CAN YOU HEAR THAT...LISTEN

Today I decided to have a quiet day.

Quiet, not as in doing nothing, but more so in having no music,

no podcast, no sound other than what happens around me. Which is so different to my norm. Life is full when you parent kids on your own, so I just needed to come back into my centre, plus there was something I could feel stirring in me so I wanted the space to hear & be led by that.

As I got into my work for the day, completing a few things off the list, I was pulled to go take a photo of a spot that I kept passing on school drop offs.

So I packed up my camera and went straight there.

Afterwards I decide to go pick up a present from in town - where I hardly ever venture to. Then as I was heading back to my car I noticed an art gallery...The Sala Gallery

I tried to go in the first door I saw - it didn't open.

I tried the second door - nothing,

Then I saw a sign that said 'By appointment or through another shop',

So third time lucky I made it inside.

The owner, the artist, was sitting right there as I entered.

I joked about how I didn't know how to get in here...which followed by a laugh from him and a comment that made it clear that it was kinda meant to be that way.

For the next hour he shared his artwork and processes with me.

I got to see his workroom where it all happens and unfolds.

From digital sketches, writing that shares the meaning behind the art, techniques he's used as well as the repeated features throughout all his work that I called his signature.

Every part of it spoke to me...although a different medium, the meanings could have all been pulled from parts of my musings over the years.

For the whole hour I mostly listened, got goose bumps and took deep breaths as I nodded. So many times I wanted to say YESSS!!! and pull into the conversation a piece I'd written, photographed or journaled on...but instead I held my tounge, so not to miss hearing more...I was enjoying every moment.

And here's the best part (ok it was all great, but this part always makes me smile and shake my head).

At 70 years old, it took him 50 years to step into his creative world, to make something of it, to allow what he saw to come through.

He'd spent his life as a scientist and in his words 'A workaholic'

And now he creates.

Now he gives time and space to what he loves.

He found a way and has made it work.

He has another business that allows him the time to create.

I've spoken about this so many times over the years...

We are all creative...if only we can sit long enough to allow that part of us through,

To hear it all and most importantly to listen, to really listen, and let that be what leads you.

Oh and the last part that made me laugh out loud...as I was driving away, I looked to the art gallery as I past and saw the words 'The art of meaning'

Similar to 'The art of self' that I've created.

To get to know and understand yourself, to find meaning in all that you do and to create it all in a way that really lands well for you.

If this morning I had not listened to myself about needing quiet,

I would have missed many of those pulls that led me to the gallery.

I would have missed experiencing another's art,

The connection I felt to it and his processes, and the life story of another.

Being there for that hour taught me things, confirmed things and two of his artwork & their meanings touched my heart...one made me smile in agreeance and the other gave me a touch of sadness mixed with a smile of remembrance.

When we allow too much noise in...we miss so much of what's for us, what we're meant to experience and the direction we're meant to take.

So where you can, give time for quiet as you go about your day.

Let yourself hear and see if you can let yourself be led by what you hear.

There's some amazing spaces just waiting for you.