Connection
The regular reader will know that I got greedy and had several Words of The Year and (here comes another one for those watching!) one of them is connection. This year I have been so aware of connection at many levels:
Connection with my place (like running in the Living Desert and doing lovely walks in Mutawintji NP); connection through my yoga and meditation; connection with friends and family; connection with people I meet who seem to often have just the thing I need to hear or learn....There has also been connection in the form of teaching, buddying, mentoring and creating. At the moment, the work I am making is connecting ideas that seem quite disparate and I am absorbed with the link between seed pods and reliquaries. Steve Jobs said Creativity is just connecting things. And Maria Popova in brainpickings writes about the role of connection and creativity here. She quotes Paul Rand who says, The role of the imagination is to create new meanings and to discover connections that, even if obvious, seem to escape detection. Imagination begins with intuition, not intellect.Some of the loveliest connections lately have come from students! Only this week
two students sent me some real treasures. In response to a conversation about colour, Carol sent these fabulous photos of birds (she didn't know the source. Ideas anyone?) and after we talked about the importance of creativity in life Clem sent this fabulous quote from Helena Bonham Carter which he displays in his workplace for all to reflect on:
I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art.I think the pod photo was taken by Cynthia Mooney of this site but I am checking! Soon I hope to connect properly with our new grand baby. Obviously I will need to wait until after the birth but I will be doing some preparatory connecting this week when I drive over to let it know that grandma is ready now! At least you are all used to sporadic, irregular blogging.Here's a sneak peek at my polymer ponderings on pods and gaus - the Tibetan Buddhist amulet containers: