The art of being lost
Helping Friendly Newsletter, 04.25.2025
Every other Friday, I share 5 things to consider. On the Fridays between, I mix things up. This is a 5 Things Friday.
GM! ☕️
Here are this fortnight’s 5 things to consider:
I needed this Creative Pep Talk on “getting un-lost” from
:“A much more productive attitude and relationship with ‘lost’ is knowing that this is part of the journey. In fact, being lost is essential to doing anything creative. The whole idea is that you are charting a path… Never getting lost is antithetical to the whole idea of what it means to be creative.”
- Andy J. Pizza, “3 Steps to Get Un-lost as a Creative”In creativity and in life, getting lost is part of the deal. I forget this often, and it’s a comfort to remember. There’s some peace in coming back around to embrace (or at least accept) that not knowing is okay.
This is not a concession to ignorance or arrogance, but rather an invitation to humility and curiosity. It asks us to pay closer attention and to try things—perhaps to fail, maybe to fly, certainly to learn. Honestly, I love it, when I can remember not to hate it. It’s an odd sort of homecoming, but a welcome return to the space where anything can happen.
Toni Morrison on memory and the wisdom of rivers:
In a conversation with mindfulness teacher Sharon Salzberg, Dr. Jud Brewer explains how worry and anxiety can feed each other. “Worry feels better than doing nothing, until people realize that worry drives more anxiety, and then they become disenchanted with it.”
Annoying, but true. Via Susan Cain.
‘Tis the season for a brief lesson on the symbolism of eggs throughout art history. I love the story behind this one:
The Eggs, Cedric Lockwood Morris, 1944. Via artplace and Wikimedia Commons. “[Cedric Lockwood] Morris, a passionate gardener, grew fruit and vegetables for his students at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing during the war. He painted the garden’s produce to celebrate nature’s abundance in tough times. In this piece, the eggs are presented as symbols of wonder and fertility, with Morris’s bold use of colour rejecting the muted tones common in British painting at the time.” - artplace, “10 Eggcellent Artworks”
I’m preparing 2 talks this month: a workshop on resilience for a client’s staff retreat and a keynote on navigating uncertainty for The Nonprofit Alliance’s Rising Leaders Summit (Philadelphia, May 8). My style is interactive learning that speaks to the whole person and taps the wisdom of everyone in the room. These 2 books are among my favorite guides for making that happen:
I am currently booking speaking and teaching gigs for summer and fall. Please reach out if you’d like to arrange a learning experience for your team. I use a sliding scale to help make things affordable.
ICYMI, last week I whispered sweet nothings to the planet. What would it mean to care for the earth not only as home, or mother, but also as beloved?
Thank you for reading! This newsletter is a labor of love. 💌 To support it, you can upgrade to a paid subscription, share this post, or engage my services. You can learn more about my work at jenniferlphillips.com.
Peace,
Jenny
P.S. may the entire universe conspire to support you!👇
