you learn

After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul
and you learn
that love doesn't mean leaning
and company doesn't always mean security.
And you begin to learn
that kisses aren't contracts
and presents aren't promises
and you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of woman,
not the grief of a child
and you learn
to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is
too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down
in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure
you really are strong
you really do have worth
and you learn
and you learn
with every goodbye, you learn...


After A While, Veronica A. Shoffstall (via)

Waste it again and again and again

Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling again

I will always scare

I cannot say I feel serene and happy. Happiness only in a sense, and never serenity,
because I will always scare; and more than anyone else - myself.

Letters To Milena, Franz Kafka

making art is a process

There is no "right" way to make art. The only wrong is in not trying, not doing.

I think it’s important to remember that making art is a process. It is never finished. The occupation itself is one of process, exploration, and experimentation. It is one of questioning and examining. Each thing you make is part of a continuum, and you are always developing. You don’t always get it right, but I find that approaching everything as a work in progress allows you to take the good with the bad. You’re never going to please everyone. Take what you can from criticism, and let go of the rest.

more useful tips on how to overcome creative block and handle criticism in here

Klapp Klapp

they finally released it!

a paradoxical release of the spirit

When you accept the state of being a stranger, you are no longer a stranger. I have been an exile when everything around me seemed strange and everybody was a stranger. Once I accepted that I didn't have to belong and I didn't have to be part of the world, then I was free to be part of it. There was a paradoxical release of the spirit. The world became mine when I was no longer holding on to it.

by Satish Kumar (via)