Creativity

Simply Begin Again – Podcast 133 (5:50)

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Ever feel stuck or discouraged about moving forward? Here is a simple exercise that makes all the difference.

Transcript

Welcome to the Sabbath Cafe Podcast. This is Episode 133 – Simply begin again.
For transcripts and more episodes, please go to sabbathcafe.substack.com.

Hi everyone! Thanks for listening to the Sabbath Cafe Podcast. And welcome to our first episode of 2025. I hope you all had a good holiday season and had a good restful time.

Usually me and my family, we take a break in some downtime at the end of the year. And so by the time January rolls around, supposedly we’re all ready to go, right? I was very excited. I had a great break with a lot of new ideas. And so I thought, “Great. January started, new year. I am ready to go and jumping into all these new projects.”

But sometimes, when you’re so excited about a vision or all these things in your mind and you sit down at the table to start working on it, all of a sudden, you feel so intimidated.

I think for me it’s a few things all mixed together there’s the self-doubt of starting new projects, and then just trying to get back into anything after a break always takes time. And I know for sure that the first couple of tries, I will be making mistakes just because I’m trying to remember some of the things… trying to warm up.

And as a recovering perfectionist, I often get stuck at this stage. I don’t know why, but the idea of making mistakes often keep me from moving forward.

And a few years back, I learned about this exercise of beginning again, how to begin again. And it has been so helpful for when I feel paralyzed in the process.

This is actually an old Franciscan advice or exercise. Basically, it’s to treat yourself as a beginner. And whatever project or whatever you’re trying to do, just think of yourself doing it as a beginner. And it sounds simple, but it’s such a powerful tool.

When we begin again, we wipe the slate clean. We just toss away any expectation of ourselves and just reconnect and focus on what we need to work on.

And it also helps to get rid of any guilt or shame you may feel about taking a break. The feelings of guilt and shame, they only keep us stuck looking at the past. They don’t really help us move forward. And so when we begin again and start over, we can kind of put those things aside and simply jump back into the process.

This is so helpful when you want to make any long-term changes. Whether it’s about exercising, eating better, or just building any new habits, it takes time for these new routines to form and to adapt. And so whenever you find yourself falling back into old habits or quitting new routines, there’s no need to beat yourself up. Just simply begin again.

This idea of starting and restarting as a beginner is also a great exercise for us folks who wrestle with ADHD tendencies. This practice removes so much of that self-criticism that we always hear in our thoughts that brings the guilt and the shame. And so this exercise is remove those things so we can simply move forward and start to re-engage with the process.

If you have ADHD tendencies, you know what I’m talking about. Even before we start anything, that critical inner voice almost always has already killed any motivation. And so whenever I feel those old voices starting again, I just have to remind myself to simply begin again. Then I can just stop all those criticisms and remove all that self-sabotage.

And so if you have been thinking about starting or restarting any projects or habit in the new year, I hope you will give this a try. Simply begin again and just take that next step.

Treat yourself like a beginner and enjoy the process of learning and discovering.

Treat yourself as a beginner and give yourself the grace to practice without any expectations.

Learning to begin again really helped me get unstuck so many times in my process. I hope it’ll be helpful for you too.

And that’s it for this episode.

For transcript and the podcast archive, please visit sabbathcafe.substack.com.

Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.

Season of Breakthroughs (Podcast #127 and transcript 8:46)

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When I was little, I didn’t find the story of the hare and the turtle interesting. The turtle sounded slow and boring to me. Only when I grew up did I realize that little story actually holds the secret of getting breakthroughs.

Transcript

Hi Everyone! Thank you for listening to the Sabbath Café Podcast. This is Michele. It’s so good to see you again. Lately I’ve noticed many breakthroughs in the areas I’ve been focusing on. Some I’ve been working on for months, and some I’ve been planning for years. It’s so exciting to see these changes happening, and I’ve been very encouraged. I wanted to come on this space to share some of that encouragement with all of you. And here’s my story

This season, there’s been a lot of changes. We moved into our house 5 years ago. We haven’t been able to really get things set up, and just 2 weeks ago, we finally rearranged and set up our living space. Which is amazing because we had all these ideas and plans through out the years, and just nothing clicked… we didn’t have that synergy moment. Finally… we were able to get this project done over a weekend!

