“To get lost is to go beyond what you know – and see the world with new eyes”
For me, the feeling of being alive is connected to the feeling of newness.
At the beginning of this year, I decided my word for 2021 would be “alive”. Especially after a year of what felt like simply surviving, I liked the idea of thriving, feeling awake, open, and able to see the world with fresh eyes. That’s what it means for me to feel alive.
Now, fast forward more than half a year--I’ve actually felt a lot of flatness and numbness for the majority of the year. But I also have had moments of profound “aliveness”. The world looked different than expected. They’ve shown up in some of the smallest, seemingly insignificant moments.
Last week I came back to my quiet hometown in Florida, after a couple months of travel, family gatherings, visiting friends, and the usual summertime shenanigans. I was surprised that I found moments of newness in a place that I associate with “sameness”. The same highways I’ve driven on for over 20 years. The same homes, parks, stores. Similar weather and people.
I’ve started the practice of taking myself out on a weekly artist’s date. It forced me to see “sameness” from a different angle. To break the patterns of my routine. To drive to a small, slightly overgrown park on a rainy Saturday morning and look for “newness” in a place that might seem insignificant.
And that’s when I realized the very act of looking for meaning within what is ordinary IS creativity.
Creativity is an invitation to look closer at what is monotonous, expected or the “same”.
Creativity breeds new meanings from old patterns.
Creativity encourages us to explore so that we can get joyfully lost.
Exploration is expansive. It expands our mind, our sense of place, and our sense of identity. Allowing ourselves to get lost within the boundaries for creative exploration is not only healthy, but reminds us that life is a joyful mystery. This is one way to experience feeling lost.
When I lean in and look deeper at my current reality, I allow myself the exciting opportunity of getting lost. To get lost in a way that new opportunities arise.
After all, we only really get lost when we stop exploring.
This other kind of getting lost happens when we stop exploring. When we think we know it all. When we go through our regular patterns and routines without ever looking deeper. That’s the irony.
When we act out our expected patterns, we don’t think we are lost when we know the way. But when we know the way, that’s when we lose the vision of what COULD be.
This week's creative prompt:
Take yourself out on an Artist's Date. Find something that interests you and go on a solo - exploration. It can be as simple or grand as you like it to. See how the experience helps to take you out of your expected patterns and perhaps even helps you to see something with fresh eyes.
This week's quote: