Solar Powered

My friend Gae wrote a great blog this morning on creative flow and where it finds you. Gae is my little mermaid friend. When she's struggling to write, she can always find clarity under water. On her blog, she posed the question, where does your creativity flow? I had to stop and think about this. Mostly I'm just sitting at me laptop writing and it comes, but not always.

And then it came to me.

The sun.

The giant blazing orb in the sky.

I used to be a slave to my computer room. My old laptop battery never worked, so I was always plugged in. Or on the desktop. And no matter if I had the light on (I have one of those natural light bulbs in there) and both shades open, I wasn't happy in there.

When I bought my new laptop, I transitioned to my dining table. It was an organic shift. But why? It's because of the sun. I have a large picture window with a southern exposure, and as the sun slowly moves from east to west throughout the day, it casts rays of light through that window continuously. And those rays of light shine across my floor and "shadow" me.

I have another window at my back. It faces east. As the sun rises up into the sky it warms my back, brings me comfort, like the arm of an old friend wrapped around me.

When I need clarity, I go walk out in the sunshine. Feeling the sun on my face always makes me feel better.

What about the not so sunny days? I do live in Washington, where it's gray more than anything. I flip on all the lights, open the curtains and put a photograph next to me that my beautiful friend Lori gave me of a blue sky (she is an incredible artist and photographer) until the sun shines for me again.