Hello Friends!
In this edition: Living with uncertainty, unexpected stories about creativity, and tips for staying creative. Quick heads up – we are going to meander this week. Here we go!
- ❓Deepening Our Comfort with Uncertainty. An article shared by friend Rick Ingrasci in Big Mind News, written by Kristi Nelson in the Daily Good. There is a lot of wisdom in this short article that applies to facilitation and all aspects of life. Here’s what struck a chord with me:
- Uncertainty can be the cause for great “delight, wonder, and surrender” if we let go of our need to know or to control what will happen. And/or it can be “rattling” when our conditioning is that uncertainty needs to be overridden, solved, or resolved as quickly as possible.
- Much of our freedom depends on cultivating a greater perspective about being with uncertainty.
- “Deep trust in life is not a feeling but a stance that you deliberately take. It is an attitude we call courage.” Br. David Steindl-Rast *Email Rick if you want to join his brilliant Big Mind News mailing list (rick.ingrasci@newstories.org)
- ⏩“Things only move forward when you’re not afraid of change”: I stumbled across this essay on Russian artist Alexander Isakov’s exquisite murals while I was waiting for a video to load on WeTransfer. I didn’t know that WeTransfer had launched a website called WePresent. It’s dedicated to “unexpected stories about creativity”. It’s a treasure trove of articles on photography, music, art, illustration, and film. Also, check out 👚Things Are Not Meant to be Thrown Away, a dazzling photo essay on upcycled tailoring by Ghanian photographer and stylist Sackitey Tesa, and 🌴LA band Chicano Batman’s Local Guide to east LA with stunning collages by Mike Gallegos. All of these articles reminded me how much artists have to teach us about how to deepen our comfort with uncertainty making it possible to see new possibilities. One of Isakov’s murals in Berlin
✨How to Stay Creative When Life Feels Monotonous: An article from the Harvard Business Review by Susan Peppercorn. I liked Peppercorn’s practical tips especially how to cultivate a flow state. (you can access 2 free HBR articles/month). Here are some other creativity sparkers:
Sundials: Was it just me or did time seem eternal last week? With time on my mind, I was surprised to notice two sundials that I had never seen before in my town Sant Cugat. Local art historian Gabriel Moreras (and my friend Berta’s dad) told me that in this part of Spain (Catalunya) sundials are traditionally found in farms in the countryside. Sundials in towns and cities are often a symbol of a family’s agricultural roots. The first one is nearly 170 years old and was rediscovered in a house renovation 15 years ago. We know less about the second one.
The oldest known sundial is in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings (c. 1500 BC).
- No one knows more about time than Montreal-based friend, artist, and one of the best facilitators I know, Nadia Chaney. Earlier this year Nadia launched a 100-week project to explore the nature of time and temporality called The Time Zone. If you are interested in diving deeper into time, The Time Zone is your space. Describing it as fascinating, mind-bending, and original does not come close to doing it justice.
- 📷Photo of the week🕷️: Because no Quest is complete without marveling at the miracle of a spiderweb, especially one covered in teensy tiny droplets of water.
Until next week!
Gwyn
