October 12, 2021

The past isn’t a great foreteller of the future

I used to be able to swing freely on the monkey bars without feeling sore. I used to spend hours on end climbing trees. I used to play golf well. I used to know how to do quadratic equations, and work out the interior angles of triangles. I used to be able to calculate the volume of a cylinder and program computer games.

I used to do lots of things, and now I don’t. Instead, I do many different things. And so why do people tend to need us to have done something before before they trust us to do it again? And just because I could do it before, doesn’t mean I can do it again (at least not without more practice). Past me had never written a children’s book, or illustrated one. Past me didn’t know how to cook. Past me had never painted with watercolour. Now, I do all those things, and who knows what I’m capable of tomorrow.

Just because we’ve never been an artist or written a book or made a clay pot before, doesn’t mean we can’t do it tomorrow. Our identity is formed by the actions we’ve taken in the past, but, more importantly, the ones we choose to take in the future. There’s no better time to be an artist, or a writer, or a potter, we just need to trust that the past doesn’t control the future, it’s what we decide to do today, and tomorrow, ane day after that do.

Other observations
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Rendering the invisible

Perhaps the role of an artist is to render the invisible so we become more attentive to the world as it is?

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The preparation ritual

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The other side of loss is opportunity

Loss is difficult; we often like what we had more than what we may have. But how do we know unless we make space for the new in our lives?

November 5, 2024

Consistent or resistant

Is my aversion to change about my wanting to be consistent? Or, am I actually being resistant and am I losing something because of that?

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