New
Territory
“You
have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of
your intuition. What you'll discover there will be wonderful. What
you'll discover is yourself.”
Alan Alda
There's a particular
dream that almost everyone has at some point in their lives—usually
many times. It is a dream of being in a house that you know belongs to you,
but that seems unfamiliar. You wander through this house, which
usually has many stories and loads of rooms, and you discover all
manner of things you didn't know were there. I have this dream at
least once a year—sometimes the house is old, sometimes very
modern, sometimes familiar, but with unexpected twists and turns.
This house, as with everything in dreams, represents you. The
unexpected rooms are parts of you that you have not yet
discovered. I get very excited when I have a house dream,
because it usually ushers in a new aspect of creativity. There's so
much more to us than we realize. Remember this line of scripture: "In my Father's house are many rooms... " (John 14:2) This dream house is your soul's home. It's big and spacious.
So how do we tap into
this creative inner house? For one thing, we get out from in front of
a screen—turn off the TV, put down the phone, and unless you are
following a recipe or writing poetry or personal stories, turn off the
computer. Get out the pens and markers, the crayons and paints, or
whatever tools of creativity you prefer, and get going. The best way
to short circuit creativity is to be self-critical. If you stop
because whatever you're doing “doesn't look right” you're dead in
the water. Just keep going—make a mess, let 'er rip, wander in the
abode of your imagination and make something that's meaningful only to you.
It's all good! In Alan Alda's words, “wander in the wilderness of
your intuition.”
I have carpel tunnel
syndrome—arthritis in the thumb joint of my right hand. For much of
my creative life, I made quilts and wall hangings that involved a lot
of embroidery and hand stitching. Now, it hurts to do that, and I'm
not inclined toward surgery. For a while I let the pain shut me down,
but I'm the sort of person who has to have a creative project to be
content, so I moved on. Now I'm learning new techniques and new
mediums that don't require so much hand sewing. I had to leave the
city of my comfort in order to discover the wilderness of my
intuition. If you're a creative type, don't be afraid to do that.
Your willingness to change will set you free—your inner house will
get bigger and more elaborate. You're going to discover some new
rooms, I guarantee.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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