Pam Givens

Some days my imagination seems to be in a very good mood. It is curious. Easily entertained. One idea introduces me to another. Something lying on the worktable suggests something I hadn't planned. A mistake becomes interesting. Other days, my imagination apparently gets up on the wrong side of the bed. Nothing interests it. The same materials are there. The same person is there. Presumably the same brain is there. So what changed? We tend to say, I'm just not feeling creative today. But...

Self-less. Less self It is an interesting word when you look at it closely. Somewhere along the way, we seem to have decided that having less of ourselves could be a virtue.

Some of the strongest forces shaping our lives are the ones we don’t know are there. No one necessarily sat us down and explained them. There was no family handbook. As children, we learned by watching the adults around us: how they worked, what they called success, what happened when someone failed. We saw how they loved and handled anger, disappointment, and grief. We noticed who was allowed to need help, what was admired, and what was never talked about at all. Long before we could examine...