As we embark on this new year, I thought I would share a few inspirations with you on imagination. Why imagination?
Esther Perel noted early in in 2020 that our physical space is limited, but our imaginations are infinite. We are not just working from home we are working with home. We need tremendous coordination and collaboration with others with whom we share our space - and some imagination - to make it more than work.
I find that a dose of creativity and imagination helps me to move forward and think about how I can look at things differently and make sense of my experiences. Is it the same for you? I would love to hear what you think.
If you are looking for ways to access your imagination, Julia Cameron, the well-known author of The Artist's Way (which apparently hit the best-seller list again in 2020 after 30 years!) , recommends waking up every morning and writing 3 pages of stream of consciousness - to make space for the creativity bursting to come out. I tried it many years ago and it really works. In on a conversation on her new book, The Listening Path, she emphasizes listening more deeply - to our environments, to each other, and to ourselves - to hear past the noise and tune into what we might be tuning out.
Meanwhile, Diane Eshin Rizzetto, in Deep Hope, shares a call for cultivating a deeper hope in our aspirations. She writes , "The reality that we live in a world filled with danger and uncertainty seems to greet many of us when we wake each day. On the one hand, there is much evidence of violence and division, and, on the other hand, a disaster... can kick us into an immediate response to help others... deep hope asks us to dwell in the unknown - that open, spacious realm of possibility... So, although we see things as they are, we also aspire toward what they could be... It was in deep hope that Martin Luther King, Jr. encouraged us to keep raising our voices in solidarity and marching 'step by step'; the same hope that expressed, 'I have a dream'... Through the cultivation of this wisdom, we can develop the hope that springs from knowing that everything is in a constant state of change, and because of this fundamental truth, all things are possible."
I would love to hear about what captures your imagination these days - if you have time, send me a note. I would love to share some ideas between us. Some of the things we are doing to feed our imagination - include a new project to jointly paint a large canvas and we have added regular family game time to our evenings - including cards games, board games, cooperative games and brain teasers!
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More inspiration:
If you've been to London, you are probably familiar with the phrase "Mind the Gap." I love this interpretation of the gap by poet and author Mark Nepo.
"Mind the gap between stillness and motion. Mind the gap between who we are and who we hope to be. Mind the gap between what's visible and what's not. Mind the gap between the inner life and the outer life... In time, minding the gap leads to entering the gap, which leads to living in the spaces between what is known and what remains unknown... Over the years, I stopped visiting the spaces between things and started living there. That is, I started meeting the world from the inside of life rather than darting from one external circumstance to another. What I've learned is that the heart is the perceptual organ that braids the unseeable with the seeable... By its very nature, what lives underneath the physical world is hard to name... One of the challenges for the writer in us is to pin down the physical details in life so the invisible can show through the spaces between them."
- Mark Nepo in drinking from the river of light
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I hope you enjoy this mindful moment!
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BE AWARE
As part of the Community Mindfulness Project, I am hosting a free 30-minute mindfulness practice (on Zoom), on Tuesdays at 8 PM (EST). Everyone is welcome, so feel free to share this with anyone you think may be interested. Find the details here, or write to me and I'll send you the link.
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