Life in our society can get so busy, so demanding, that we can start to lose track of who and where we are. While I don’t have many of the demands on my time that, say, someone with children does, I still feel the need to remind myself regularly that I am Barb and I am here.
My daily walk is hugely important. There’s just something so humanizing in getting outside, feeling the ground beneath your feet and the air on your face. You experience your little corner of the world as it is in that moment. You nod at the other people out walking. Doggies sniff you. It’s a chance to breathe, to slow life down a little.
Another Tool to Help You
May I suggest another tool to help in your quest for more air and space in your life?
Grab a piece of paper and a pen or pencil and draw what you see. It could be a corner of your living room, a stack of dishes in your kitchen, your cat. It doesn’t matter what, it’s the act of slowing right down and really seeing what’s right in front of you that matters. The sketching helps you to really, truly see it, to notice all the details, to appreciate and feel grateful.
The Finished Product is Not the Point
I will freely admit that I don’t actually enjoy sketching. In fact, I hate it. I find it annoying and frustrating. I get impatient with myself and the thing I’m drawing that refuses to be captured by my pencil. But the finished product is not the point of this exercise, it’s the process of seeing. So if what ends up on the page looks nothing like what I was looking at, that’s OK. And if you think, “But I’m not an artist, I have no talent for this,” please don’t let that stop you from giving this a try.
It really is amazing how much clearer things appear when you’ve taken the time to really have a look at them.
I’m just getting back to being serious about taking my sketchbook with me everywhere I go and actually using it. I have spent several hours this week waiting for one thing or another and passed many of them happily drawing- mostly other folks waiting but I had to be secretive – you don’t want them to get suspicious. Besides, if they saw my representation of them they might be offended. One nice thing about putting in the time is that you can’t help but improve although that, as you say is not the point. I find myself paying much more attention to everything, especially people, my favourite subject- although today at one point I had to settle for drawing kleenex popping out of the box- reminded me how much it was like the drapery in beginning drawing.
Sadly. my new fervour won’t last but Maybe it will last longer than last time.
Incidentally, the best books that I’ve seen on drawing (as meditation, the zen of drawing etc) were written by Frederick Francks- a hero of mine who passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 97. He wrote all his books by hand to make them more personal. Interesting person to read about who had a huge influence on my attitude toward and love of drawing.
I love Frederick Francks! Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing is one of my favourite books ever!
Good luck with the sketching. It’s not so much if the impulse lasts as that you keep going back to it and what it teaches you each time, I think.