Sunday and planning

Sunday’s call to reinvent yourself, to become the architect of your own life 

One of my greatest pleasures is to sit on my verandah (it is enclosed with louvred windows), so the outside can come in, but I don’t have to deal with insects. The louvres are open, the birds are having complex conversations it seems. So many songs. The dogs are lying nearby, the fans are whirling, the coffee is spent, the books are open. 

Each morning a different book presents itself insisting it be open.  I browse Stephen Cope’s The Great Work of Your Life and even the title seems enough. The great work of your life. What is our great work?

…we are likely to interpret feelings of exhaustion and boredom as the sign to retire. But couldn’t they just as easily be the call to reinvent ourselves? As we age it seems harder and harder to let our authentic dharma reinvent us. We imagine somehow that the risks are greater. We tend to think that leaping off cliffs is for the young. But no. Actually—when better to leap off cliffs? (T. S. Eliot said it: “Old men ought to be explorers” (Stephen Cope, 2012, pg. 62)

My take on reinvention is that it can begin small. Step by step. We change the way we do things, we change the way we think about things and we change our lives. Incremental change can have a profound effect if we remain loyal to the act. 

This week I am working with emerging artists, and we will talk about, and begin to develop, group rituals in order to enrich and grow the group dynamic. 

A very simple definition of what a ritual is comes from Ozenc and Hagan’s Rituals for Work (2019):

Actions that a person or group does repeatedly, following a similar pattern or script in which they’ve imbued symbolism and meaning. (Ozenc & Hagan, 2019)

Rituals can help us move from abstract discussions of what we are wanting  into daily practice: creative actions that keep us on track. As independent artists we are interested in a bottom up culture where everyone can be part of creating the working environment. Employing rituals of practice, we can grow together, having created a safe and nurturing place to experiment and risk. As we engage in our rituals, we begin to feel safer, we know what is happening, and we know we belong. 

TASK:

Today, think about what rituals you have place to make you feel safe, productive and connected. For me, my early morning coffee with the birds and the dogs, the deep discussions with my partner each morning before we begin our work, yoga asanas and meditation practice all set me up for my working day. Do I do these every day? I wish, but enough to keep the days moving into weeks moving into years.