Since you are reading this, I imagine you and I are pretty similar. We both like to make stuff - artwork, gardens, clothing, writing, quilts, books, photographs, collages, and such. Chances are, you aspire and strive to be a better, happier person. And as a result, you are always in search of ways to help you do that, right?
Most of the time your searching is in the form of reading - books, blogs, articles (like this one), art that touches your soul, and more. You are searching for that something that resonates deep down, something you can use, that brings you happiness, a feeling of satisfaction or completeness.
You know it when you chance upon it, which is never as often as you would like, is it? So the search continues.
Sometimes, I get restless, and the pull to search becomes so strong. I search whenever I have the time, and sometimes, I just MAKE the time—Pinterest, magazines, books—I do love a good book, fiction or non. And then I stop and remember.
I am again on a search for myself! As many times as I've found myself, I seem to always forget where to look. Why do I go seeking elsewhere when the very thing I desire can only come from my heart, my soul, my hands?
Do you forget where to look, too? It's like the old saying, "It's right where you left it.” It's no coincidence that I start the search when I have some time on my hands. I am searching for something because I am not creating something—beauty, meaning, memories, a moment, a cause, an effect, art.
I need constant reminders that life isn't about searching for what you believe is missing in your life. Since I'm always forgetting that tidbit of wisdom, perhaps you are, too. What is missing is the act of creation. When we create, we are whole, complete, and doing exactly what we were created to do.
Life isn't about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernard Shaw
Over to you. Have you been searching, too?
Quotes of the Week
It’s important to remember that the longing will always be there. It doesn’t end. It’s not an empty hole we need to fill, but a magnetized inner space that draws experience and life to us, and us to it.
Women's Power Wheel
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton
We find greatest joy, not in getting, but in expressing what we are. It is fun to have things, but more to make them.
R. J. Baughan
Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower.
Shigenori Kameoka
A very thought provoking post Ms. Lesley! So spot on- that my mind consciously created a morning tea party where I individually invited each friend who had passed this past 2-3 years. Now, this may sound a little bit woo-woo, but as I sat in my gorgeous outdoor area I invited each person to come sit with me. Relishing the love my heart holds for them and the opportunity to visit with them again. There wasn’t any “conversation “, just the basking in one another’s presence.
This idea( and it was so very satisfying) came from your post about creativity and the power we always possess to make something greater than just what is a reality.
Perhaps that’s another aspect of creativity we hold in our hands and hearts and tend to forget about.❤️
For years I tried to figure out what the focus was for my paintings. When I figured it out, I realized I was making this search way too complicated. It was there all the time, right in front of me - there in the paintings, many paintings, I had already done! I saw what I cared about, what I wanted others to see in their own lives and so on. Since then I have never been bothered by this....its ME and it will appear when I find the next subject/idea that moves me, moves my soul.