SARK: "We each get a life (if we're alive) and the shape of that life can be affected by us ... so sit down and send energy into your life. Begin adding new elements that you want included in your life invent their form..."
Being in India, albeit only for a day so far, has really made me think about the ways life can be enriched so simply. Even though this is a trip fundamentally about art, textile and heritage research I cannot help but be drawn to the people.I am staying in Ahmedabad - a place that is not readily visited by tourists and as a result I'm getting to witness Indian life in it's very natural state. The people who live in this old part of city that I visited today clearly live very simply and, to be blunt, are very poor. Yet the Gujarati people are full of vitality and life. There is so much spirit and happiness among such destitute scenery.
SARK: "My life has become so much of what I dreamed, it astonishes me. My inventions have nourished me and others. I'm so glad to be the inventor of my life. Whenever I fall into a dark pit, I try to remember this."
Like SARK my life has become something so much more than I ever could've hoped. I have a wonderful fiancée, I am loved, I am following an exciting career path, I live in one of the worlds most exciting city, I live in comfort, I have spare money to spend on things simply for pleasure...
I would like to work on inventing my life so that I am satisfied by the plentiful thins that I have, not to "want" quite so much. I wish to invent my life so that I do not take for granted the things that I have so readily - and certainly to complain so much less. I'm going to invent a life where I am happy with spiritual satisfaction (not in terms of religion as such - but more about inner peace). I hope that the longer I spend here the more I can absorb from the people and culture around me.
... Invent a new you ...
Wednesday 18 January 2012
Tuesday 17 January 2012
17th January - There are no mistakes
Special post coming from Qatar whilst waiting for a connecting flight.
SARK: Picture this: You are writing in your journal and your cat jumps up and bumps into your pen making a big black mark! Follow that black mark ... onto your nearby pillow where you decide to draw an ink portrait of your cat, which leads to more pillows... and more portraits, which you make for friends, and take great delight in and then somebody silk screens it and you use the profits to sponser two inner city cat shelters...
I am highly fond of this idea of there being no such thing as a mistake. We are all familiar with the expressions around there being no such thing as a mistake and it's all a learning experience in life.
I think really it's all a kind of happy mistake that I happen to be in the position that I'm in now. I hapharzardly got involved with volunteer work with the museum that lead to my trip to India. It wasn't really a conscious decision that lead to my situation - more one small event that lead me on a trail...
Similarly in many aspects of my life I've begun courses and projects that may have been a mistake or didn't feel right for me but in turn have lead me down many great paths that have brought me to the situation I am in now. If I hadn't tried out these things I would not have acquired the experiences and titbits of knowledge that have provided the new ideas I have today...
Follow your minds natural intuition to find new experiences and creative juice...
SARK:A mistake is new food for a new invention".
(Interestingly when I spell checked this post, it declared the entire thing to be a mistake due to the language crossover on the wifi).
SARK: Picture this: You are writing in your journal and your cat jumps up and bumps into your pen making a big black mark! Follow that black mark ... onto your nearby pillow where you decide to draw an ink portrait of your cat, which leads to more pillows... and more portraits, which you make for friends, and take great delight in and then somebody silk screens it and you use the profits to sponser two inner city cat shelters...
I am highly fond of this idea of there being no such thing as a mistake. We are all familiar with the expressions around there being no such thing as a mistake and it's all a learning experience in life.
I think really it's all a kind of happy mistake that I happen to be in the position that I'm in now. I hapharzardly got involved with volunteer work with the museum that lead to my trip to India. It wasn't really a conscious decision that lead to my situation - more one small event that lead me on a trail...
Similarly in many aspects of my life I've begun courses and projects that may have been a mistake or didn't feel right for me but in turn have lead me down many great paths that have brought me to the situation I am in now. If I hadn't tried out these things I would not have acquired the experiences and titbits of knowledge that have provided the new ideas I have today...
Follow your minds natural intuition to find new experiences and creative juice...
SARK:A mistake is new food for a new invention".
