I had the most amazing “aha” this week, about how deeply our self-expression is informed by our environment. On one level it’s a no-brainer, on another it’s profound.
As I write this, I’m enjoying a family vacation on Sanibel Island in Florida. It’s truly the land of magic and mermaids! Known for its beaches, comprised of layers upon layers of seashells, it’s also a leader in conservation: island government requires 38% of land to remain undeveloped, available as sanctuary for birds and wildlife. It’s a bit like the Neverland, healed of its Curse, full of natural abundance, infinite variety.
The “aha” I had is visceral. Take the softness of the warm, moist air, mix it with the singing of wind in the palms, add the crashing of distant waves, the “cheeping” of osprey eagles, sprinkle with the rich scents of ocean and verdant growth, bake in 75° sunshine, and voila, you’ve got magic and mermaids!
Let me try to explain more fully. My friend and coach, Marjorie Schoelles, (pronounced “Shell-less”), besides being a brilliant businesswoman, is a phenomenal visual artist. Please take a moment to visit her gallery website: seahorsegallery.com. Note her use of color: dense and rich, yet soft, and her choices of subject matter. Lots of sea life and mermaids, combined with vision-quest images of the natural world and our essential connection to it.
Marjorie lives in Florida.
Now take a moment to pop over to my photographer friends Jan and Kay Kepley site: ResonanceCards.com. (These images are available as cards, prints, and digitally for use in creative business endeavors.) Again, the essential connection to Nature is conveyed. But this has its own flavor. Lush, yet crisp and spacious. You might have different words for it.
Jan and Kay live on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.
I’m about to launch a coaching program called “The River Thrive.” It’s all about using your creativity to expand your life energy and enhance your wellbeing. You’ll hear me talk a lot, as I introduce it, about my understanding of creativity. Creativity, for me, is a state of being. Firmly planted between the inflow of inspiration and the outflow of expression, it’s a life-giving state—one worth cultivating.
So this “aha” of mine: when we open ourselves to different inflow, of course it changes the flavor of the creative outflow. I understand Marjorie’s art more fully after being here in Florida. I connect deeply with Jan Kepley’s photography because it’s the environment I’ve chosen to live in. It feeds me.
Coach’s Challenge: Change your inflow. Focus on your 5 senses. Let’s choose one: hearing. Take 30 minutes this week, put yourself in a new audio-environment, and create for that ½ hour. (The craft doesn’t matter. Write, cook, garden, doodle, make a collage…) If you usually work in quiet, take your work to the hub-bub of a coffee shop. If you usually listen to New Age music, pick up something different. And leave a comment to let me know how this goes. Does it enliven you? Move your energy differently? It might or might not please you, but I bet it will shift something… Report back!
