Important Notice:
I just had an inspiration today.
For Part 3, we will be using what we discover in Part 2, to create an abstract painting/drawing.
Please prepare a sheet of paper and something to paint with, such as, crayons, pastels, paints – preferably 3 to 5 different colors and/or textures/materials. At minimum, one graphite pencil/ a charcoal block for example – something to easily draw in varying textures/tones with – and a found material like cardboard, newspaper, etc – will do.
You have several weeks to prepare, needn’t be fancy, but if possible choose something you feel drawn to/comfortable with.
– February 18, 2024, edited on Feb 20, ’24.
What’s this about? INTRODUCTION
Just found this out? I recommend you start from PART ONE
( in chronological order )
Week 7: Your Feet: The Miles You Walked
February 17, 2024
Welcome to the Part Two of Creative Self Exploration, a year-long experiment/adventure, where I play it by my intuitive ear and post weekly themes every Saturday JST.
In Part Two, we will focus on our physicality, our body, the temple we inhabit.
I’d like to start off by focusing on our feet.
On many miles we walked, on times we stood still whether in awe or aghast. They are the foundation of our existence.
Important Note:
If you do not stand on your feet for variety of reasons, please focus instead, on the foundation of your mobility, such as the palm of your hands that steer your wheelchair. If you have no mobility then where your body contacts the ground. In other words, this exercise does not intend to exclude you whatever your circumstance may be. I don’t say this to be politically correct neither. What I mean, which, I believe, applies to everyone, is…
Your physique is Your Temple, wherever you’ve been, however you are.
Please take an undisturbed moment and give your feet a gentle, open attention.
Kindly let your feet recollect memories of the places they walked/stood upon.
Any time/place(s) in particular that stand out, if so, in what way(s)?
Feel any sensations as you let your feet remember?
Feelings, emotions, memories … visions, thoughts, scent/taste/sound?
What are your favorites, do you wish to revisit the places/experiences?
Any ripple effects, chain reactions, of recollections?
What do they mean to you, then and now?
Please give enough moments this week, ask questions like these
and allow the answers to surface from within you.
You can write, draw, record in whatever the method you feel drawn to.
I do recommend you take notes, treat those snippets like gold nuggets.
And you, a gold mine.
Have fun!!
Week 8: Your Ears: Soundness of Your Visions
February 24, 2024
‘soundness’ synonyms include:
integrity, strength, truth.
– thesaurus.com
Welcome back to this weekly, year-long experiment meant to be fun and hopefully also, inspirational.
Suggesting, most of all, you being the fondest inspiration to yourself.
It has already been a great lesson for me.
This week, we are focusing on our ears.
As stated last week, this exercise is designed to include all living biological humans. If your hearing is impaired, please substitute with the part of your body that functions closest to sensing the sound/vibration/frequency.
Find a place reasonably quiet where you can be alone for a while.
Giving your ears soft, permissive attention, allow them to recollect what they heard/experienced up to this point.
What do they remember, and how do they make you feel?
Perhaps it’s a swing at a park resonated so right it unlocked the treasure chest in your subconscious.
You may remember shifting colors of the sky on one special day with your ears like a concerto.
Or, you find your ears reliving the feel of squeaky sand revived just last week with your feet.
Please be nonjudgmental and allow what they – your ears – want to recall, surface.
They – memories/recollections – may trigger optimism or pessimism. While not to recommend anyone staying sad, both are valuable information about your truth/self. That is what I mean by “nonjudgmental”.
Furthermore, this is not an exercise to get comfy in mere sentimentalism. What is suggested here is that you tap into you as the…
Your body is The Ultimate Supercomputer, fueled by a bottomless supply of Purest Love.
Please make sure to take notes of significant finds. As mentioned at the top, you will need the info for the upcoming Part Three /in several weeks.
Wishing you a fab week listening to your ears ;)
Week 9: Your Nose: Scent, Potent.
March 02, 2024
Hello and welcome back. Can you believe it has already been 9 weeks, which is more than one-sixth of the whole year?
This week, let’s venture into the magnificent world of scent.
Sense of smell seems to have a special relationship with a person’s memories.
