It seems a cold has caught up with me. I don't feel horribly, terribly awful but I don't feel sparkly either. I've swallowed some extra Vitamin C, hot drinks with honey, and an hour's worth of nap. I did get some work done this morning, and later went for a walk downtown with Acorn for their photography class. I caught a few photos in between nursing frozen fingers and managing Chibi on her leash.
Phone camera snaps taken along our walk.
I've been continuing to think about how we point to say "Hey! Look! This is important!" The flipped coin side has been filling my mind over the past few days. While painting, I have been listening to the audiobook The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker.
The subtitle is "131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday." I've always heard that a large portion of being an artist is seeing the relationships between things that other people might miss. In a time when our minds are overwhelmed by work, personal life, news, and social media - it seems like noticing is all we do all the time. It's exhausting!
I've been thinking on the difference between our day-to-day noticing and the type Rob Walker says sparks creativity, inspiration, and joy. Today I read Anand Giridharadas' essay: "The Opposite of Facism." He talks about, putting it less elegantly than he does, being the change you want to see in the world. It clicked with me that this is the differences between the two types of noticing. One threatens to ravage our hope, creativity, resilience, and community. The other finds unending ways to create and live in it.
With creativity and hope - here I go. (If you are too, leave a comment and share with me what you are doing that is supportive to you.) 💖
Janece
