Working on creative
expression is an important pursuit. Many human achievements benefit
our physical existence and that does contribute to wellbeing.
Nevertheless it is obvious that while there may at present be less material
poverty in the world, an inner poverty may be on the rise,
manifesting in the prevailing obsession with fame and wealth, which
reveals an ignorance of the inner riches within us all. While there
has been a strong movement in the recognition that we need not only
physical health but also a healthy knowledge of who and what we are,
within the surge in mindfulness and meditation practices there is also infused within that the hard to relinquish need for instant gratification and
short-cuts – this insecure concern for appearances and quantifiable
results.
It is neither the acclaim nor the rejection that matters in creative expression, but the process. In that process we are uncovering what has been hidden, sifting to find what is true, distilling over the course of time, winding our way along an unknown path, unaware of what we will come upon. Perhaps opening a door onto the new.
Your completed piece may spark something in others, or it may not — what matters is the work that went into it, the attempt. We are all trying to remember something — every day we can attend to this — even though we have no guarantee that there is anything to be found. The alternative is to become more lost and entangled. Every day we can give our attention to what matters, which is whatever stands before us now.
