I have been sitting in front of my computer reflecting on how difficult it is to break old patterns of behavior such as checking my e-mail every five minutes rather than walking into the studio section of my loft and pushing paint, making telephone calls,or preparing a new workshop to be delivered in Boston on May 9th and 10th.

Most readers of this newsletter are part of a creative industry that seems fixed on perpetuating the status quo. Now there is a dichotomy: maintaining the status quo and creating. It is not possible to bring something new into being while focusing on standing still. Nothing ever remains the way it was. Certainly not the advertising industry and the relationships that photographers and other creative contributors have with it.

Most readers of this newsletter are part of a creative industry that seems fixed upon perpetuating the status quo. Now there is a dichotomy: maintaining the status quo and creating. It is not possible to bring something new into being while focusing on standing still. Nothing ever remains the same as it always was. Certainly not the advertising industry and the relationships that photograhers and other creative contributors have with it.

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…How easily we allow our old habits and patterns to dominate us. Even though, as Nyoshul Kempa’s poem tell us, they bring us suffering, we accept them with almost fatalistic resignation for, we are so used to giving in to them. We may idealize freedom, but when it comes to our habits, we are completely enslaved.

Still reflection can slowly bring us wisdom. We can come to see we are falling again and again into fixed repetitive patterns and begin to long to get out of them. We may, of course, fall back into them again and again, but slowly we can emerge from them and change. The following poem speaks to us all…

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Sogyal Rinpoche

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Autobiography in Five Chapters
Nyoshul Khenpo

1
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost . . .I am hopeless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in…it’s a habit.
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault
I get out immediately.

4
I walk down the same street.
There’s a hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

5
I walk down another street.

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,

,…

What are the habits that need to be broken to grow your career? When will you have the courage to walk down another street?

The system in which photographers, illustrators, designers, copywriters, art directors, and other significant players in the communications business is broken. Yet so many are holding onto the old paradigm and expecting the same results. But the paradigm is changing and demands that we become leaders in this change.

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Old Habits

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The industry is enslaved by old habits, methods, resistance, fear, and paralysis. The serenity prayer comes to mind.

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God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

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We need to ask ourselves what cannot be changed. Are you willing to accept that business models that worked just a few years ago no longer work? Are you willing to look at the opportunities these changes present. The old systems for buying and selling commercial art are being replaced.As a creative person you have the ability to become part of the solution.

You must be the change you want to see in the world, as Mahatma Gandhi so eloquently said. In other words, change has to start within ourselves; we cannot expect the world to change if we do not. Instead of focusing on the problems, we can start to live the solutions.

Take a look at some new ways to make a living as a photographer.

Steve Uzzel discovered he had learned so much about creative problem solving that he wanted to share it with the corporate world and help them prepare for change.

My Think Tank Team Teleconference participants are identifying and developing alternative markets for excellent fine art photography.

Chase Jarvis and others are developing apps that appeal to wide audiences of professional and serious amateur photographers. The Best Camera app invites people to come back to post their photo adventures this expanding his sphere of influence.

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Manifest love,
Ian

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I can help you grow your business. Call today.
I will tell you about individual coaching and group teleconferences.
The first coaching session is free.

There are no obligations.

Tel 610-438-5707
Cel 610-393-6816

The Heartstorming Philosophy

Ian Summers
145 South Eleventh Street
Loft #4
Easton PA 18042

iansummers@heartstorming.com

www.heartstorming.com
www.iansummersartwork.com

7 Heartstorming Webinars
are Available for Free at liveBooks’ Website

Copyright © 2010 Ian Summers

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Seth Godin makes his latest e-book available to anyone for the asking. Go here for to download. The book is a compilation by some of the best thinkers of our times. Each was given a topic and one page to write about What Matters Now. Read about government, gumptoin, sleep, enough, knowing, Godin offers the content to any blogger who wishes to use it. Send a link to everyone you know.

What Matters Now: get the free ebook

Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up.

Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. I hope a new ebook I’ve organized will get you started on that path. It took months, but I think you’ll find it worth the effort. (Download here).

Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O’Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Fred Wilson, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber.

Here’s the deal: it’s free. Download it here. Or from any of the many sites around the web that are posting it with insightful commentary. Tweet it, email it, post it on your own site. I think it might be fun to make up your own riff and post it on your blog or online profile as well. It’s a good exercise. Can we get this in the hands of 5 million people? You can find an easy to use version on Scribd as well and from wepapers. Please share.

Vision

Vision is the lifeblood of any organization. It is
what keeps it moving forward. It provides meaning
to the day-to-day challenges and setbacks that
make up the rumble and tumble of real life.
In a down economy—particularly one that has
taken most of us by surprise—things get very
tactical. We are just trying to survive. What
worked yesterday does not necessarily work today.
What works today may not necessarily work
tomorrow. Decisions become pragmatic.
But after a while this wears on people. They don’t
know why their efforts matter. They cannot
connect their actions to a larger story. Their work
becomes a matter of just going through the
motions, living from weekend to weekend,
paycheck to paycheck.

This is where great leadership makes all the
difference. Leadership is more than influence. It is
about reminding people of what it is we are trying
to build—and why it matters. It is about painting a
picture of a better future. It comes down to
pointing the way and saying, “C’mon. We can do
this!”

When times are tough, vision is the first casualty.
Before conditions can improve, it is the first thing
we must recover.

Michael Hyatt is the CEO of Thoma Nelson Publishers. He blogs
on “Leading with Purpose” at MichaelHyatt.com and also Twitters
at @MichaelHyatt.

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I have been a subscriber to The Daily Dose for about a month.

There is always something included to hold my interest and to help keep me current.

You may recall my Heartstorming articles about  graphic novels or Zak Smith’s fully illustrated version of Gravity’s Rainbow.

The following is an excerpt from this morning’s Daily Dose.

The Daily Dose

Presented by Flavorpill

Flavorpill’s Daily Dose is a jolt of cultural inspiration, delivered fresh to your inbox every weekday morning to help jump-start your day.

Our mission is simple: to provide a quick look at what’s new in music, print, art, film, and online,

by offering worthwhile culture to explore right from your screen.

Britten & Brülightly

Painting each page of a graphic-novel noir

Hannah Berry’s debut graphic novel, Britten & Brülightly is enough

to turn any residual comic-phobes into aficionados of the medium.

It’s existentialist noir. The story of world-weary private investigator Fernández Britten

and his unconventional partner Brülightly

has the philosophical wit of Bill Watterson and the whodunit chops of Raymond Chandler.

Berry strikes a pitch-perfect tone. When Britten is hired by Charlotte Moughton, the beautiful fiancée of an apparent suicide victim

, the detective is thrust into a comically sinister world of murder and revenge.

Set in a perpetually rain-soaked quasi-London, the dark and often grotesque characters are stylized to fit the story’s coy-yet-macabre tone.

The artwork was painstakingly painted. Berry, a graduate of Brighton University’s illustration program,

spent more than two years hand-painting each panel of the story.

Read a recent interview with Berry, check out The Oregonian’s review with sample illustrations, and buy the book.

– Chelsea Bauch

If you want cultural events, head over to Flavorpill.

For an up-to-the-minute culture fix, check out Flavorwire.

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