And so it’s just amazing to me. That seem to sum up a lot what I’ve been going through in this season. It’s that there are quite a few things that I’ve been involved in where we’re making slow progress… like snail paced… one step at a time… one step at a time… and just not really seeing much result, And yet suddenly… like in the last month or two…we just saw a lot of things starting to shift… whether it’s with my husband’s work, or with my father’s health.

I think some of you who’s been following the podcast know that I was care-taking for my father for the last couple of months… so a lot of things just feel like that old adage, right? The hare and the turtle. The race between the hare and the turtle – and slow and steady wins the race. And I really felt like it just so exciting to see breakthroughs.

I was actually taking him to his chiropractor today, and I noticed his fingers are moving a little bit more. And it’s amazing because that’s what was affected. I don’t even think my dad saw that, but I saw that. And it so encouraged me that we’re going down the right path. It so encouraged me. And it just made the last 6 months of countless hours of chauffeuring, of driving… just so worth it. It’s interesting because this is the accumulation of all those times, all those little pieces, little steps we took towards that.

And it just reminds me… because the world we live now, we love instant downloads. I used to joke around that we are the “microwave generation.” I like my water heated up in 30 seconds rather than boiling on the stove for minutes, right? We can have things cooked in seconds… we have downloads in seconds, milliseconds. We like to have things instantaneously, but I realize that… if you want change that lasts… if you want significant breakthrough or shifts. Or if you want to learn a craft… most of the time, it takes a long time. It requires a process of small steps to get there. The process takes a while. But if you continue to take small steps, you will get there. You’re just have to keep going… even when you don’t see anything changing. Even when you don’t see any encouragement.

And even with my podcast it’s similar. Many of you just started to tune into me probably in the last 6 months or so… but I’ve been working on this podcast, I was just looking at it, for 3 years. it took me at least 2 years of making episodes until it hit a stride.

Also some of you know that I’m an artist. I found my old sketchbook. And I realized I started a sketch book as just a pure novice – having no skills, no lessons, nothing. My first step, first venture into this creative realm was 10 years ago. 10 years ago. And just looking through my sketch book it really reminded me how far I’ve come.

And so I’m just looking at all of these things today, it took me 10 years… of just this consistent…taking steps toward that one goal. Consistently just taking steps. I think if there’s one expectation I had of myself… it’s to continue to engage.

Begin again. I learned that great phrase – to begin again. That has just helped me tremendously in my journey. To begin again is an idea of where you just pick up where you left off and you just continue forward.  You allow yourself that grace to just continue forward. And what I find is that you remember a lot of these past skills. The work you put into it, it has created a certain pattern – an imprint in you, so that when we begin again and move forward, we’re not moving forward from scratch. Most of the time, it’s actually good, because you’re moving forward, you’re remembering those old skills, but there’s something that’s just a little bit different than before, because you’re different now. And that’s how I feel… is that I’m different, after those breaks, and so my creativity projects, my creation, and even my podcasts and things… they’ll take on a different spin. They’ll take on a different light. And then I kind of run with that. Slow and steady. Just keep taking the next step. Begin again and take the next step.

And so it’s been a wonderful breakthrough season for me. And I just want to encourage you if you’re also in that journey where you feel like you keep taking that thousand-step journey, and you don’t know where you’re going, and you’re in the middle? You’re in the “messy middle” as we like to call it. I just want to encourage you that you’re on the right path. You’re on the right track. You may not see anything happening, but remember that inspiration that got you started. And just take the next step. Keep walking through that next door that opens up. .

Breakthrough are breakthroughs because they’re unexpected. They’re the suddenlies. But you won’t see it until the breakthroughs are right in front of you… which is like a split second. But breakthroughs happen because of a consistent journey… because of that slow and steady journey. All we have to do is to re-engage with the process. Re-engage with the process and take that next step. Keep taking that next step. And if you don’t know how, just begin again!

