An archipelago of joys.
That's right,
An archipelago of joys.
Does that do anything short of stretch a smile across your face?
An archipelago of joys.
In our world,
Perhaps all worlds,
As a human,
There's a tendency to compare.
And it's something of a trap to a creative life.
All the more easy now,
With social media,
The Instagrams,
The Pinterests,
The TikToks,
To see what others are doing and consider ourselves less than or more than what we find there as we click and stream and search.
What would it be like,
Creative,
To take those cultural temptations for what they are?
Something to leave,
To set aside,
To remind ourselves are meant as tools,
Not guideposts.
And in doing that,
Making that choice,
To then see the truth of what we are,
Who we are,
And the grand,
Expansive landscape of our own creative potential.
That,
To me,
Is this archipelago of joys.
An archipelago is a group of islands.
Consider Hawaii.
Dotted in a grand expanse of water,
One can jump,
If you will.
Take a hop from one island to another.
Always safe,
Always protected,
Always solidly stood.
And also surrounded by those beautiful waters.
This is us,
Our life.
We live many within this one body.
Each one another of those islands we hop between.
And all around,
Always,
Consistently,
Continuously,
The flow of those beautiful waters of spirit,
Of divinity,
Protecting,
Encompassing,
Uplifting.
This is an archipelago of joy.
And then not just this lifetime trajectory,
But what you hold in your hand.
For me,
As a child,
I was picking up those crayons.
That island of discovery was wildly impactful.
The color,
The mark-making,
There was nothing else when I had those crayons in hand.
As I grew,
My life led me to the next island.
And on it,
I not only had those beautiful crayons,
But I soon discovered paint and form and cloth.
And education drove me further,
Standing on a new island with all those tools I'd acquired on the previous islands.
With me here,
Joining in education,
Exploration,
Curiosity,
That helped hone those tools into the masterful self of my creative journey.
Because I'm still here,
There's more exploration.
There are more islands to hop to.
The same goes for you.
You may not hold a brush or a crayon,
But you know what you hold.
You know what your creative ingenue is.
You know what simple form was held by your hand,
Your head,
Your heart,
When you began your journey through those islands,
And you can see where it's brought you here now.
What I ask of you now,
Here,
Today,
Is to spend the next few minutes considering,
Dreaming,
Feeling,
Knowing where it's taking you next,
To what island you,
Creative,
Will travel to next amidst these safe,
Beautiful,
Comforting,
Directing waters of spirit,
Your soul.
And so here you are,
Identifying this gorgeous archipelago of your life,
Standing on the you see yourself upon.
Turn back to that smile upon your face,
And believe in this joy,
This pleasure,
With new curiosity,
And if you will,
New color.
Awaken,
Create,
Today.
Enjoy the journey.
