LEAVE SOMETHING BEHIND 

Make something small. Then let it go. 

Not everything we create needs to be kept.

Sometimes the loveliest thing we can do with something we've made is allow it to continue its journey without us.

Today, make something small.

Very small.

It might be a tiny drawing.

A folded paper heart.

A few words written on a scrap of beautiful paper.

A flower tucked beneath a ribbon.

A little creature made from twigs and leaves.

A paper airplane with a message hidden inside.

A bookmark.

A painted pebble.

A tiny arrangement of things found on a walk.

Or something that hasn't occurred to either of us yet.

Don't worry about making it impressive.

This isn't about showing someone what you can do.

It is simply about leaving a little evidence behind that someone was here—and cared.

When it feels finished, find somewhere for it to go.

Perhaps tuck it inside a library book for someone to discover.

Leave it beside a neighbor's door.

Slip it beneath a friend's windshield wiper.

Place it on a coworker's desk.

Set it somewhere in your home where another person will unexpectedly find it.

Or hand it directly to someone and simply say,

“I made this for you.”

Then let it go.

You don't need to see what happens next.

You don't need to know whether they kept it.

You don't need recognition.

The giving is part of the making.

A Little More, If You'd Like

Invite someone else to make something too.

Sit together at a kitchen table, on a porch, beneath a tree, or wherever you happen to be.

Gather whatever is nearby.

Paper.

String.

Leaves.

Pencils.

Buttons.

Fabric scraps.

Flowers.

Sticks.

Old magazines.

Things that ordinarily wouldn't seem important.

Then each of you make one small thing intended for someone else.

You might exchange them.

You might give them away separately.

Or perhaps one small creation begins a journey.

One person receives it...

and someday chooses someone else who might need it.

No predetermined destination.

No instructions about where it must travel.

Just one human being choosing another.

And then another.

Creativity doesn't always need an audience.

Sometimes it simply needs somewhere to go.