Posts in CREATIVE LIFE

Obsessed with Gratitude

Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.

-Rumi

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! This is by far my favorite Thursday of the year as well as one of my absolute favorite holidays. I savor the vibrant smells and tastes of seasonal comfort foods, the cozy roaring fire that cracks and burns in the fireplace, and I adore the fact that in this beautiful country of ours, we’ve managed to preserve the fourth Thursday of every November to remember, cherish, and give thanks.

CREATIVE LIFE, DESIRE. CONNECT. THRIVE., LIFE PATTERNS, RESOURCES, SPIRITUALITYKatie GustafsonNovember 24, 2016Gratitude, gratitude journal, holiday, mario batali, thank you, thanksgiving Comment

Recovering Simplicity: The Art of Enough

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

-Leonardo Da Vinci

The holidays are upon us. Between the unseasonably warm weather and the loud, distracting force of our recent election, I haven’t thought much of it yet. Sure, Kroger and Home Depot immediately threw up Christmas decorations the Tuesday after Halloween and quicker than you can say, “turkey and dressing” and honestly, I’ve come to accept that over the years. What’s tricky is when I still work up a sweat mid-November while rummaging around the car to find my favorite lip balm that went missing somewhere back in September. My body and brain register pure confusion in this suspended time frame hovering right between summer and fall. I call it “fummer”… (“sall” works, too).

ACHIEVING SUCCESS, CREATIVE LIFE, DESIRE. CONNECT. THRIVE., LIFE PATTERNSKatie GustafsonNovember 17, 2016art, big magic, calling, elizabeth gilber, expectation, simplicity, thanksgiving, the holiday, willy wonkaComment

Matthew Perryman Jones: Finding My Voice

My song was my salvation.

-Matthew Perryman Jones

Backstory

I have been a massive MPJ ( Matthew Perryman Jones) fan ever since I heard his unforgettably haunting voice pair with simple guitar chords at a local church in downtown Nashville probably close to fifteen years ago. I remember thinking to myself, “Now, THAT is how a hymn is supposed to sound.” It was this stunning mix of clarity and brokenness; youthful, yet carrying the weighty wisdom of an old soul. I didn’t know who he was, but I hoped I’d always have access to that voice somehow. Thankfully, his burgeoning career as a singer/songwriter has opened up a whole new world of music and truth for fans and friends, alike.

CREATIVE LIFE, RESOURCES, SPIRITUALITYKatie GustafsonNovember 3, 2016anxiety, depression, enneagram, Matthew Perryman Jones, music, songwritingComment

A Date with Procrastination

The more important the activity is to our soul’s evolution, the more resistance you will feel.

-Steven Pressfield

I’d like to introduce you to my new friend, Procrastination. Well, he’s not really new, quite old come to think of it. We go way back. I suppose we’ve rekindled something as of late, something good, different.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS, CREATIVE LIFE, LIFE PATTERNS, RESOURCES, PERSPECTIVES, DESIRE. CONNECT. THRIVE.Katie GustafsonOctober 27, 2016anne lamott, Bird by Bird, perfectionism, procrastination, resistance, Steven Pressfield, The War of ArtComment

Dinner Parties & The Hospitality of Emotion

Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.

-Henri Nouwen

I love food: the planning, shopping, prepping, pairing, cooking, eating, hell, I don’t even mind the cleaning up so much. My most domestic moments happen in the kitchen. Laundry? Not my gig, much to my husband’s chagrin. Cooking has always been a creative outlet as well as a therapeutic one for me. For a hot minute in my mid-twenties I toyed with the idea of culinary school yet found in my short-lived career as a sous chef at a local wine bar/cafe that cooking on someone else’s watch for people I couldn’t actually connect with was a deal breaker; it hijacked the joy of it.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS, CREATIVE LIFE, DESIRE. CONNECT. THRIVE., PERSPECTIVESKatie GustafsonOctober 13, 2016dinner party, emotions, friendship, Henri Nouwen, hospitality, the yellow tableComment