(Interestingly when I spell checked this post, it declared the entire thing to be a mistake due to the language crossover on the wifi).
Monday 16 January 2012
16th January - Inventing means experimenting
SARK: "Inventions are always floating nearby..."
"Try this:
Get scissors and coloured markers and a large sheet of paper.
Make random colourings all over the paper.
Then cut it up with the scissors.
What do you see?
What could you make out of it?
Make something new."
I am currently spending the night in a hotel in the city where I will be catching my plane from to India in the morning. Alas I had not large paper, scissors or coloured markers ... So I got inventive and improvised.
My kit:
Notebook paper, one black pen, liquid eyeliner, lip pencil, eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow and lip gloss.
This was my random markings and doodlings:
This is what I "cut" up and recreated:
... Personally I think I "invented" some kind of floor plan design for a landscape gardener. No? Okay then ... it's definitely worthy of the Tate Modern.
SARK: "When I was 8, I invented a new place to hide during hide and go seek. It was between the window and the windowshade. I flattened there like a small blond moth and held my breath".
Following on from yesterday with the idea of being able to invent my own reality, I am experimenting especially so with this notion tonight. This trip will be the longest time Josie and I have ever spent apart since we got together. The longest being just one night - this will be twelve. Together we have this thing that when we're apart we invent places to meet in our dreams. When we're feeling sad and lonely without each other it provides immense comfort to share the idea that we can meet in a mutual invented place when we're asleep. Each time we think up somewhere different from beach huts, to mountain lodges, hot springs, boats, childhood play dens, beautiful moonlit gardens. We pick a location then send a few messages back and forth deciding on details of the visuals, senses, smells, sounds. It gets pretty in depth...
I guess it doesn't have to be a shared idea - if you're feeling lonely you can invent your own place to go and decide who you want to be there. It's very soothing.
SARK:"I feel free to experiment with new ideas..."
"Try this:
Get scissors and coloured markers and a large sheet of paper.
Make random colourings all over the paper.
Then cut it up with the scissors.
What do you see?
What could you make out of it?
Make something new."
I am currently spending the night in a hotel in the city where I will be catching my plane from to India in the morning. Alas I had not large paper, scissors or coloured markers ... So I got inventive and improvised.
My kit:
Notebook paper, one black pen, liquid eyeliner, lip pencil, eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow and lip gloss.
This was my random markings and doodlings:
This is what I "cut" up and recreated:
... Personally I think I "invented" some kind of floor plan design for a landscape gardener. No? Okay then ... it's definitely worthy of the Tate Modern.
SARK: "When I was 8, I invented a new place to hide during hide and go seek. It was between the window and the windowshade. I flattened there like a small blond moth and held my breath".
Following on from yesterday with the idea of being able to invent my own reality, I am experimenting especially so with this notion tonight. This trip will be the longest time Josie and I have ever spent apart since we got together. The longest being just one night - this will be twelve. Together we have this thing that when we're apart we invent places to meet in our dreams. When we're feeling sad and lonely without each other it provides immense comfort to share the idea that we can meet in a mutual invented place when we're asleep. Each time we think up somewhere different from beach huts, to mountain lodges, hot springs, boats, childhood play dens, beautiful moonlit gardens. We pick a location then send a few messages back and forth deciding on details of the visuals, senses, smells, sounds. It gets pretty in depth...
I guess it doesn't have to be a shared idea - if you're feeling lonely you can invent your own place to go and decide who you want to be there. It's very soothing.
SARK:"I feel free to experiment with new ideas..."
Sunday 15 January 2012
15th January - Inventing
SARK:"We are all inventors".
SARK:"In.vention is the natural out.come of creative thinking: to in.vent is to make a new out.let for something to develop.
We are all inventors because we each have the capacity for original thought. New form is the result of focused original thought."
I often feel that my brain hums - it used to buzz but over time it speeded up to a hum. I have so many ideas in one day but very rarely pin them down or let them materialise. This is not to say these are amazing ideas or even any "good" (however one really defines that) but they are my "original thoughts" nonetheless.
