Sunshine From the Inside-Out
As Winter comes to an end and Spring approaches, I am inspired by the idea of rebirth and new awakenings. Bright yellow daffodils and tulips peek up after a year of dormancy. Longer, brighter and warmer days. New client requests come trickling in as summer promises it’s ‘not-so-distant’ arrival.
Each one of us has a beckoning. A calling to become more. To do more and to have more. Whether it’s more love, more or better relationships, more money, more beautiful objects, more time, more relaxation, more art…. It is our inherent creative urge to want more.
For me Spring encourages that yearning within. My sunshine. It enlivens me and entices me to think about things differently, to expand my vision for what is possible in my life, work and relationships.
I love this excerpt from Rumi’s poem ‘Spring Giddiness’
‘Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
And frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
And begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.’
It’s so abstract, yet clear. In the way, only poetry can be.
Speaking of abstract, abstract art inspires me also. It’s a free-flowing, liberating method of expression that doesn’t allow for any labels or confinement. You see what you see, everything is right and nothing is wrong. Unless you see it as wrong. There is nothing familiar or recognizable about abstract art. It leaves you completely up to your own devices as to what it is or how it should be. It’s like laying down on the grass and gazing up at the sky, you can make forms out of the clouds if you choose to, or you can just see them as passing white wisps.
That’s the great thing about art - It makes you see beyond. To form something of your own making. It’s the same about following your sunshine. You don’t really know what it is that’s pulling or pushing you from within, but it’s a calling that is so bright and energizing. It’s the artwork of your life.
It can be uncomfortable though. As much as I want to float into the atmosphere of loosely formed abstracts, I also long for structure and control. Part of the journey of running toward your sunshine, is letting go [at least for a time] of the structures.
It’s difficult to unplug from all the things we have to do in order to make our lives work. Becoming the artist and poet of your life; listening to the voice inside that wants to do things differently is hard to hear at times.
Here are a 7 ways you can use to move you toward the light...
Permission | Give yourself permission to be happy and free.
Give up | The delusion of control. Unkind thoughts to yourself and others. Mistaken beliefs.
Feel | Feel your feelings.
Move | Move your body, breathe deeply. Fill up your lungs. Practice yoga.
Try | Experiment and try new things whether it’s a hobby or a new way of being.
See | The beauty. The opportunity. The loss.
Present | Be here now.
‘Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions’ - Albert Einstein
