 Hi guys, how are you today? All right, we are here for another video for my creative year for December 2018, the month of Christmas and other types of festive holidays no matter which one that you celebrate. I hope you have a great one this month. This month our topic is self-expression and we're here for the review or tip video. I'm going to sort of go over some things I've actually gone over before and I'll explain myself in just a minute. So this month our topic is self-expression. This is from the Cambridge Dictionary Online. The definition of self-expression is expressions of your personality, emotions, or ideas especially through art, music, or acting. My Facebook group is called a life of art and self-expression and it's called that for a reason. I really believe that, and I wish I had known this when I was 20 instead of learning it when I was 50, life is really too short to spend it not being true to who you are and not following your own path that you know you need to follow, not expressing yourself in a way that you know is going to make yourself happy. Too many of us waste time not doing any of those things and we not only make ourselves miserable but those around us miserable and I just, yeah, those of you who are of a certain age know exactly what I'm talking about. If something magical happens when you turn about 50 and you just, it's not only that you just don't care anymore about what other people think but you realize life is just really too short because half of yours has gone by already and you need to spend what's left of it just doing what's true to yourself and being happy. I do have some books I recommend that I read and reread, this top one especially is kind of well-folded and I'm surprised it's actually not dog-eared. That I read and reread to remind myself about my path, about being true to myself, and about where I'm going and why. This top one called The Four Agreements, I love this book, it is on the back, the bit on the back says in The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy, create needless suffering and create needless suffering. Based on an ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness and love and I can't even tell you how much I love this book. It was given to me by my sister and Elizabeth thank you so much, it's a great book. She actually got to meet the sons of I believe Don Miguel Ruiz and they've I think written their own book which I don't have yet but she loved meeting them. So I, if you need a book to sort of carry around with you to help you focus your energies and your path, I can't recommend this book enough. I mean one of the chapters I just flipped open to the first agreement, be impeccable with your word. Just you know what, I have a saying, I say a lot, I put it on a coffee cup, it has foul language, be forewarned if you're not okay with that, cover your ears right now. Are you ready? Okay, say what you mean, mean what you say, don't be an asshole, just because and now you can like take your hands off your ears now. Just because you're having a bad day or a bad experience doesn't mean you need to inflict it on the world and see there's a dog ear page right there. You should go through life with intention, with meaning, and purpose and focused and you know not only being kind to yourself but kind to humanity, kind to the planet. I don't want to get too fruit loopy for some of you who aren't into that and I say that in all affection because I am a California native fruit loop but you know it's just from little things to saying please and thank you and to the clerk at the grocery store and not tossing your trash out the car window waiting until you have a garbage can. You know it doesn't have to be big things, it can be little things. Anyway I love this book. The other three of these books have to do with being creative in the art community, this is a really great one that is about being creative and being inspired by other artists and how there really is no, there is really no true original ideas. Don't throw any of yourself away. You can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. I mean do not leave your longings unattended. Again this is another inspiring book that when you want to have a creative life will remind you why you want to do it, it will ask you questions and it will remind you to stay on the path and what you need to do to stay on the path. It is again a really good book. Unlock your creativity, still like an artist, don't wait until you know who you are to get started. Write the book you want to read, use your hands, side projects and hobbies are important. The secret to do good work and share it with people. Geography is no longer our master. Be nice, the world's a small town, be boring, it's the only way to get work done and creativity is subtraction. That's what it says on the back of the book and again I've reviewed these books before. If I can find the original videos I will link them for you. This one, Danny Gregory, big fan of his. He has a few books out. Art Before Breakfast is my first one that I bought of his and my favorite. It's all about doing daily art drawings, about not being perfect, about just expressing yourself in your drawing and not being worried about others' expectations. Just do it and do it daily. I can't say enough about his book, I love it. If you want to get into daily art practice and daily drawing, this is a really great book not only to read but to help keep you motivated. He gives you specific things to try. Shadow play in the early morning, the sun is low, the shadows coming through your kitchen window are long. On a fresh page in your journal, draw the shadows, cast by your coffee pot, your butter dish, all the things on your table. Just draw the shadows. Avoid naming the shapes you draw. Know that's the handle, that's the rim. Just focus on how strange and unfamiliar many of the shapes are. See them for the first time and notice how a page of shadows suggests