Before we go any further though…
Just like with Week 7 and 8, if your scent-sensing/nose function is hindered, please pick the part of your body that serves the closest. For example, if you interpret smell into vision as in seeing the scent i.e. your eyes perform a double duty, then please focus on your eyes.
Find a place and time where you can feel reasonably relaxed for a while.
As if going over your life experiences through your nose, gently focus on your nose and let what it remembers surface.
What scent connects to which memories, and how do they make you feel?
Please perform this week’s task with extra patience/attentiveness and treat what you find with utmost respect – like a museum archivist with white gloves would.
Lots written about the connection between memories and scent (as easily be found on our internet).
Strong tie as such may bring up deepest of your emotions. Naturally, not all we remember make us smile. Please be extra sweet to yourself this week as you embark on your journey inward, and as I mentioned in the “disclaimer” (scroll down to “Few Important Notes”), if you feel overwhelmed, I beg you not to push/rush.
Nature in you somehow knows how much is too much, so please listen.
What you have to postpone this week may not overwhelm you in a year; things of this nature seem to have their own order, something else may have to come to your awareness first.
So please…
Trust the Process Unfolding;
like a flower bud, your Intuitive Wisdom knows the way.
When you are ready, choose a few memories/feelings significant to you.
If they are on more sorrowful-painful side (but you can handle them), I suggest you examine them by imagining them into colors, shapes, textures – a precursor to the upcoming Part 3 where we will draw/paint an abstract picture.
Hope you find this exercise meaningful – see you next week!!
Week 10: Your Skin: Between You and the World
March 09, 2024
Hello howdy, how have you been?
This week we are going to focus on our largest organ, our skin. And am thinking of approaching it a tad bit differently.
So, our skin. It contains you, enfolds your self, while simultaneously is exposed to the world around you, in direct contact with it.
It fights for you, it feels for you, is your armor, a shield, a wrapper, a billboard.
Your Skin Envelops You, an Inimitable Gift to the World.
Quick Note: It is the largest in most cases. I could not think of ways to exist without skin but I know I don’t know everything, so if needed, please adjust what is suggested in this exercise – skin as what stands between you and the world – to your unique circumstances.
Please set aside a few moments this week like taking off for a very short vacation and ask yourself:
How do you see/perceive your skin?
How the world around you feels on your skin?
If your skin could talk, what would it say, in what tone of voice?
What is different this week from previous few weeks is that, I’m suggesting that you feel into you today.
For example, how is the perception(s) of your skin as of …. now. As a starting point anyways, because, asking questions as such may lead you to a certain point in your past.
If that happens, please take notes and return, when ready, to this week’s questions.
Is your skin more of a wrapper than an armor to you?
Does it feel translucent, or is it more like a mirror?
Hard shell or fluid silk?
Just to make sure, it is not your actual skin’s texture that is in question here. It’s the way you feel about your skin as an organ that encases the rest of your physicality – along with it your emotions, memories, your history.
Is it consistent or varies depending on the region, as in, armor on your back, billboard is your forehead….
Does the world, to your skin, feel like a feathered nest or a bed of nails? A battlefield, a no-man’s land, a tropical jungle or a mosh pit?
Hailstorm on your back (ouch!!) while a fluffy cloud covers your crown?
Anywhere you feel more protective of, or feel more open to the world? Tender vs numb?
And if your skin could talk, what would it say and how eager do you feel, to listen to what it has to say?
As always, I am suggesting you ask you and let your answers surface, you collect them answers and take notes – especially since we are going to be using all that info to paint/draw an abstract art in Part 3, coming up in a few weeks.
I think it will be a blast.
Enjoy your mini vacation this week!!
Week 11: Your Hair: Mane Majestic
March 16, 2024
Majestic synonyms: dignified, sovereign.
– from thesaurus.com
You’re given the Divine Right to your Dignity;
so much so you even get to choose whether to accept it.
Part Two, started with our feet, makes the last stop this week at our crown: our hair.
But first, I gotta drop a quick note, as have been for the entirety of Part Two: if you have no hair at the time of your giving this exercise a try, please substitute with either the memories of your hair, or your scalp.
