I watched a lot of movies over the holidays. I also cleaned my house a lot more than usual. I did not, however, do any writing. Even though I have a plethora of ideas and outlines and even some chapters, including for a recipe book I've been working on for years, I have to admit I've been waiting for the perfectly-comfy, second-hand office chair to come into my life.
So I feel less productive as a writer than I should be, but boy, can movies sure fill the time. As can cleaning! We have a very small house and it seems like there is a constant need for cleaning in a small house because there are fewer places to put things. You can't necessarily just "find space" for new things, so it's a constant flux of out with the old and in with the new. A place for everything and everything in its place is just genius, if there is a place for everything. So I spent my week of 'staycation' finding places for things. It's important to 'move energy around' in my home because I believe our homes are our extended bodies. My Space of Love is an extended expression of who I am and it serves to unabashedly reflect what my family values in this life.
I watched a lot of movies about time and space, dreams and reality, choices and destiny. I had some pretty crazy dreams after those. I even watched a movie called, "Buried," where one of the 'sexiest' men alive is in a box for an hour and a half and he's all you see, but ironically, it's the most difficult to watch due to the nature of his being in a box, buried underground. He has a cell phone, which is how the story was able to be shared. Though it was a true story, I found it to be incredibly symbolic and I think that's the reason such an unsettling movie had to be made.
We need to share the stories of our hardships and our triumphs so that others can learn by perspective. If you don't write, please share your harrowing tale (or funny twist of fate) with a writer, because many of us are always game to tell someone's story!
My own life hasn't been that interesting, but my husband's life story is enough to make a great movie. Though I did study script-writing in school, I have not worked at honing the medium for more than a decade. I've started writing the screenplay for that potential future movie, however, so once I choose to complete it and send it to our Hollywood connections, you can watch it. If only I had a comfy chair... right?
Sometimes we put off our self-expression for silly reasons like not having a comfy chair, but often we simply haven't got the skills to produce the most obvious forms of self-expression. If you could write a screenplay using song lyrics, I'd be in Hollywood now.
Even if you don't have a great story that could be made into a movie, you might have a unique perspective that enhances the lives of everyone you interact with. Not everybody is itching to say something or to produce great works of art, but some of us have such unbridled creativity that, unless we have constructive ways to use that energy, we will simply burst. I encourage those who need to express to learn a new creative skill set every year or two until you find the medium you love. Creativity is empowering and we could all use more empowerment.
I have entered a work of art into the James Weir Peoples' Choice exhibition for the second year in a row now - this year it's a photograph whereas last year it was a painting - and although I know I don't come close to the calibre of the fellow artists who have also contributed to this year's competition, I am just so grateful for the opportunity to put 'something' out there that expresses my great loves. Last year's painting reflected my reverence for the Divine Feminine form (if anyone recalls, it was a painting of a naked pregnant woman with the Sanskrit symbol, 'OM' on her belly) and this year it is a photograph of my most curious cat Reishi within a unique context. Who knows what I will contribute next year, but I can almost promise that I'll do it, because I CAN. It's my freedom, my choice. Whether or not I ever win, for the next six decades or so, I will probably want to share my joy with others through artistic means. Plus, it's 'Gallery-based Democracy'!
I've always been into changing my look, because I feel it's an extension of my personality to have a strange wardrobe and unpredictable hair. Anyone who knows me knows that's just me. Since I am also an expert tie-dye artist, I am able to customize all my clothing and express my colourful style. I wasn't always colourful, because in the 90s everybody was wearing gaudy colours so I wore black, brown, grey, dark blue and dark green. Black jeans, even to church. I was always a bit of a non-conformist but I think I`ve already made that quite clear to my readers.
In high school I was the girl who wore old man clothes and changed her 'do' every few months. I have, therefore, continued on with my reinvention over the holidays and now I am a shorn brunette. No longer do I even vaguely resemble the lovely photograph that goes along with this column. This is the last time this photo will be used, because I want to make sure our Graphic Designer, Leslie, gets credit for taking it. It's freakishly flattering and I only wish I was that sparkly in real life!
There's only one more thing I have to admit is my new favourite way to express my creativity: dancing in my living room. I'm still learning the moves, but I feel new levels of freedom when I literally dance like nobody's watching. Sometimes I even have to get up from my desk to do some shimmying to the Bee Gees on the radio, because it feels good and feeling good is what I think we all need more of, right!?
May 2012 be your best year ever! May you find new depths of creative expression and may you empower others to do the same.
