When I read nonfiction books, I underline important parts. Next to very important sections, I put a star. If the passage really touched something deep in me, it gets a star within a circle.

Over the holiday weekend, I had the pleasure of a couple free hours that I spent re-reading some “star-within-a-circle” portions of The Soul Tells a Story by Vinita Hampton Wright. I will copy some of them for you to contemplate.

Does anything below resonate with YOU?

• I was a fearful child who grew up to be a fearful adult. I said my biggest yes to creativity only after I’d gone through several life upheavals and learned that I could survive risk and change… I decided that I would write no matter what. (Page 28)

 

• Saying yes to your gift is a huge thing to do. It helps to remember that you are saying yes to the work itself and not to any particular outcome. You are not saying yes to a successful career as a novelist; you are merely saying yes to writing. (Page 40)

 

• You have the responsibility to develop practices that help your gifts. Only you can examine your creative needs and set out to provide for them. You have the ability to design rituals, habits and practices that help you engage more fully in your creative gifts. (Page 55)

 

• If I know from experience that inspiration arrives under certain conditions, I will make sure to re-create the conditions that invited it initially. Thus my early experience comes to determine how it is I will work. (Page 75)

 

• Your creative work is in many ways your diary. It is how you process your own life. No one has the right to dictate your process. (Page 149)

 

• The guidance you need as a creative [person] is help with your life more than help with your craft. If your life is reasonably healthy, the craft will come with time and practice. (Page 154)

Did any of those comments from The Soul Tells a Story resonate with you? If so, leave a comment. And now that I’ve read the circled-star parts, I think I’ll go back to the beginning and read all the parts again!