Ever since I started selling my pottery -- and that's a lot of years -- I've been saying that I sell my work because I love making it and I need to find homes for pots so that I can make more.  This morning in my studio, with the radio on as usual, I heard the term "superfluous" to describe how an older person feels.  I identified with that and suddenly got an insight about my attitude to my ceramic work.  Here's what I think will work better for me: I want to create each piece with the sense that it's a gift to the person who will end up buying/using it.  Yes of course I will charge. But the idea of creating a piece with love -- love for whoever ends up using it or living with it -- makes me feel so much more connected to the world as I toil alone in my studio. And it fits with my desire to live with love in my heart as I go through my days.  This feels important to me.  So as I assess a mug -- does it have warmth and grace and will it be comfortable to hold and drink out of? -- or a small handbuilt piece -- will it elicit a smile in the viewer? -- I can think of the person it will end up with.  Creating with this perspective will keep my heart open and help me to feel more alive.