I often joke that my weekend job working on a supermarket checkout is my "downtime". It is hardly a mentally taxing job but I suppose actually it is my "uptime" for thinking. I switch the part of my brain dealing with scan-beep-bag-scan-beep-bag on to autopilot and let the rest of my mind play around with creative thinking. My favourite form of invention at the checkout is making up little stories and anecdotes. As a writer at heart, it is words that I naturally tend to use as my means to invent.
I am working on inventing several plot lines for works of fiction (and somewhat faction) at the moment and it was these that I indulged in today after realising that this week of Living Juicy was focusing on inventing.
Inventing in this manner is what I like to think of as "super-creative day dreaming" and I do so enjoy it.
"I am now able to invent my new reality..."
SARK:"In.vention is the natural out.come of creative thinking: to in.vent is to make a new out.let for something to develop.
We are all inventors because we each have the capacity for original thought. New form is the result of focused original thought."
I often feel that my brain hums - it used to buzz but over time it speeded up to a hum. I have so many ideas in one day but very rarely pin them down or let them materialise. This is not to say these are amazing ideas or even any "good" (however one really defines that) but they are my "original thoughts" nonetheless.
I often joke that my weekend job working on a supermarket checkout is my "downtime". It is hardly a mentally taxing job but I suppose actually it is my "uptime" for thinking. I switch the part of my brain dealing with scan-beep-bag-scan-beep-bag on to autopilot and let the rest of my mind play around with creative thinking. My favourite form of invention at the checkout is making up little stories and anecdotes. As a writer at heart, it is words that I naturally tend to use as my means to invent.
I am working on inventing several plot lines for works of fiction (and somewhat faction) at the moment and it was these that I indulged in today after realising that this week of Living Juicy was focusing on inventing.
Inventing in this manner is what I like to think of as "super-creative day dreaming" and I do so enjoy it.
"I am now able to invent my new reality..."
Saturday 14 January 2012
14th January - Permission To Nap!
SARK: "Write yourself a permission slip".
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... *This blog post has been replaced by a nap*.
SARK:"Be a nap angel for yourself and others".
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... *This blog post has been replaced by a nap*.
SARK:"Be a nap angel for yourself and others".
Friday 13 January 2012
13th January - Invent Your Own Nap Rituals
SARK: "Choose a location, pick your equipment. On your marks, get set, NAP!! We all deserve to live refreshed and relaxed, able to claim our good humour and most flexible selves. Doctors need to prescribe naps. Insurance companies need to deduct money according to how many naps we take".
"Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a coloured pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling" - G.K Chesterton
Today Josie, as a surprise, took me to Brighton for the day. It was a first time visit for the both of us and it was a simply magical day in every single way. I enjoyed good old fashioned fun; walking down the pier, eating chips looking at the sea, playing in the arcades, crunching down the beach and watching the sunset with the person I love more than anyone else in the whole world.
I appreciated every single second because I did feel especially relaxed and refreshed after not rushing this morning and allowing myself a little nap after initially waking up this morning - responding to my brains need for napping goodness. I felt at my tip top and now I have face ache from smiling and laughing so much. On the train back home to London, I felt very compelled to nap just so I could stay there in my head a little bit longer. So that's going to be one of my new nap rituals once I have picked my location and chosen my equipment - I'm going to remember this day and I know I'll nod off with special memories and warm feelings to optimise nap quality.
Today was one of the greatest days of my life.
"Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a coloured pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling" - G.K Chesterton
Today Josie, as a surprise, took me to Brighton for the day. It was a first time visit for the both of us and it was a simply magical day in every single way. I enjoyed good old fashioned fun; walking down the pier, eating chips looking at the sea, playing in the arcades, crunching down the beach and watching the sunset with the person I love more than anyone else in the whole world.
