” I’m passionately involved in life. I love its change, its colour, its movement. to be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings- it’s all a miracle. I’ve adopted the technique of living from miracle to miracle.” ~Arthur Rubenstein
I invite you to write on a piece of paper: “I am passionately involved in life”, then add your own list. How will you adopt the technique of living from miracle to miracle?
Put it somewhere where you will see it every day. Breathe it in as your mantra. When you stop seeing it, take is as an opportunity to revise it, and move it somewhere else.
Some of you already know my fondness for using what if as a point of exploration, rather than a source of anxiety.
This week’s topic and exercise is around “what if”.
Think about what-if as a treasure map, or a puzzle.
One thing I like to do, when feeling challenged, it to commit to 15 minutes for a practice. If that feels like too much, go for five, but not less than that. Set a timer if you like.
Get out your journal, paper, or tablet (although I feel the brain works a bit differently when writing with a pen/pencil/crayon than typing). At the the top write “What if I could…….” and then write! Maybe you already have a topic in mind. If not, go back to one of the early exercises about writing through creative block.
Dream big! Bring all your spicy wildness to the page!
Or small. Strive to set your mind free, beyond your comfort zone even.
What if I could travel for a year without inpacting my finances?
What if I committed to an hour a day to my chosen creative activity?
What if I could work up to touching my toes without bending my knees?
After you’ve written for five minutes, or fifteen, or until you feel you’ve exhausted the topic, sit back and settle into your body.
What would this what-if reality feel like? Sound like? Look like? How woud this ripple out into your every day creative practice? To your life?
What could you do right now to make this happen?
What do you need?
Write more if you like, or express this new world through your creativity… sing, dance, draw, bake, photograph.
I would love to hear what you come up with in your new what-if universe!
When things come to me, I try to get it into a notebook, but sometimes I grab any scrap of paper handy. This one resurfaced today. In case you can’t read my scribbles, it says “Appetite is not the genuine desire of the soul.”
I’m not sure if it was something I was reading, or listening to, or if it found its way to my brain through the aether!
So timely for this season, which for many of us is one of eating and acquisition.
Appetite is a curious thing. It can be easily awakened by external stimuli. We smell good food, hear a bottle open, catch a certain look from a person, see an ad for some new thing or other we never knew we wanted, but now do.
There is, I feel, nearly always a deeper, more true desire beyond the initial appetite. Maybe even clues to what creates meaning and defines who we are in our lives. Satisfying corporeal desires in a surface way may indicate a deeper need for comfort, security, and love. For what are we truly hungering?
In acquiring objects, we might feel we are making a show of success, status, safety, avoidance of living in a place of scarcity. Of even existing.
By being aware of the first tickles of an appetite for something, sitting with it a minute and asking “is this what I want, or would I rather be…” without overthinking! I’ve been finding I will often choose something else, that in the end, is more gratifying and meaningful to me.
Wants vs. needs
And sometimes I just want that piece of cake/kiss/shiny new thing. The good old “everything in moderation, even moderation!”
My invitation to you this week, is to at least once, when you think “I want” to then ask yourself “what do I need?” And see if a more genuine desire of the soul appears. Share in the comments below if you like.
Image from the ‘net. If you know whose it is, I will attributed it to them.
I’m not feeling so deeply inspired today. I have a shoulder that’s persistently reminding me I’m human today.
But.
This is a more.. erm.. contemporary way to ask one to consider approaching things with a beginner’s mind. Very rarely, at least for most of us, are we good at something new the moment we try it.
I invite you this week to try something new. For me, working in an unfamiliar medium will often unlock a stuck spot for something I’m working on. When you try something new, you haven’t formed any rules for how to do it yet.
Use the “what if I tried…” as a jumping off point, rather than a wall of fear and stalling. See how this willingness to let curiosity lead your exploring something new might be applied to something you already do. How might you look at something, or do something, in a fresh way?
If you can’t think of anything. Do something you usually do with your nondominant hand. I would love to hear what you try, and what you discover!
“You never know what you will discover, once you decide to do something, rather than dream about it.”
What’s the first thing that pops into your head when you think of adventure? Months of planning? Death defying feats? Taking a sabbatical from life? Do you then sigh and then tuck it way on a bucket list somewhere? Yeah. Me too.
And then there’s the someday list, usually beginning with “I’ve always wanted to “ or “someday I will”. On my list, these are smaller, more obtainable. And still, they get set aside.
But.
What if…..
You shift your perspective a little?
I remember doing some home improvement projects before selling a house years ago, and they were much more enjoyable, and not nearly as troublesome as my procrastination let me to believe.
The other day, I decided to go somewhere I hadn’t yet.. on my someday list, and chose to take a back roads way. On twisty mountain roads. Past random bee yards. “Eggs for Sale” signs. Where cars coming the other way slowed down to see who I was because they didn’t recognize my car. I took a hike on one of the mountains, and turned back when it started feeling too “snakey”. There was no phone reception, and I didn’t have a walking/whacking stick. As it turned out I was right about the snakes, according to a local.
All within 15 miles of home, and one of the largest cities in the nation! I came home feeling I’d had a mini-adventure, and also had done something on my someday list.
A few years back, I felt lonely on a holiday, and went on a hike in a park near me. I wondered how I’d managed to live here over ten years and not done the hike? It changed my life, and now I go out searching for parks near me to go hiking on a regular basis.
What is on your someday list? What are you willing to do on that list this week? Today? Even the smallest of adventures can be life-changing. You never know what you will discover once you decide to do something, rather than dream about it. Now get out there and make it happen. Let me know how it went!
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