millions that zip in and around our minds every day ~ consciously and unconsciously ~ how can we let the cream rise to the top? You could call it “thought training”.

Of course there are lots of ways to “quiet the mind”, and they are invaluable tools. Meditation, yoga, strenuous physical activity. Music, dance and art. Acts of kindness and giving. All highly recommended, and sometimes necessary. But that’s not my focus here…   This project is about focusing on what you think. Because what you think engages you with life’s outcomes more than many people realize.

Thoughts can create a better you or a more troubled you. Thoughts affect those around you. Thoughts precede every action. Thought is energy, and it’s potent.

Though we can’t see them, thought forms are as real, possibly more real, than the keyboard I’m typing on. What you think can have enormous power.

As a kid, I was often told to “think positive thoughts”. At some point, that advice seemed too simplistic. In youthful fashion I’d think, “It’s not that easy. They don’t know what I’m going through. You can’t just do that. You can’t just ‘think positively’ and expect everything to become sunshine, lollipops and rainbows”.

But over time I discovered…  that in a way it really IS that simple. You can choose positive thoughts over negative ones. And it does make a difference. A simple twist of thought can change the direction of the moment, the day, the month, the year…  and they are yours to direct!

This is not to say a negative thought should be hunted down and executed, or that having them is “bad”. Remember all those millions of thoughts? They’re not all going to be feel-good, Pollyanna-like thoughts. But the beauty is that you can change them. You can learn from them. You can release them. You can use them to get to a better place, even if it’s just one notch up. It‘s worth the effort ~ and I personally believe most of us have only scratched the surface of the potential power held within our thought patterns.

It’s a big concept yet a simple one, and it’s sometimes easy, sometimes hard to train our thinking. And unless one lives on a deserted island, it’s not just our own thoughts; other peoples’ thoughts can filter in and influence our psyche. When you pay attention, the impact of *thought* is undeniable.

I don’t mean a belabored, obsessive kind of thinking, but more the seed of an idea, the whisper of a deed, the affirmation of beliefs. And whether arriving through your conscious or subconscious mind, tending reaps rewards.

I feel blessed for the positive teachings I was shown in childhood. None of us get through life unscathed though, and those lessons became a springboard for learning how to maneuver some of life’s more intense struggles. They’ve helped me weather many a storm; sometimes when all else failed.

So, this idea for creating a series about positive thinking, expressed through my love of words, art and design, came knocking at my mind’s door. I answered, and here we are.

To make it fun, I decided to use my propensity for “P” words (which may turn out to be a practice run for an entire alphabet, also formed in my mind). Besides, it follows a natural pattern … Patricia, Pencil Points, Peace, P’s ….

So, without further preamble, let’s proceed towards proactively punctuating life with the plausible, powerful possibilities of positive thought presented through a plethora of “P’s”.  :  )

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