ENVISIONING

I recently tripped across a journal entry I made about seven years ago and was transported back to a time when I was struggling with how to move forward in my life. This is one of the reasons I adore, and continually recommit, to my sketchbook journal work – it provides me with real evidence of the power behind connecting with and envisioning our future. 

At the time I was writing about my desire for more meaning in my art-making. I wrote paragraph after paragraph about what I wanted my work to be about, how I wanted it to shift and what I imagined it could evoke in others. I also wrote about my desire to help artists – to be of service in some way.

I wrote in great detail about the passion I felt when I was able to talk with artists during open studios and at art gatherings. So many artists were feeling frustrated, lost and uncertain about the purpose of their work. They deeply wanted to connect with themselves and others. They wanted to see themselves in their work, take more risks and push past the fear and limiting beliefs that were holding them back.

Each conversation seemed to open a bigger space of compassion in me. I understood their suffering and their desire for so much more. I could feel their longing, the perpetual yearning for bringing their visions forward through their art. It was the searching, the “blessed unrest” that Martha Graham refers to in her writings to dancer Agnes de Mille that they were speaking of.

“No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at anytime. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”

In my journal pages I envisioned something bigger than I thought was possible for me. I wrote about working with artists to help them find comfort in the search. I wrote about coaching and online programs. I wrote about how it would feel to be offering my support, my insights and my guidance to others and witnessing them step more fully into their dreams. I poured it all out on the page in great detail. 

This is how envisioning works. We dream, we fully imagine ourselves in the experience – feeling it, embodying it and imagining the potential of it all. We don’t think about how we’ll get there, or if it’s even possible, we leave that to the greater outworking of things – trusting that when a vision is so clear and impassioned there must be forces at work to bring it to fruition. 

In fact, the moment we begin to question the possibility or validity of our inspired vision, we limit its potential. Yes, we’ll need to take action and move forward towards the ideas we’re excited about to make them real. But the energy of doubt, mistrust and needing to see the path ahead pulls us away from the flow of creating and locks us into thinking and planning our way there. 

It’s like this with our art-making too. We envision the work in our mind’s eye, we feel its essence and connect to the elements that are presenting themselves to us. But then we need to let go and trust the process – pursue the vision with awareness and a light touch, careful to not be too attached. If we force the process and try to make the painting follow a path that we think will get us there, we often end up with something that reflects that control and – as a result – feels devoid of emotion, vitality. 

Whether we’re creating a life or a work of art, we envision what could be, dream it up, expand beyond what we think is possible for us and then we follow the breadcrumbs that are there to guide us. They may not immediately look or feel like the clues to get there, but they most always are. It’s only in hindsight that we can see the connections, the chance meetings, the course corrections – sometimes disguised as failures – that led us to the destination. Suddenly we realize that we had a vision and now we are living it or witness its manifestation. 

Envisioning and creating is something only humans do. The ability to imagine something and then bring that into form is pretty amazing. Reading this old journal entry reminded me of this powerful aspect of being an artist – the awareness that we can create anything if we envision it. 

So dream on, dear artist. Create what you’re here to create. Bring your vision to life.