“It’s only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are without any self-deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events by which the path to success may be recognized.”  – I Ching

The  creative process has the potential of revealing plenty of things.  I’ve found, however, in my own process that sometimes, being open to some of the simplest things can bring the most comfort.  The anxiety of life, stress,  and career has had the ability lately to consume a good portion of my thoughts.  I get caught up with the idea that I need to constantly be productive, moving in some direction, or busying myself with SOME. THING.

My creative process allows me to look around, stop, and see some of the simpler things in life and in nature that remind me to just take it in.  Maybe it’s the silly fact that my dog’s feet smell like cheesy nachos or that I find peacock feathers to be really wonderful (who doesn’t).  When I swim, for example, I feel so at home in the water, it allows me to be completely distracted.    I love having a well earned glass of wine at the end of a day.  My creative process, reminds me, that these things combined with an imaginative outlet can help me be, just here.

It is too often that I worry about things like, “Why do I spend my days doing something I don’t fully enjoy?”  “What can I do to expand my horizons?”  “How will I do it?”  I don’t know about you, but these questions can sometimes weigh me down and often make me wonder if I have settled for something.  I find that most of us, are spending our daily routines, doing a job that might not bring us the most satisfaction.  I mean that utterly wonderful feeling of satisfaction that when you go home your heart is full and you feel at ease from what you have experienced that day.

In my day job, I work with numbers, big numbers.  I don’t like them much, and to say the least, I am not very comfortable with them at all.  They make me nervous.  There is always a definitive answer, you don’t have any freedom to ponder that 1+1 might = 3.  or 10.  or what happens if I mix 1 and 2 and 4 and squish in an 8?  Throw in a blowtorch and what will I get?   Nothing. 1+1=2 and that’s that.

I have recently realized, however, that expanding myself, my horizons, is seemingly coming in the form of art, and I am loving every bit of it.  I recently attended an all day workshop, doing just that.  Expanding my horizons through concepts, education, conversation, and inspiration.

In art, you can mix two different types of paint and know or not know what will happen.  You can experiment endlessly with mediums, pastes, grounds, backgrounds, paints, liquid ink, found objects, gels…so many things.  You can repeat the same process and add in a different variable and get a totally different result.  So here I am, expanding.

Despite that pesky day job, I appreciate that this expansion is happening.