Let Inspiration In...
Since having kids (so about four years now) I've been having trouble finishing a book. I have always loved to read, mostly non-fiction. But the problem I had was I'd start a book, usually picking it up to read before bed, and I'd fall asleep two pages in. Or I'd be really into reading something and then half way through just lose interest. I couldn't seem to finish anything and that was driving me nuts.
Until a few months back. Something changed. I finished a book!
"Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert was the first book I think I've actually read from cover to cover in about four years. It was an easy and inspiring read. Just what I needed. The subtitle is "Creative Living Without Fear" and it talks about the overarching idea of making space within your soul so that you can be actively ready to let inspiration in.
"Inspiration will always be drawn to motion". If we sit and dwell, complain, distract ourselves with things that don't matter, or otherwise stop ourselves from moving about the daily business of living in a healthy way, then it is as if we are actively shutting the door that would have allowed inspiration to work through us.
That's pretty awesome stuff right there. The idea that the universe can work "through" us as long as we are open to it.
Around the same time that I started having the problem with finishing books, I also introduced something else into my day to day living. A smartphone. A smartphone with a Facebook app, access to email, an Instagram account, the internet at my fingertips. It is much easier to check in on "stuff" then it is to devote the time and focus that is needed to read a few more pages of a book or call up a friend and have a conversation. When sleep is an old friend that I just can't seem to get in touch with (aka when kids aren't sleeping through the night), it's easier just to default to the path of least resistance. A quick glance through Facebook headlines took a lot less effort than picking up a book that I would probably make me drowsy. And I just didn't feel like I had the energy to listen and form sentences!
With young kids in the picture, life has become a great balancing act. Trying to be fully devoted to being a parent and then still finding time to be me has been tricky. But I've always told myself that it was of utmost importance to me that my children be raised by a mother who is still tending to her own passions. The creative passion and curiosity that makes me who I am as an Artist also makes me who I am as a parent.
If I turn that light off I won't shine...and my kids need me to shine!
This week I have started a little experiment. After the kids go to bed my phone goes to bed too. I want to see what I can make space for, when I'm not plugged into something. I want to be ready when inspiration strikes (and hopefully that will happen between the hours of 8:30 - 11:30pm!).
Here is another quote from, Big Magic, about the American Poet Ruth Stone.
"She told me that when she was a child growing up on a farm in rural Virginia, she would be out working in the fields when she would sometimes hear a poem coming towards her - hear it rushing across the landscape at her, like a galloping horse. Whenever this happened she knew exactly what she had to do next: She would 'run like hell' toward the house, trying to stay ahead of the poem, hoping to get a piece of paper and a pencil fast enough to catch it."
Wow! To be that lucky...
I work with stolen moments throughout the day. The outdoors (the forest, the fields, and the place where the water meets the sand) have become my studio. And in my studio are two beautiful little souls who run circles around me as I try to take it all in. I take pictures, I draw, I write, and I talk about our day to day adventures. We are in the moment and I just hope that by being open to it, that I will be able to collect all the hidden messages and treasures that lie just inside those moments.
The quiet hours of the evening, the hours after the kids are off to dream, should be the hours that I should be listening for those "galloping horses"! Or at the very least hope that I can quiet my mind enough to allow those obscure treasures from the day to rise to the surface of my consciousness.
One time I saw a series of photographs taken of people standing in natural environments. The strange thing about these photographs was that each person was alone with nature, but standing in such a way as to imitate their stance and facial expressions had while interacting with a device. Oh my. These people were surrounded by the outside world but totally disconnected from it at the same time. They had these invisible walls up. And it was scary. Scary to think about how our mindless interactions and distractions can create such a visible wall between our inner and outer worlds.
I am in the business of connecting these two worlds as we all should be I suppose. I want my artwork to spill out of me and speak of this thread that connects body and soul. If connecting to my phone every night is pushing me to disconnect from what really matters than I need to rethink that action. It may be true that inspiration will be drawn to motion but I don't think it is minute eye movements and button clicking that this quote is referring to!
This week I am picking up my stack of unfinished books, my chalk pastels and sketchpads, talking to my husband and having a glass of wine, sifting through boxes of old photographs, calling my brothers, taking long showers, and getting more sleep. I am opening up the door again for seven days straight. I am sure something wonderful, something magic, will come of it. I don't know what that "something" will be....but I TRUST that "something" is coming nonetheless.
If you are taking this challenge with me this week, good luck with your journey! And know that reclaiming a window of time each day can only lead to wonderful things. Can't wait to share our finds. Until then, have fun recharging your batteries and know that "something" good is on the way.
