Speaker 1: Creativity is an addiction, unplugged because we will always say
yes to creativity, totally uncut because we all make mistakes.
So turn it into a tool. This is arrow unplugged.
I write in a forest. I go in there to
do nothing but listen. What started at the Billigram Library
in twenty fifteen, right here in Charlotte, North Carolina, has
evolved into a lifelong commitment and journey. Something is always
moving through us. It's a calling. These aren't my words.
These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest, chapter number three
hundred and thirty five, September twenty fourth, twenty twenty two,
of forty eight degree morning, shocking to the human because
I didn't have enough days to prepare for this sudden change.
I'm not sure that trees with their leaves did as well.
There's an amazing array of green blanketing the beauty of
falls arrival. The shadows seem longer, the sun coming at
us from a different angle. I study nature's behavior in
the forest like that of a farmer preparing for harvest.
One of the things that's sticking out is how thick
the deer coats are. It's so early in the season,
yet the deer looks so full and plump. The squirrels,
on the other hand, aren't going crazy with their daily collecting.
They seem to be amazingly playful, with their bushy tails
flying through the skies. They leap from limb to limb
like dangerous dare devils jumping school buses. A time to watch.
Every moment is worth listening to. The story is written
long before the rest of us catch up. I want
to be like nature, to be ready before the change.
I don't know if that's always one of the best
places to be. I don't want to argue with the
writer of September twenty four, twenty twenty two. But if
we put a lot of energy into preparing for change
and the change does not occur, you're not getting that
time back. Maybe it's because I am a full believer
in living in what is right now, the present. But
to plan for change, my mother, you used to tell
us all the time, save it for a rainy day,
save it for a rainy day. Now I will go
with her thoughts on that, because my saving it back
in the nineteen eighties is helping me out today in
twenty twenty three. But to prepare for change when we
don't have any type of control over the change. You
can be ready for something that might happen, but you
can't invest the full one hundred percent. I had a
big movie promotion last night, I mean big. We were
in two theaters. We were expecting an overflow of people.
I had to move through the mental changes of what
if too many people show up? How are we going
to handle angry people? It didn't happen. Therefore, all of
that energy that was required to get ready for that
change was really a waste of time. Putting yourself in
the moment of now is an idea that really does
grow forward because this is who I am. We accept
where we are, You are where you are. I don't
know why you showed up on this podcast, but I'm grateful. Now,
let's grow from it. Let's plant seeds in other areas
so that others can learn from what's being shared. It
didn't come to me like, oh, you better be listening
to me. No. Obviously, before I got here, things had
to happen. Methods were put into motion. Accepting change in
your right now is your best step forward. I'm maryl.
These aren't my words, these are the lyrics from Billy's Forest,