Greetings and Welcome

A nod to creativity in daily life

Jan 16, 2026

Each year I set the intention to travel with a word for the year. This year, that word was a bit late to arrive and came as something of a surprise. My word this year is welcome.

I began thinking about hospitality over the holidays as we enjoyed having a full house of visitors. One morning my friend arrived for an early walk and remarked on her delight at seeing our front hall so full of coats and shoes. At first, I thought she was joking, I was only seeing the mess and clutter. I was so grateful for the way her naming helped me shift to seeing the abundance of life and energy in our home.

This week, I was discussing grounding practices with friends, and one shared how greeting and recognizing beauty each day has been central for her. I immediately thought of this quote from Elaine Scarry’s book, On Beauty and Being Just:

“At the moment one comes into the presence of something beautiful it greets you. It lifts away from the neutral background as though coming forward to welcome you —as though the object were designed to “fit” your perception. In its etymology, “welcome” means that one comes with the well-wishes or consent of the person or thing already standing on that ground. It is as though the welcoming thing has entered into, and consented to, your being in its midst. Your arrival seems contractual, not just something you want, but something the world you are now joining wants.”

For me what stood out here was the idea of greeting, the thought that things that we notice are greeting us, that beauty captures our attention to say hello. I am also touched by the described etymology of welcome and the connection to welcome coming from one who is already at home in a space. It makes me think how when we welcome others, we can also help ourselves feel more grounded and at home.

In relating all this to courting creativity, I have been thinking about welcome and greeting.

As I begin work on my book proposal and edits, I sometimes feel doubts and wonder if I am doing this right. Will the project ever be successful? This has me writing from a place of anxiety. When I think of communicating with readers, I want to offer an invitation to an expanded sense of what it means to relate to creativity. The act of welcoming reminds me that my relationship with creativity is central to my own grounding and where I feel at home.

Greeting is a practice of welcome. It is a way of beginning to build connections through recognition and acknowledgement. Our attention impacts what we notice, and how we experience the world. Like my friend greeting beauty each day, if I seek to greet creativity each day, I notice how creativity shows up in my daily life.

Greeting is a small, accessible beginning. When we greet another person, we offer eye contact, say hello and let them know we see them. It can be similar with creativity. Upon noticing creativity, we don’t have to stop everything we are doing or even change the course of our day, we can simply say hello and greet creativity by name.

Walking in my neighborhood in December with the first snowfall, I see snowmen dotting yards and the school park.

Hello, creativity.

I stay warm on my walks in a cozy hat with a monarch butterfly wing design knitted by my friend’s mom.

Hello, creativity.

The afternoon sun casts shadows and shapes across my living room wall.

Hello, creativity.

My amaryllis flower stalk has grown more than two feet tall and now the green bud opens to reveal red flowers forming inside. After a season of dormancy, my orchid has two flowers and 4 stems with buds.