My son is away at a playwriting workshop for two weeks, and Jen (my partner) is focused on school. Mom-in-law is content to do a little gardening and rest in the summer heat with a book. The second half of August is full with travel and commitments, (including a wedding that promises melodrama and conflict) ...so except for an overnight trip next weekend, there is a PAUSE in being useful. It is one of those times, the next two weeks, that might allow for extended playing.
Working on a creative project can't wait for a pause like this. Work goes on in the middle of chaos and problems, because income depends on it. But there is a certain quality of absorption in play, skills "in the zone", that come when there is a chance to just play..
A favorite early memory of play was the local sandbox. The sand was ready to become anything, and if I was lucky there were some matchbox or hotwheels cars left in there. The thrill was builting a city, with ramps and bridges. The process of doing it was the thing, not the result, which would not even last a day, but just the joy of creative play. Time was suspended and the senses were bright and alive. There was no "me", and there was no need to have the thought that there was no me. That place of play is one of the two great joys I know (the other being family and friends)
This short pause will be a chance to go sandbox. This week it will be imaginative play, weaving a mythical story and having permission to wander anywhere, with no shoulds or shouldn'ts. Allowing imagery to flash and flow, capturing in words and pictures what can be captured, and letting go of what can't be captured, knowing there will always be more, because the source is generous and boundless.
Next week will be more practical play, gathering imagery for oil paintings that will go to a dealer. They will be urban paintings. That means taking a sketchbook and a camera, and wandering, drifting, aimless, around this city. There is something about being aimless, walking, being drawn by sights and sounds, and being bright and awake to everything. A busy crosswalk transforms from an everyday "mundane" sight, to a riot of color, light and shadow. The sunlight raking across buildings , and the energy of the work day. I am involved, part of it, but also standing back and looking with a very simple eye.
So.. Just sharing this moment, and hoping that you have time to play in a sandbox.
Gassho
Daizan
Sat today
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