Design: Harmony

Musing...

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
When we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. 
--Marianne Williamson

Our design for creative expression must be in harmony with ourself, for how can one live with regret?  We all know the feeling of a half-hearted attempt, not giving it our all, or even giving up. In these cases, fear has won out in keeping us small.  Our design calls us forward into our greatness; we design steps into a higher expression of ourself. And responding to that call with courage results in peace, knowing we are in harmony with our magnificence.

Kate’s Turn:

The  design that challenges me currently is public speaking. I am being called upon to present my ideas, teach and lead others in a large group format. I have avoided these invitations previously out of discomfort and fear, and then do not live with myself  in harmony, knowing I’ve chickened out. My suffering is a sign that I am playing too small. My pain is telling me I am not where I want to be. And the pain pushes until the vision pulls.

So I’ve joined Toastmasters, not to become a powerhouse speaker, but to be able to say “Yes” comfortably to opportunities and then to live in peace with myself; I am freer to step into more of who I am becoming. I recognize that the dissonance the fear causes dilutes my focused power in creative expression.  It isn’t about forcing myself to do this; it more about releasing what isn’t me – I’m letting go of an outdated version of myself. And designing a plan that is in harmony with my expanding self.

Get Fired Up:

Take a harmony read to identify any area you might be playing too small.

What is needed to let go of those restrictions in order to allow you to be in harmony with your expansive self? 

Turn disappointment into daring!

Design: Capture

cherry blossoms tidal basin

Musing...

“It's a moment that I'm after, a fleeting moment, but not a frozen moment.”

“It's all in how you arrange the thing... the careful balance of the design is the motion.”  -- Andrew Wyeth

Wyeth’s painting, “Wind from the Sea”, hangs in the National Gallery of Art. We don't have permission to print the image here, which would only offer a hint of what this art really is when you stand in front of it. To visit this work of art is to smell the air off the sea that the painting captures. It’s alive. 

Charise’s Turn:

Eugene Gendlin of Focusing teaches us that you can have a “felt sense” or a “bodily knowing” of what a problem, issue, or situation is about. A word, phrase, or image that emerges from your felt sense captures this knowing in a way that thinking or analyzing can’t  [focusing.org for more information]. As I’ve been laboriously developing content for my website, I’ve been checking how the design of it – the writing, the layout, the choice of words, images – resonate with the deepest intention that I have for my work which isn’t yet articulated. 

What I do one day and then look at the next day has to speak, not just sit there on the page or on the computer screen. I’m taking my time, tinkering, setting it aside and visiting it at a later time, checking to see whether it’s right – the right feel of the whole project or of the totality of my vision.  It’s like the future talking back to me when I know it’s right, an “ah, that’s it” – what I’m doing fits with where the work is going to lead.

Get Fired Up:

Practice finding a felt sense for what you are designing – whether it’s a plan, a project, a business, a work of art, a craft, a new routine.  

At any step along the way, ask yourself, “What does this whole thing feel like?”,  then wait for a response to emerge from a deeper place than thought.  See what word or image captures your response -- and let your response reengage you with what you are doing. Keep it alive!