What if?

What if, rather than discovering ‘who I am’, we had the potential to re-create our own identity? We could re-invent ourselves? Perhaps it is no longer “Who am I?” but rather “Who am I becoming?” So how do we bring these ideas into our creative practice in order to be of service to others, and at the same time refine who we are becoming?

Researchers from Ohio State University examined what happened when readers of fiction cared deeply about characters in a novel, to the extent of actually feeling and thinking like that character. They found that “experience-taking” or acquiring the experiences of the characters, had the capacity to change, if only temporarily, the lives of the readers. Logically this seems relevant to a theatre audience. We provide opportunities for “experience-taking” so that our audience can step into the shoes of the characters to inhabit different ways of being. This awakens in me the importance of seeing our art practice as our teacher. Every day we could ask our creative practice: what are you going to teach me today?

We can also experience-take from the depictions and poems and writings we do about our younger selves and our future selves. How would they deal with the situation? We could step into our family’s shoes, and experience-take: What would mum do in this situation? How would she solve the problem? What would our mentor say, our best friend…

So much to dream on, and it reaffirms for me we are never alone, as long as we have a firing imagination. Keep feeding it by exposing yourself to art, creative practice, nature, meditation, yoga, and of course family and friends.

Go Gently.