Mister Rogers. Was he a part of your childhood?
I watched the show a little growing up, but I think Mister Rogers really became a hero for me more as I was an adult. His philosophy and perspective for children and their development is one that I just really respect.
I recently read Fred’s biography, as I was wondering what made this man into who he was.
I have been in a season of change with my own work. As we worked to close down our non-profit studio, I have been thinking through what do I want to do now!? I really still want to help people tap into their imagination, be creative, and feel empowered to bring their ideas to life. So, not much has changed in my passion. I just want to go about it differently.
You can imagine how encouraging it was to read about Fred’s life and how every 5-6 years he changed the work he was doing. Did you know that!? I’m not going to get this perfect but in a quick summary…
- He left a growing career at NBC to work on a free children’s program in Pittsburgh.
- He began and worked on the Children’s Corner for 6 years
- He stopped that and went to seminary
- He then did not get a church after seminary, but he wanted the TV to be his pulpit
- He then moved to Canada to begin Mister Rogers in a 15 min show
- He moved back to Pittsburgh to begin the Mister Rogers Neighborhood that we know
- He quit that to work with adults -wanting to help them, so they can better help kids
- He went back to Mister Rogers Neighborhood
I’m not sure how you sum up Fred Rogers work, but I tried. One theme that I took away from his life is he stayed true to two core principals.
- He knew who he was and what he cared about and loved.
- He had a passion for children development with education.
He might have changed how he went about his work, but he never stopped trying to help children imagine, learn, and walk through big emotions and situations of life. That was so encouraging to read, as I still want to do a lot of the work I used to do. It just needs to be different in this season.
Fred’s mom often said to Fred, “Look for the helpers. There are always people helping”. That phrase helped Fred through scary times and he used it to help others. As I process the world and how many people’s lives have changed drastically the last few years, I wonder how ok people really are? This concept can go lots of directions, but without talking politics, pandemic, or work force, we still know there are heroes all around us. Heroes on the front lines.
The concept of a “hero” can be a big pressure to feel or believe is impossible to reach. How do you become a hero? Maybe you don’t want to be a fire fighter, nurse, doctor, policeman, or teacher, but you can be a helper.
We can be helpers by doing simple acts like…
smiling at a stranger in the supermarket.
holding the door for an older citizen.
taking the trash out for your family.
pushing the shopping cart.
playing a game with a younger child.
making a meal for a hurting family.
sitting with someone grieving.
writing someone a card.
There are so many ways we can be helpers. In this simple ways of being helpers, we really are being heroes too. I love how Fred used easy words to say powerful concepts.
This quote stuck with me and I imagined how inspiring it could be to live on a big wall in a community. I took Fred’s whimsical, childlike heart and paired it with his mom’s powerful words and dreamed up this mural.
I had to get the idea out of my head, so I painted it on a sign and got my talented friend, Beth, to do the words. It’s our mini mural.
We can all be helpers. We all have that power. Being a hero might seem intimidating, but we can all do simple, everyday acts to show the people we interact with that they matter. Taking the time to really “see” people is what can help heal whatever we all just went through these last few years.
We are better together.
Now, don’t you see this painting on a city wall!? Where should it go??? Do you relate your life to books and back to real life again? Go out and be a helper today. I am off to make my family dinner ;).
Have you ever looked at something and seen it all of a sudden completely different?
It was such a cool moment to mentally process the margin I was working hard to find-I was finding. If you listened to Matt and I share 
I love to work on our house. It is part of how this blog began 14 years ago, by sharing my projects with all of you. Yet, as running an art studio took over my time, I have found I have not worked on or done a project on our house in a long, long time.
This room isn’t very big, so I did half the room at a time. Whichever half was not getting worked on, kept all the furniture piled up.
I then went to shake the gallon of cement stain and the lid wasn’t on all the way. Stain went flying on my freshly painted trim and walls. I wasn’t even mad though. I felt alive.
This room reminded me that creating is a muscle and it needs practice and margin to grow. We can’t live extremely stressful and busy lives and expect to come up with our best ideas, most creative dreams, and to see everyday things differently. Just like athletes need to rest after a big game, our brains, souls and creative spirits need to recharge as well.
What about you? Do you need to create margin in your life? You may not need to go as extreme as I did with changing up your career. You can form a new habit by switching out an old one.
We only have one life. I am encouraged how one of my favorite writers, Bob Goff, said “he choose the life he wanted and placed work around it- rather than choosing a job and trying to squeeze a life into it.”
It is more commonly called the creative process or process art. I use both those names as well, but when you see it happening before your eyes, it leaves you feeling a bit giddy. It feels magical and really special that we can get lost in the journey and forget all the yes/no, right/wrong, black/white, true/false, and exact answers and be left with our feelings, decisions, thoughts, and process. It is pretty magical.
Isn’t it fun when something unplanned catches your eye? I think there is beauty in the unexpected.
What I did not expect was the papers that I used to insert between my journal pages to become their own beautiful canvas. These papers were intended to simply catch the paint that rolled off the current page I was painting. I wanted them to catch paint from oozing below and hurting past pages I had painted.
The papers dried as the pages dried. I then moved them up and inserted them in between new pages, as I kept filling my journal with color. What happened in the process was layers and layers of paint filling up and creating fun abstract mini paintings.
I started to love the pages. All of a sudden I didn’t want them to get ruined, and I contemplated stopping to use them and get new papers, so I didn’t “mess them up.”
By the time I finished my journals, I had this stack of papers that I found so beautiful and loved as much as the journals. I cut them up into smaller sections and planned to use them as cards or bookmarks.
Once I had a stack of now ripped mini abstract paintings, I picked a blank, colorful greeting card and sewed my painting to it. The result was a fun, textured, colorful, messy (yet finished) greeting card. 
What do you think? Do you love them as much as I do?