Life is full of animation. Both the life outside and the one in our imagination. Tables talk and flowers speak. Humans get possessed by ghosts and objects breathe. There are invisible eyes staring at us and there are spooky trees with treasure buried in their trunkholes. There are red elephants and blue horses. The animation is there all around us yet it expresses itself differently in different humans, like notes of music. The breath of life is the same in everyone yet it expresses differently through different individuals.
Like a camera captures a moment and produces a photograph based on its features, a human being captures and absorbs the moment’s experiences and expresses them in their own unique expression. Polaroids, high-definition images, pixelated photographs and all.
A painter paints a painting; a poet spins poetry; a mathematician solves problems, and likewise. Even different artists have their own different expression styles.
Amidst all this animation, the one who gains the golden fruit is the one who observes more. Usually in all these job postings we see that one of the requirements is ‘an eye for detail’. One who pays attention to detail is always a preferred choice in every profession. In life also, a keen observation is the passport to an in-depth self-discovery. The more deeply one knows oneself, the deeper is the expression in which one expresses themselves through their work or art or speech.
“You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.” – Alan Watts
We are the sieves and filters and prisms through which the universe expresses itself. In this phenomenal process, aspire to be a suncatcher.
A suncatcher is a decorative ornament usually made of crystal, foilback stone or stained glass. A suncatcher is dangled outside a room or a house where it catches the sunlight and reflects it back in the form of colourful patterns and rainbowy reflections.
It could imply so many different metaphors and insights. For instance, be the one who observes and absorbs the animation of the world and then reflects back in the form of their own rainbowy expressions.
Be a suncatcher who concentrates all the light onto itself and then reflect back to the world its own unique rainbow.
Absorb, observe, understand and then create.
Be a creator, but first be an observer. First catch all the sunlight, then reflect your own rainbow.
You already have the bejewelled ornaments of your senses and mind to do this, to be a suncatcher. All you need is a conscious observation. Observation is the touchstone of all the practice and effort we put into the process of writing, creating artwork or producing something.
Document
your observations. Maintain a diary. Jot down the pictures you have seen, the
sights and the smells, the tastes and the textures in a commonplace notebook.
Observe the people and scribble down their dialogues, their physical
characteristics, their facial expressions, their tone and voice and speech and
scribble it all down in your notebook. Keep a scrapbook of your observations. Create
a character sketches book. And a file of all the styles, sentences, writings
and tidbits you seem to like or love.
In school, if you remember, we used to play a game in which we were provided two similar images and our task was to find the difference between the two. Similarly, as a creative writer or artist, our task is to look at everything from a keen eye and a newborn’s point of view.
Look through a window frame – what do you see? Be a people watcher. Notice objects, places, people, artworks, sounds and seasons. Turn your attention away from the chatter in your mind
Be the
binoculars who views everything far, near and deep from the expository vision
of a child. Anne Lamott, the author of Bird by Bird says,
“I learned to be like a ship's rat, veined ears trembling, and I learned to scribble it all down.” – Anne Lamott
As life winks at you with challenges presented at your doorstep, be a suncatcher, take it all and then giggle back at life with your own unique piece of art created out of these challenges.
Take the animation of life and turn it into something beautiful, using the jewel of your mind!
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