Meandering Mind - Eva Dillner [7]
Ah yes, nothing ventured, nothing gained...
Better send this before I lose my nerve
Eva
A new sense of freedom invaded my space. Only a few days earlier, I had purchased a new charm for my bracelet - the Statue of Liberty - or as she is called in Swedish the Goddess of Freedom. I felt free. I was exploring new territory. I allowed myself to think about my rule “one man at a time.” Was I really serially monogamous, could I be interested in more than one man at a time? Was my rule the real me, or just some imposed thought that I had swallowed hook line and sinker.
A letter arrived from a friend of a friend - a man seeking contact, an artist, who maybe could be of interest? As a friend or whatever? I pondered how we assume that one precludes the other. That life is an either/or instead of this and that. Like the subjects of this book, the assumption is that business and relationships are two topics and need to be separated, that somehow one precludes the other. I can do corporate career work, that doesn't preclude me from being a writer or an artist. If I love one person it doesn't mean I can't love someone else. Love is not a finite quantity that will run out.
In Shirley MacLaine's movie Out on a Limb, her lover admits the problem is he does not love himself enough. And Shirley offers the insight that if he loved himself more, he would be free to love his wife, he would be free to love her, and he would be free to love his work and his children. So why do we assume that love is a finite quantity that has to be hoarded and doled out like rations?
With this newfound sense of freedom, I kept sorting material for this book. I was going through some of my career stuff and ran across a name of someone I had worked with in the past. Believing in taking action when inspired I surfed Google and sure enough, I found his email address. Isn't the internet great? Off went an email with “Hi how are you?”
I went to a painting weekend. There is something deeper that happens with your process when you paint in a group. This weekend was special too as the founder of Vedic Art, Curt Källman, was introducing expanded aspects of the basic principles. The first day I piddled with details and was just there, hanging out. Day two I brought my acrylic paints and as so often happens, when you let go, magic happens. I came home with a painting ready to frame. I felt really pleased. It's when you aren't focused on accomplishing that the magic happens, when you let your feelings and consciousness take over and become the painting. It's true of any process. I'm being danced or written or painted. I've sent my critic brain on vacation. I think magic happens when we are whole brained, the two halves are connected and working in sync.
It's that space in between, some artists call it negative space. I think it's the same with all creativity. It happens between the left and the right brain.
Talking dog exercise
I wanted to introduce this exercise early on as it is key in creating dialogue. It's actually an adaptation of the American Indian way of communicating called talking stick. Whoever holds the stick has the word and everyone else listens. To lighten up the exercise I've used a stuffed animal such as a Dalmatian puppy, thereof the name talking dog. You can use anything, a paperweight, a teddy bear, a crystal, whatever strikes your fancy.
Many of us use this method while on courses. But how many practice