I appreciated every single second because I did feel especially relaxed and refreshed after not rushing this morning and allowing myself a little nap after initially waking up this morning - responding to my brains need for napping goodness. I felt at my tip top and now I have face ache from smiling and laughing so much. On the train back home to London, I felt very compelled to nap just so I could stay there in my head a little bit longer. So that's going to be one of my new nap rituals once I have picked my location and chosen my equipment - I'm going to remember this day and I know I'll nod off with special memories and warm feelings to optimise nap quality.
Today was one of the greatest days of my life.
Thursday 12 January 2012
12th January - Nap Equipment
SARK:
"Absolutely favourite and lucky pillow.
Flying pajamas
Magical blanket."
My specialist nap equipment includes:
The Purple People Eater (or Peter as he is more commonly known).
I acquired Peter when I was in Niagara Falls in Canada the summer of 2007, the year my Mum first moved out there. We have become great friends and dedicated nap partners. Peter smells of sleepiness; a mixture of faded perfumes and cosmetics, a bit like Josie (my fiancée who shares mine Peter's bed also) and for some odd reason pencil shavings.
I thought that at 23 years of age I should maybe not sleep with a stuffed friend anymore. SARK has made me understand that in fact Peter is "nap equipment" and therefore of great importance (as if he wasn't already).
Lillian
Lillian is a light up ladybird that I bought from eBay after becoming enchanted by a similar turtle design that a friend of mine introduced me to. Lillian projects little stars (and a moon) on the ceiling which is very soothing.
SARK: "Napping takes practice, I'm hoping to have it added to the Olympics! Even better, let's add naps to all of our activities, especially business (busyness). We all need some juice and cookies and especially a sleeping mat! Mine was multicoloured and folded in thirds and always had an endearing toddler mold smell".
I am hoping to practise my napping skills - certainly they will be tested as I am flying over to India for a research project on Tuesday. I have never travelled such a long distance flight before but I know there will be plenty of opportunities for nap practise. Sadly I will not be able to take Lillian on the flight, so my nap equipment will be halved (Peter is most definitely coming). I think I shall replace Lillian with another comforting and comfort making item ... probably a hoodie belonging to my other half that I can both lie on and cuddle because I am going to miss her very much.
Really it is Josie that is my best nap equipment - it's almost impossible to fall asleep without her around.
"Everytime I nap, something new happens".
When I nap on the flight to India - I will wake up in a different country!
"Absolutely favourite and lucky pillow.
Flying pajamas
Magical blanket."
My specialist nap equipment includes:
The Purple People Eater (or Peter as he is more commonly known).
I acquired Peter when I was in Niagara Falls in Canada the summer of 2007, the year my Mum first moved out there. We have become great friends and dedicated nap partners. Peter smells of sleepiness; a mixture of faded perfumes and cosmetics, a bit like Josie (my fiancée who shares mine Peter's bed also) and for some odd reason pencil shavings.
I thought that at 23 years of age I should maybe not sleep with a stuffed friend anymore. SARK has made me understand that in fact Peter is "nap equipment" and therefore of great importance (as if he wasn't already).
Lillian
Lillian is a light up ladybird that I bought from eBay after becoming enchanted by a similar turtle design that a friend of mine introduced me to. Lillian projects little stars (and a moon) on the ceiling which is very soothing.
SARK: "Napping takes practice, I'm hoping to have it added to the Olympics! Even better, let's add naps to all of our activities, especially business (busyness). We all need some juice and cookies and especially a sleeping mat! Mine was multicoloured and folded in thirds and always had an endearing toddler mold smell".
I am hoping to practise my napping skills - certainly they will be tested as I am flying over to India for a research project on Tuesday. I have never travelled such a long distance flight before but I know there will be plenty of opportunities for nap practise. Sadly I will not be able to take Lillian on the flight, so my nap equipment will be halved (Peter is most definitely coming). I think I shall replace Lillian with another comforting and comfort making item ... probably a hoodie belonging to my other half that I can both lie on and cuddle because I am going to miss her very much.
Really it is Josie that is my best nap equipment - it's almost impossible to fall asleep without her around.
"Everytime I nap, something new happens".
When I nap on the flight to India - I will wake up in a different country!
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