Eventually, you will see that breakthrough around the corner. Even if you feel like it’s the messy middle. I just want to encourage you… whatever journey you are on… If you felt discouraged, it’s okay. Take a break, take care of yourself, and then begin again

This is the season for me to see a lot of different breakthroughs. And I’ve been so encouraged, and I wanted to pass that encouragement to you. Keep going, keep walking. It’s okay if you’re in the messy middle. And slow and steady, you will win that race.

God bless you, thank you for listening to Sabbath Café, and we will see you next time.

Demystifying AI (Podcast #125 & transcript – 8:16)

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“AI” is the trending topic all around me. From engineers to artists, everyone is amazed at what AIs have been able to accomplish, and wonders if we will truly be replaced by AI. I was curious too, and did some research. Here are some of my thoughts.

Reference Videos

Transcript

You’re listening to Sabbath Café Podcast Episode 125 – Demystifying AI.   

This is a very complex topic. I’m only touching on the basics  here. I’ll include helpful videos links along with the transcript at www.sabbathcafeblog.com.  Now on to the podcast. 

Hi everyone welcome to the Sabbath cafe podcast. in this episode I’m going to talk about something that is the hottest topic around. We’re going to talk about AI. 

Recently a lot of people around me have been all over this topic. The academia and general public love ChatGPT. They’re very impressed by it. Wow. You type in this descriptor of what you’re looking for, and in a second or two, ChatGPT will put together this paper for you. So the academia world have been very impressed and also very alarmed – understandably.   

And it’s also a trending topic with the artists and creators. People want to know if AI can really take our place in making “art.”   And just how using AI will affect us as content creators in general.  Since I have  a tech background, and I’m also an artist, I thought I’d share some thoughts on this topic.    

So first, let’s take a quick look at what AI really is. AI stands for “artificial intelligence.”  I know AI seem very impressive to everyone…. But, “Artificial intelligence” is simply a sophisticated computer program that combines the power of a huge database with statistics and probabilities. So it can come up with the most likely answer or behavior that matches your request.  AI doesn’t create out of thin air. It doesn’t “create” the way that we do.  Because at it core, AI programs are still just machines that process data – lots of data – and putting them together in a pattern that is most likely to fit your goal. 

Now don’t get me wrong, these AI programs are amazingly complex, and what they’re able to do, is really impressive. And that’s why it often gives the people the wrong idea that  programs like ChatGPT  must be really smart or experienced because a real person would have to be smart and experienced to do the same thing.   

But that’s simply not true.  ChatGPT is not an expert of Shakespeare literature simply because it can give you a paper in Shakespeare’s style.  It simply analyzed Shakespearean text, found common words and patterns, and generated a paper that matched those patterns.  Ultimately, it couldn’t understand the love between Romeo and Juliet…it has no idea what love feels like.  Similarly, an AI “art” generator may be able to put out an image that looks pretty to some, but AI doesn’t understand what beauty is – until someone defined it in their database.  Computers are excellent at finding patterns and copying them… but it doesn’t think, process or feel like a real person.  

The artificial intelligence program cannot make anything new. It needs information or data that someone else has already created… so they can analyze it and learn the pattern.  So mainly I think of an AI program like a fancy tool.  And the “AI art” engines are really image generators.  And I feel like they’re kind of an automated Photoshop program… a “smart” Photoshop program. 

And the tool to me is simply a tool.  The problem comes up when we as people start to depend on the tool to do the work  that we are supposed to do. 

I recently saw a short video where this little boy – probably in elementary school- went to his room to do math homework.  And when his mom went to check in on him, she found out that he was secretly asking Alexa for the answers to his math homework.  So he was whispering to Alexa: “what is 54 – 27” (or something like that) and Alexa would whisper back the answer to the math problem.  And when I saw it, it just dawned on me… this was the perfect illustration.  

