Dream, Believe, if in the Arts (or not)

By Janet Dodrill

I found this quote on a ribbon-typed scroll in with some family things recently, which was written by Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-1983) who was an English stage and film actor:

“If you’re a writer or a painter, you write or paint whenever you want to. But we have to do this task at a precise moment. At three minutes past eight, the curtain goes up, and you’ve got to pretend to believe because no one else will believe you unless you believe it yourself. A great deal of our work is simply making ourselves dream. That is the task at three minutes past eight–you must dream.”

Are you keeping your dreams and passions alive? Do you believe in yourself? I find that sometimes my dreams get put aside while I deal with life’s responsibilities. I like the idea of setting a time each day to allow myself to dream. It may be three minutes past eight as an actor would do during a scheduled performance, it may be noon each day, or late in the evening when reflecting on one’s day. As an artist, I need to keep dreaming and creating. I need to tap into my ‘source’ for vision and inspiration.