Greetings friends and fellow creative types. Sorry once again for the hiatus from writing, but I¹ve had other things woikin¹ as they say in New Orleans. A major life change, a move across the country, a new full-time gig, and a heart-rending separation from family and friends later?but "Notes" and its scribe are alive and well. Now coming to you from the western edge of the continental US in Monterey, California.

Maybe you remember the previous "Notes" about my old photography mentor and friend. Well, I¹m in heart of Morley Baer country. I first met Morley here in the summer of 1985. A big reason I decided to take a writing position here with an educational publishing company was to be closer to that heart-land where I first was inspired to follow the call of photography toward a more creative life.

The subject of this installment of "Notes" is about teachers. Not necessarily the classroom type, though I¹m sure each of us can reach back into our school bags and pull out one or two teachers that helped us locate the steering wheel and directional signals of our early lives. I did. I read somewhere that we each may have only a handful of these influential souls that move through our lives. Though I think that number is far too low.

I feel that the reason these special people move us is that they see us more clearly than we see ourselves. They see through the fog that keeps us just offshore from our true creative nature. They see past our thorny short-comings to our budding talents, and have the vision to recognize how our potential could blossom given the right circumstances. And they share that vision with us. It¹s the energy of that vision that our hearts respond to. We awake to the possibilities of that vision as well.

We can be deeply grateful to them all. They each mirror something about our true nature, and that vision resonates with our core. Truth is always inspiring. A teacher of mine once told me, "no matter how it¹s dressed, you can always recognize truth, because it always?always feels the same. Remember how it feels and you¹ll never mistake it for something else."

So what¹s my point? Recognize your teachers. Whether they¹re friends, co-workers, clients, lovers, children, animals, rocks, trees, or jobs. Everything we experience contains the power to open our eyes to the truth of our creative core. And stopping once in a while to say "thanks" for a clearer vision of who we are helps to keep us awake, focused, and centered on what¹s true and real. It takes our minds off the unreasonable deadline, the overbearing creative director, the thankless client, and keeps us connected to what we¹re really all about