Your mane, more often than not, plays a role of a silent servant. Oft seen more from the view point of appearance management, doesn’t scream when it’s cut, nor object when applied heat.
I thought it’d be interesting to point a spotlight and ask some questions, such as…
How do you perceive your hair, currently, and over the years?
If your hair is an antenna, which feels more true, emitting or receiving signals?
How would your signal sound like, what does it say, to you, and to the world?
What do you think of your hair, a decor, a protection, a shelter, a spear or a shield?
A root growing upward?
Most people have experienced multiple ways of styling hair. Do you feel your perception(s) of your hair changed along with it?
Some say, your hair is an antenna. Let’s explore this idea.
If it is, what have you received through it so far? Pulse, light, sound, songs like a radio would?
How’s the reception been, consistently good, full of noise or varies depending on your do?
Let’s explore further. If this antenna can also transmit signals, what do you think yours would be sending out?
Is it consciously crafted, or unintentionally escaped from within you?
From what part of your body / existence the signals come from – e.g. your heart, head, throat, etc, and how personal is the message to you?
Have you notice any change in your perception of your hair, after asking these questions?
So, that’s it, folks!!
Next week, we will conclude Part Two, and the week after, start Part Three, where we will use what we discovered about ourselves thru Part Two to create an abstract art piece.
In case you are from the “Oh I can’t draw, not even a stick figure” camp…
You are in LUCK, fren. You see, most children are naturally, and enviably good at drawing abstract. You probably were, too.
I will do my best to guide you through it, so at the very least, it will be a fun experience.
And arguably, not too many things are more important in life, than to experience quality fun.
See you in a week!!
Week 12: Conclusion: Make Yourself At Home!
March 23, 2024
Hello hello, welcome back again.
This week, we are going to conclude the Part Two.
But firstly.
I’ve written each week thruout Part Two, a short note on how I approach ‘inclusivity’ regarding our physique.
It’s not really about being “inclusive” however. Allow me to explain. Thanks in advance.
I understand people live many different circumstances. Challenges, if you will, that may inconvenience your day-to-day existence in this world we live in. This can be said, obviously, about broader subjects, not just about our body.
With that in mind, let me clarify one more time, where I am coming from.
Especially, but not limited to, considering the person’s Creativity…..
Your Unique Circumstance can be
Your Most Substantial Asset.
Also / by the way, these snippets, like the one above, in large, fancy font are written as encouragements*.
The words come to me as I write each week; they are spoken directly from my experience of claiming my creativity**.
*Because looking within isn’t always easy.
**Not just ‘art’, although I write as an artist.
Okay folks, let’s dive in, shall we?
How was the experience of Part Two (P2), any change in the way you see your bod? Yourself?
Imagine, if you will, you are throwing a post-P2 party, inviting each subjected part as a party guest: your feet, ears, nose, skin and hair.
What would the gathering be like? Time, attire, vibe….
Picture, the party’s in your Hakoniwa from Part One; how would you arrange it?
What would you write on invitation cards, and post party thank you notes?
How was Part Two for you? Anything stood out as especially challenging? Flowing?
Lasting impressions? New discoveries?
Which one(s) you enjoyed the most? The otherwise?
As for the party….
How’s the behavior/character of each guest?
What would the conversations be like?
Are they getting along okay? Who’s more chummy with whom, and with you?
Adoration? Animosity? Hair looking down on feet?
Favoritism? Equalism? Partying down, or party proper?
How would you decorate your Hakoniwa for the gathering?
Are you watching sunset together, a midday pool party or candle-lit wining and dining?
Will you write same message for everyone, on invites / thank you notes?
And how was it for you, the party host?
So this is it.
CONGRATS!!, to you for completing the Part Two.
Part Three will begin next week. We will be painting/drawing an abstract art piece, based on what we discovered about our body during Part Two.
It will be helpful, if you can jot down important points about each P2 week.
If you are not, or if you are joining in late, you can go back to Part 2 while on Part 3. (e.g. Work on Week7 and upcoming Week13 together – I think you’ll find it much simpler than it sounds.)
Looking forward to seeing you in a week, as the new adventure unfolds.
