When I started to play with creativity, soon I felt I was overwhelmed by ideas, thoughts, curated info sources like articles, videos, and so on; trying out the endless tips and tricks and hacks from bloggers, book authors, and youtube videos.
In this sea of noisy waves, I was lacking substance. My voice wasn’t there in this sea of voices. I felt like I was beaten by those waves, by the opinions of the world, some characters sailing in this digital ocean.
Only when I stopped chasing waves, when I found a refuge in the shore, in the forest, I started feeling the ground beneath my feet.
The digestion of my own thoughts has began when I started to move my physical body through the forest. Notice the hint here? Yes, by digesting I mean, what a wow moment it has been for me when I discovered that life is not just about looking outward, following, lurking, listening, but also life is equally about taking my steps, and slowly nudging myself to speak up.
How to put oneself into a vehicle to explore life with more ease?
Enter the destination. Goals, dreams, interests help to narrow down the focus a little bit.
Turn on the compass. Reflection or reviewing practice (asking oneself ‘what am I experiencing now? what do I notice? how do I feel? what do I need?‘) works like a compass, like a pause for digesting the new experiences, where understanding as the new skin on my body settles. Try it.
Start a treasure box. Not all experiences are worth the deeper exploration, some moments just pass by, while some are worth to note, to capture. We find gems in them, we can preserve them for ourselves as an inspiration for projects or for sharing with others. This treasure box can be a notebook, a blog, a real box with objects that remind us about experiences lived.
So that’s how I explore life. And you?