Autumn mandala by Jennifer Wilhoit

This week's Radical Joy Revealed is by writer and writing coach Jennifer Wilhoit:

Beauty and pain are the most vocal muses for my own writing. 

Beauty Like every other arts event I've habitually and passionately attended over the last thirty years, this valley's September studio tour breathed life into my being. I nourished my soul with paintings, ceramics, pottery, furniture, glassware, turned wood, textiles, collage, jewelry, sculpture, lighting, beadwork and photography. Each evening I came home awash in ideas for my current book project, a new infusion of energy and insights for working more deeply with clients, and the impulse to dabble in my own artistic pursuits: all of this by simply immersing myself in the visual and tactile beauty of others' creative endeavors.

Pain Most familiar to me in the form of loss and death, emotional pain is a significant threshold toward creative expression. Sitting several nights ago at the bedside of a new friend who is dying moved me closer and deeper into my own writing. This man's unabashed declaration of his imminent death coupled with a wise sense of humor reminded me of the preciousness of now and the bare naked truth of finality. I saw the sacred presence of the moment write itself into my starkly honest journal entry the following morning. Immersion in another's transition to death unfolded a deeper layer of my own mortality, inspiring my willingness to hold nothing back on the written page.

.... These two are inextricably linked; pain and beauty. They are both touchstones for harvesting inspiration. (To read the rest of Jennifer's article, click here.)