11 Comments
May 20Liked by Carissa Potter

And the energetic relationship I have with loved ones who have died, remains and remains ACTIVE on both sides. Changed of course, and many many moments of pain and devastating loss, but I believe that the things we gave, and the ways we were nourished and flourished and prodded and poked in that relationship, that stays and gets woven into the fabric of the rest of our lives.

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This is such a poetic way of thinking about it and understanding - I think I thought about it being only active on one side, my side or the person who is living. BUT YOU ARE RIGHT. It is both sides. And that just makes things more beautiful.

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I love how you wrote that, the ways people who leave us are woven into the fabric of our lives. My father died when I was 25, and there are so many ways that I’ve found to carry him with me. I speak French with my son (my father was Belgian), I write (he loved to write), I cook some of the recipes for my friends he passed down to me. It’s all such a lovely way of keeping or memories of loved ones alive.

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This is a perfect example.

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May 21Liked by Carissa Potter

I loved this essay and all of the illustrations. Thank you for this, Clarissa! Looking forward to listening to the podcast episode soon 🤍

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I hope you like it! LIssa is really really amazing. She changed the way I thought about my ideas and friendships. Have you ever gotten into a fight about using an idea from a friend?

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May 20Liked by Carissa Potter

I love this. Voted yes inside my head, not necessarily in an ownership way (like, you can't have this, it's mine!) but in that I found this idea (from a book, friend, my brain connecting it, or on the street) and I placed it with other ideas already there, decided it feels right to me, and I am keeping it for now. Subject to change always.

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I think I might be in this werid bubble of artists and writers who make a living off of their ideas so it feels somehow wrong to use other's ideas and also that we want to believe that we are unique. But I think there is a big grey area in the middle where ideas are made and actually copying someone for money. I think I am just trying to get more comfortable with the idea that my ideas are not my own. LIke in Big Magic.

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May 21Liked by Carissa Potter

I was thinking about Big Magic when I read your question about ideas!

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I think about this a lot... ha ha.

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knowing that other people are hurting from the same loss or a similar loss; comfort in numbers

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