The Destructive Self

We have all been designed to create in this life.  To fashion ideas into realities, to explore new thoughts, and to live lives that outwardly express the true inner self.

We marvel at those who who bring their art to life.  Musicians, Painters, and Poets.  We long to express ourselves in such a beautiful and constructive manner.

Because we don't know how to express ourselves (perhaps we really do know how, but choose not to for fear of what it will cost us) we live inwardly conflicted lives.  We secretly wrestle, quietly scream, and inwardly go to war.  We can't make sense of the tension and cannot express ourselves in the manner of the true Artist and so what comes from our hands is nothing short of destruction.

It may come through throwing the tools when you can't get the swing-set constructed just right or the tearing up of the canvas when the picture wasn't getting flushed out the way you envisioned.  It may come through hateful words when you and another fail to see each other fully, or worse, it may come into being when you strike another because they have unknowingly reflected to much of your worse self.

We destroy when the frustration of "what we wish to be is not what is" breaks past our capacity to hold it safely.

We destroy because the old container clearly does not work anymore and birthing the new is too labor-some.

These expressed fits of aggravation reveal something to us:

Our petulance for destruction is bound in our longing to create.

Please do not be startled anymore by the self that wants to scream, throw, and smash (do not bury it away, pretending that only the pietist within you exists).  Yet do not indulge it because of its ease; the unleashed destruction will only become amplified.  Instead, listen to it.  Invite it to sit and be still.  Let it, without fear, become a teacher for you; usher it to the light.

For it is an indicator that there is creative work yet to be done.

It Would Do You Well To Be Bored

We place a high value on having something to do, staying busy, and being entertained.  As a result we fill our time with activities, scroll through Facebook updates to "see what's going on", and play mindless games on our iPads.  We are constantly filling our minds in the name of productivity but really we have fallen for  one of the greatest myths of the 21st Century.

Boredom should be avoided.

As a parent I hear the "boredom complaint" from my kids and I am quick to offer resolutions.  However I'm not sure this is the best remedy.  When quick solutions to boredom are offered no real thinking has to be done.  When 2 friends, a ball, and boredom are involved the sky is the limit on the kind of games that can be created.  Boredom isn't something to be fixed or avoided it is the space that can begin to incubate the next fresh idea.

If we allow it, boredom can become an ally in our pursuit of creativity and fresh thinking.

Boredom, once thought to be the no-man's-land where ideas go to die, might really be the lab where things are tinkered with and new combinations are discovered.

...With A Dragon On Top

2 Scoops Of Mint Chocolate Chip With A Dragon On Top

This was my doodle of the day...what is yours?

If you haven't doodled yet...what's keeping you?

The Migrating Artist

“We migrate, too.  We follow the Muse instead of the sun.  When one crop is picked, we hit the road and move on the next.”

-         Stephen Pressfield

Whether it is a new idea or endeavor, the artist frequently moves from one thing to the next.  The continual movement of the artist looks erratic, impulsive and poorly planned. 

Perhaps it is.

Yet the artist also knows that staying too long is impossible.  Just as soil cannot sustain the same crops through all seasons, inspiration cannot be mined without end at one local.  If the artist stays too long (past the point of insightful discovery) they find themselves in a sparse land.  Fruit no longer bearing.

When the place we have dwelt (physically, emotionally, or spiritually) no longer offers any creative edge in which we, the artist can dance, it becomes time to journey on.

Moving with the Muse takes courage.  It takes a deep level of self-awareness and a high inner-understanding to know when it’s time to dig deeper and when it’s time to pack up.  This discernment is not an easy task and it takes risk.  If the artist digs deeper and there is nothing discovered, the only thing excavated is their own insanity.  And if the artist moves on before it was time, then unfinished business becomes their new companion.

The complex nature of the migrating artist is not something to fear or something that can be easily distilled into simple terms.  Rather, it is to be seen as what is.  Migrating, wondering, and discovering are what it means to follow the Muse.

What an incredible journey before us.



Un-Chain Your Yard

Is this the best solution?

Sure, I understand that you live on the corner lot of a busy neighborhood and that people cut across your lawn.

Yeah, I get that that when people regularly walk across your yard they trample the grass you work hard to keep green.

And absolutely, I can appreciate that you do not want a pathway of dead grass, making for one big eye-sore on your front lawn.

But, is the rusty chain (pad-locked to a tree and tethered buy an equally rusty stake) any better?

What message do you send to your neighbors and community when you string rusty chains on your lawn?

Maybe instead of counteracting and blocking the "offer" of others you could accept and take the "conversation" some place new.

Why not create a pathway across the corner of your lawn (think "Better Homes and Gardens"; paving stones and all) to facilitate what people are naturally inclined to do?

Every day people say and do things we wish they wouldn't. They infringe on our space and trample things that are important to us. Our first reaction is often to "shut it down", and so, we do equally clumsy things...like wrap chains around trees.

Chains in our yards cut off community and deprive relationships of what they need to be nurtured.

So today, when someone takes a short-cut through your yard, resist the easy "solution" that chains relationships from developing, and instead, challenge yourself to create a new pathway that will cultivate the growth of a relationship.