Emerging threads
holding space for others to allow for new possibilities to emerge means I need to ensure I create space(s) for this for myself
Greetings friends, this is the first instalment of my museletter/newsletter. I know for many of you I haven’t been in touch for a while - things have been a little whirlwind/ dance like. But I have landed here and am so looking forward to using this writing platform to share and evolve my thinking and practice.
in anticipation of rich and engaging future conversations
x Rebecca
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A particular memory/moment has been coming up for me lately. It is an experience so keen that I feel it in my body decades later.
The river water is clear and cold, moving fast over the smooth stones. The crispy fresh morning mountain air presses against my cheeks and I watch mist rising where the sun hits the water along the river banks opposite. My little sister and I are crouched at the edge of the water, quietly shifting and moving small river stones in the shallows, making small ponds in the icy water where we watch the flow push and swirl around our flimsy constructions. Hours pass as we attempt to build small bridges and interconnected ponds, floating leaves like boats, virtually without speaking - masters in our own imaginary realm.
Up river our dad is fishing for trout in his own world.
When we leave at the end of the day I look down to the river from the higher up on the bank and see that all our small river stone constructions have already washed away in the current. And yet, the experience and peace and joy remains.
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For me this is the most distinct early recollection I have of an extended period of joy, what others call flow - a treasured state. So simple, yet so engaging and connected both to nature and to process. I guess I’m about 7.
Looking back, I know my sister and I were lucky to be able to play like this all the time. We had a big backyard with mature trees, two tree houses and a cubby at the end of the garden. We also had a large sandpit where we would frequently create magical miniature worlds full of tiny houses, flower gardens, castles, moats, rivers and winding paths. We would spend many hours immersed in these activities. Mum, an early believer in nature based play, also wanted us out of the house and this is where we went. It seems that even in the early 80’s this was rare - but for us it was everyday. This early world of creativity, imagination and visioning still rewards me today - and is perhaps another aspect to why I am drawn to this work of social change and future communities. I do believe that the things we are drawn to as children have the seeds of our purpose.
What is joy to you? For me I have realised there is a very clear and simple joy in having time to read/learn and create - being intentional and immersing in the process. Perhaps this is made all the sweeter when time for such things is often limited? How much time do you make in your week for those activities that lift up in you a sense of joy?
I know have surprised some by investing more time in my art once again. Surely making money should come first they say! Yes of course we all need money for the essentials. But I also believe that many of us have the chance to live a much more connected life, guided by deep purpose or soul, grounded in nature and centred around our innate creativity. And from this place we can go out into world with so much more to offer. Yes there is no doubt we need to be willing to take some risks to get there. For me engaging in the creative process allows for something unique to happen, an internal connection and processing that can leave us feeling more whole and fulfilled than when we started. My sense is that from this place we can then be of greater service to the world (even our loved ones and families).
Covid-19 has given many a jolt. Others are just waiting for things to return to normal - whatever that is. For me the combo of the plague and having a new baby meant that I had less ‘free’ time than ever and I knew that to stay sane I need to rethink/redesign the whole way I worked. At the same time I felt the pull to live a more soulful life, with more time on soul nurturing creative practice (as well as family, meditation and time in nature) rather than pouring all my energy into working for others in a transactional sense. Because at the end of the week there’s just not enough left to keep me going in a positive way.
Navigating complexity and change seems to be a happy place for me - I have been doing it most of my life too. I truly love codesigning programs and facilitating or holding space for others through creative facilitation of groups and 1:1 coaching/guiding. This, I sense is a real calling which is nourished by the centre-ing, whole-ing effects of my personal creative practice.
In the last few weeks a huge weight has lifted as the little one is doing well in daycare and this allows me to have 3 clear days for just work. Whoohooo! This is pure bliss when you love your work. So now I’m splitting my work time between art making/ writing and workshop facilitation and coaching. Do get in touch if you have a collaboration opportunity.
Redesigning the way we work
My current experiment rests on the theory that even with tight constraints you can redesign your life so that you have the stuff that matters at centre with significant positive returns.
About 5 years ago I shifted apartments so I was able to walk to and from work. Instead of being jammed in a packed peak hour train twice a day - all of a sudden I was exercising, walking though beautiful parks and taking that extra time to make the day a little more spacious and rewarding, even meaningful spiritually. I recall I was a fan of doing Sarah Blondin’s Making it Sacred meditation at the time (still am). It was a privilege to be able to take the time to walk (and to live close enough to walk) - but it wasn’t any more expensive and the time difference (it took longer) was easy to accomodate in the end. Yet the impact on my world was truly transformational. I’m a huge fan of spending time amongst the trees - so perhaps it was that - or perhaps it was the additional exercise? The daily meditations? Whichever - my world really began to pivot at this point. Being intentional with my time started to be everything.
Leaving activities that energise and nourish us to the peripheries of our time management, so we are lucky to squish in a few hours a month for that thing that really makes our heart and soul sing is actually completely misguided. Reorienting around what matters is how we ensure we are not sleep walking through life as quiet consumers, while our planet and communities are burnt, divided and shredded by the powers that be.
Accumulating possessions, clothes and bigger fancier properties and toys does not lead to happiness, nor does it serve our planet - for me such pursuits - as much I can enjoy beautiful things - lead nowhere except to a sense of dissatisfaction and emptiness. We know that our global climate crisis and critical biodiversity loss is largely an outcome of consumer capitalism. Money and things don’t make you happy once your basics are covered. Neither does searching for external validation. Truly the only thing that matters is your own inner self belief. Your own self love. Not narcissistic love which is nothing but a cloak - but a deep nurturing open heart of self compassion.
There are times in life when there’s no doubt we just have to put our head down and take the jobs to pay for the necessities. After being a single parent for nearly 10 years I’m very much aware of this reality. It can be truly tough. But looking back I now see there were many options in the way I shaped my weeks - and heaps of things I could have done differently. Today I am super grateful for my lovely husband who is here on the learning journey with me. The challenges I have lived through so far only make me appreciate him all the more - his support and faith is a great reassurance and I know there will be an ongoing give and take in the way we support each other and evolve with our work and our family.
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Do you know what energises you? What lifts you up? What are the things that leave you with a lasting sense of fulfilment? How might you redesign your week so there is more space for these very things? I am interested in hearing how this is working out for you.
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From here my intention is to keep sharing this with you at least monthly - maybe slightly more often - sometimes there will be more art and perhaps more poetry - we shall see what emerges.
**Special thanks to the talented Lara for her nudge towards getting this newsletter happening. Subscribe to her lovely museletter that she cleverly curates monthly. xx
I am not enjoying the socials much but you can follow me here on insta and sometimes I’m on twitter.
If you’d like to send me a note you can reach me here: rebecca@lidoisland.com.au
X Becca
PS
Other things I’ve been writing/making:
On building momentum and keeping on
What I’m reading:
Healing Collective Trauma by Thomas Hubl
Reading again because I think it is quite brilliant/revolutionary: Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche
Coming Back to Life by Joanna Macy
And a slightly more esoteric one exploring energy and shamanism - because who knows? Antonio Villoldo, Shaman, Healer, Sage