Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
"The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play." ~Arnold J. Toynbee
As an energy worker, someone immersed in studying and working with the mind-body connection, I knew that the frightening episodes of vertigo that I was experiencing were a wake-up call. The spins, as I call them, had come to teach me something as all dis-ease does. It didn't take me long to connect the dots: vertigo manifests itself as an imbalance, an inner ear disorder. Where in my life was I experiencing an imbalance? Without hesitation, the answer sprang forth: I needed to put the word play back into my vocabulary.
I love the work I do---writing, creating, photographing, teaching---the range of tasks associated with these endeavors is deeply rewarding, but sometimes, without warning, the output can drain me. Most days I don't recognize the drag on my psyche, but it was hard to ignore the spins. I realized that, in order to heal, I needed to breathe fresh air into my creative blood.
"To heal illness, begin by restoring balance." ~Caroline Myss
Prior to the pandemic, I’d been an avid student, taking adult education courses on oyster farming, near death experiences, the U. S. Constitution, and even airport architecture. For me, learning is a playful pursuit and it activates a childlike exploration within me.
I've been a devotee of Julia Cameron and her groundbreaking work, The Artist's Way, for decades and have always subscribed to her two main tools: Morning Pages, and Artist Dates. A weekly artist date to a bookstore, cafe, museum, or secondhand shop could always enliven me, fill me with creative capital, but even those outings have dwindled.
The time has come to correct the imbalance.
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