You’ve heard the expression “your eyes are a window to your soul.” Well, your art and your soul work the same way.
You know how I keep encouraging you, especially those of you in the School of Love, to journal? Because you need a place to express your authentic, uncut emotions. Hate journaling? Art is a great option. When you open to that magical creative space, allowing inspiration to express through you, the things that are profoundly moving you in your life are going to show up, in one form or another. That’s a good thing. Not only will it give you a place to express, it gives others a way to know (some part of you) deeply.
I saw a great PBS documentary this week: Shakespeare Uncovered. I love Shakespeare, I confess. I’m no scholar, and when I first picked this DVD up at the library, I thought it might be erudite and dense. Happily, it’s not. It’s basically designed to attract people to Shakespeare who otherwise might not find their way. The six episodes are hosted by accomplished well-known actors.
Each episode provides a very simple explanation of the play’s plot (and I mean a one-sentence synopsis. Nothing fancy. No subplots.) The actor/narrator is walking around London, on site at the replica of the Globe Theater, (Shakespeare’s theater!) Historic sites are visited, clips of different movie and stage productions are woven in, along with pertinent interviews. Pick it up. I recommend it.
One of my favorite things was drawing a parallel between Shakespeare himself—his life, his family, and so forth, and the play at hand. For instance: around the time Hamlet was written, William Shakespeare lost first his father, then his 11-year-old son. His son’s name was “Hamnet.” (No that’s not a typo.) BTW, this son had a twin sister—think about how many of Shakespeare’s plays use twins – especially the comedies!
The profound, often unsettling, and always moving theme of fathers and sons in Hamlet is fundamental to why this play hasn’t stopped being performed since it was written. (Talk about hit material!) Truly, all those profound questions Hamlet poses, “To be or not to be,” and so forth, must have been swimming through Shakespeare’s heart and soul as he found his way through not one, but two deep losses.
This is the way it works with YOUR art as well.
Think about when you see an incredible performance by an actor you admire. You walk away thinking: I’d really like to meet that actor someday. It isn’t because you want to swoon and coo, (unless it is!), it’s because the actor went to a deep part of themselves and what they showed you, moved you. Their art becomes a bridge between your souls.
Coach’s Challenge: Make some art this week. Doesn’t have to be high artisanship. Finger painting, coloring, writing, cooking. Bring your heart and soul to it. Let your mind wander off for a while, and just let it flow. This is one way you invite another in: through your art, into your soul.
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