Our deepest passions push us way outside ourselves.

-- Robert Bringhurst

Monday Morning Required Reading. Many of you may have already seen this. I posted a link to it on Facebook as soon as I read it a few days ago. And then I posted a couple of quotes from it on this blog. It's a bit different than the normal readings I give you on Mondays simply because it's not a short story or a poem. But this is the kind of piece that touches my soul in the best way possible. As E - one of my best friends in the world and an actress - told me, it is "so great to read something oozing with such encouragement and honesty." Plus, Leslie Odom, Jr. is currently on the show Smash, which I am kind of in love with. So, here's something that will hopefully leave you encouraged to follow your passions no matter how impractical they may seem at times. Leslie Odom, Jr.'s "We Are Not All Artists the Same":

We are not all artists the same. Process and purpose varies. Success and how we define it can look so different from person to person. Gifts and talents make each of us so indelibly unique that competition is pointless but we get lost in it anyway... 

We are not all artists the same and yet...I cannot help but feel drawn to other artists. I cannot help but feel connected to others who consider themselves craftsmen, who devote their lives to creation. And I think that we all find ourselves drawn to those who seem to have direct access to that "God Thing." That thing that makes us want to believe again. That thing that encourages us one more day. 

Great men have the ability to make us feel as though we can be great also. 

[KEEP READING]

Make sanity a priority. Surround yourself with people who do the same. Stay inspired! Refill the well. Be a fan of artists whom you love! Remain a student always!

-- Leslie Odom, Jr., "We Are Not All Artists the Same"

I see life in angles, in lines of perspective, a slight turn of the head, the blink of an eye. Subtle glimpses of magic other folk might pass by. Cameras help me translate, interpret, and understand what I see. It's a simple act that keeps me grinning. I never set out to become anything in particular, only to live creatively and push the scope of my experience through adventure and through passion.

-- Mickey Smith, in "Dark Side of the Lens"