all the things that cast them but also describes them anew. Really great book. One of my favorites lives on my library wall. Twyla Tharp, the creative habit. Learn it and use it for life. Again, fabulous book written by a fabulous author. The back blurb reads, all it takes to make creativity a part of your life is the willingness to make it a habit. It's the product of preparation and effort and is within the reach of everyone. That's just the first sentence. It really is, again, a good motivational book. I know all of these books look like I never have read them. I am not one of these people that cracks the spine. I literally read them like this so that the covers don't get bent but I love them and I do read them and this, again, has exercises in it along with motivational narratives and it is really a great book. If you specifically especially want to be an artist but if you want to do anything creative with your life and you want to figure out how to do that and what you need to do, what practices you need to introduce into your life, that's the word I was looking for. So this is a really great book. I love this one. I'm going to link all the books in the description below again with the videos on them and then, of course, the last book is one that those of you out there who film, for me, it's like watching my own videos. It's not something I do easily. I only do when I absolutely have to and if you're a YouTuber, you know exactly what I'm talking about, we kind of cringe at watching our own videos back. Reading my own book is no different. While there is a lot of great information in here, I wrote the thing so it's really hard for me to sit and read it although I have done and do do. I wrote a book on creativity and self-expression in regards to my own personal journey quite a while ago. What's the copyright date on here? October 2016 and it is a journaling workbook. So in the workbook there are five sections and each section has narratives from me, pictures of my art and art workspace, graphics in the background, but the main portion of the book has a narrative for me, a conversation I've had with myself about my path and where I want to go and where I want to be in life and art and then on the other side is a blank space with which you can work through the questions I specifically ask not only in the narrative but on the top of the work page or the bottom of the work page and the idea is that you can use this book to prompt your own journey and start your own conversations with yourself about where you want to go and where you want to be on your journey and how you can get there. The whole book is filled with that. Sorry, I was reading. Sorry, see I got caught up. So the whole book is like that and it's full of full color pictures. This is the copy that you can get in my Etsy shop. It has nice thick paper that you can do lots of writing or journaling on. I even have had one of my design team members read the book, take note of everything in the book, and then use the book as an art journal and she's actually done a lot of really interesting work in the book. I will link her video in the description below, Meridale Abrams, if I forget somebody remind me. She asked me first, do you mind if I cut your book up and cut holes in it and do art journaling things with it now that I've read it? I said no, of course not. It's supposed to be a journaling workbook. Anyway, this is the copy you can get from my Etsy store all the ones in my Etsy store of course are signed by me. You can also get a PDF copy in my Etsy store, but it's also available on Amazon. So you can get it on your Kindle if you're a Kindle reader or you have the Kindle app on one of your devices. You can also get a paperback version from Amazon and you can do one from there. So you literally go to Amazon and Google my name, put my name in the search box, Gina Bronzini Arons, and you will find it. You'll find all the copies of it. I will link the book on Amazon in the description below and try to remember to also link my Etsy shop. So, you know, again, if I forget, somebody remind me. So think about, there is a couple more books out there that I've recently found that have to do with a creative life, living your truth, living with intention. I haven't read them yet, so I can't review them, but they do look really interesting. If you have a favorite book that falls into this category, I'd love for us to start a discussion here on YouTube, put the name and author of your book in the description, I mean in the comments below. Let's start a conversation, which ones are your favorite books? And that's it for today. If you're struggling with your path, you're not the only one, we've all been there, we've done that, and just because you've made a decision about your path doesn't mean that you don't occasionally still struggle with was that the right one. So we've all been there. If you'd like some support and guidance, there's a lot of us out there that can help you with that, including the people in my creative year, but also in my other Facebook group. So go click below on the link tree link in the description, in it you're going to find every single place I am on the internet, including the my creative year Facebook group, my other group, A Life of Art and Self Expression, my Etsy shop, my website, every place I am on the internet. So click it and check it out. If you have specific questions about this book review or anything else that is directly associated with something from my creative life, you can post that in the my creative life Facebook group. If you need other support guidance or questions about living a creative life, a life of self expression, you can ask that in a life of self expression in the Facebook group. That's it for today. The most important thing besides be true to yourself and who you are and your path in life, go out and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it and I'll see you later. Bye guys.