I’m sure this little boy was thinking… why does he need to learn math and do these stupid math problems when he can simply ask Alexa for the answer.  I’m sure we all wondered when we were young why we needed to learn math when we have calculators. But what he didn’t realize was that the purpose of his homework was not about getting the right answer.  It was to help him understand and learn the basics skills in math and problem solving.  Ironically, these simple skills are the basic building blocks to making a complex machine like Alexa. 

In a similar way, as we start to engage these AI tools all around us, I feel like we also have to be careful why and how we use them.  What are we trying to accomplish?  We have to be careful not to sacrifice and give up our own learning and creative process along the way.  

Lately I’ve been learning to focus more on my creative process instead of focusing on the end result.  And in my studio time, I often start just by playing around and experimenting colors and styles, and mediums. In the process, I’ve learned so much just about technique and styles.  And most importantly, this play time has done wonders to stir up creative new ideas. The result of these experiments weren’t always pretty.  But I’ve been learning so much just from this organic process.    

Learning and creating anything is hard work.  And it can be very tempting to use AI as a short cut. But as we move forward, I think we have to be careful to guard our own learning process and not to “contract” that out to a computer program.  At the end of the day we have to remember that there’s no substitute for work… there’s no substitute for going through the learning process… in putting paint to paper… or putting words on a page.  And no amount of AI can replace the good old creative process. 

So I’m curious about some of your experiences with AI… with ChatGPT.  And with some of these AI art generators. How has AI affected you? I love to hear about it.  

And that’s it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. You can find resources and transcript for this episode at sabbathcafeblog.com.  If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Sabbath Cafe Podcast on Apple or Spotify. Have a wonderful week, and we’ll see you next time. 

Podcast #104 Working through creative blocks

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Pod-logo-aqua-square-3000x3000-medium-qtyI’ve been pretty quiet on my blog these last few months. I blame it on taxes, birthdays and just life in general.  On top of that, I was stuck in a creative “quick sand.”  Here’s what I learned from working through my creative blocks.

My Creative Beginning

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I didn’t discover my gift of painting until my early 40’s. As a child, I didn’t enjoy drawing. Reading was my choice of pass time. Art classes at school always stressed me out because I was pretty bad at it compared to my classmates. I didn’t have an aesthetic sense about color either. Let’s just say that my high school friends often commented on my interesting choice of wardrobe. Yet, in spite of these negative experiences, I’ve developed into a painter in the last few years. This past Christmas season, I finally felt confident enough to give away a few paintings as Christmas gifts. My families were pleasantly surprised when they received these presents. However, no one was more surprised than me about my hidden artistic gift.

and the day came quote centered

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Podcast #103 – Time for Self-Care – the importance of personal downtime

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Pod-logo-aqua-square-3000x3000-medium-qtyHolidays can be wonderful yet overwhelming. This year, I invite you to give yourself the gift of self-care, and schedule in some downtime to recharge.

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a great 2019!

Journal Writing – Picking the Right Notebook For You

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If you haven’t heard, July is journal writing month. Keeping a journal is a great way to be mindful and reflect on our busy lives. There are many different styles of journaling. Some popular recent trend includes bullet journaling, or using journaling prompts. Personally, I’ve found journaling a great resource for processing through emotions. I love to write out my thoughts by hand. I love the feel of the pen moving on paper. While some people journal digitally, I still prefer the old fashioned way of handwriting. There’s something about the process that’s quite satisfying.

closeup photo of journal book and pencils

Photo by Jess Watters on Pexels.com

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Thoughts about 2017

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The clock just struck midnight, and it is now officially the last day of 2017.  In the past, I took the last days of the year to meditate and think about the future directions.  This year, however, I’m doing something different.  I’ve been thinking about what I’ve learned and how I’ve changed in the last twelve months.

2017B

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Playing with Brush Lettering & Modern Calligraphy

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I just joined Instagram recently, and immediately, my feeds have been flooded with videos of watercolor brush lettering and calligraphy scripts. In the States, brush lettering and modern calligraphy have been making a comeback in the craft world. It is mesmerizing watching people create these beautiful and elegant artwork. These artists make the process look so easy.  However, as I quickly found out, the basic strokes may look simple, but mastering them takes patience and practice.

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