Being introduced this afternoon by a co-worker as an avid blogger reminded me that it has been too long since my last post. Life is busy currently. A new job keeps my nose to the grindstone, I will be moving again in the new year and as always the holiday bustle only adds to the list of things to do. And yet in this time of plenty of things to fill my time, I am reminded of something I often say, that one has time for what one makes time for and so I am making time tonight to put these words to the page.

Always coming back to this. To writing, to creating, to making of some sort. In fact as I sit here I have cookies in the oven. Baking and cooking another form of creation that as long as I am finding time for it in my life, my life is deeper, whole, more meaningful and enjoyable. A meeting at the Maryland State Arts Council this afternoon sparks thoughts about why creativity in life is important. Why art, why writing, what purpose do these activities fill? Another experience attending an event at the Youth Dreamers, a youth center where the amount of creativity that happens within its walls can be seen on its walls. A woman in attendance who says she is studying programs like this and their relation to health because these experiences make one healthy. These bring me to conclusions about creation being necessary for a life that is lived fully. That to be whole, to be self-actualized, to be well, one needs to be able to create. Isn't that life? Bringing life into this world, literally by having a baby, one way, but not all capable or desiring of this way and so as human beings we find other means. Other ways to express ourselves, other ways to communicate. Beautiful ways, ways that remind us that we exist.

The smell of pine needles in an installation in an office. The creation of an artist. Cookies baking. Drinking from a ceramic mug. All these experiences unique, having depth, adding something to life as long as one takes the time to experience them, takes the time to create the experience of them.

So here dear reader I offer you the experience of reading the combination of words I have crafted. Tomorrow I will offer the experience of the cookies I have baked and both these exchanges I have benefited by having the experience of this creative process. I drink tea from a mug as I write that has been created by an artist. I hope that they enjoyed the experience of making said mug as much as I enjoy drinking from it. Creating more than an object, creating an experience. Then this experience creating the opportunity for additional creativity, both for oneself and others. Imagine this a world where creative time is valued over all because through this time we become more fully ourselves and build into our lives potential ways to connect to others.

And now to take the cookies out of the oven.