The Bridge #143
in which we seek calm (that moves like a wave)
Hello
& Welcome ! The Bridge is a newsletter connecting the professional and the personal creatively across cultures and a diversity of topics, until we are not only full of ideas but also ready to take action. Thanks for joining in the conversation.
A few friends lately have been acknowledging to me the variety of identities they hold, and yet wanting as well to own more explicitly the identity: They are artists!
Yes. We can be artists. We can be creative. No need to have our work in a museum (though that’s cool too); we can claim the title simply by doing creative work. We might be amateur musicians or learning to make pottery. We might be creative cooks or parents creating activities for our kids; we might be crafting newsletters in a special way or facilitating fun events, creatively navigating careers or coming up with new ideas for summer vacation. Whatever it is, let’s love the creativity we have within us to express.
Just as a chameleon can be a lizard and a tree-dweller, a resident of Madagascar and an insect-eater — We humans can too hold multiple identities.
Something to Enjoy
When troubles bear down upon us, pull the carpet right out from under our feet, bowl us over like winds of a hurricane we didn’t see coming, plowing us over from behind, falling down on our face… [okay, I think you get the idea]
We gotta acknowledge, it sucks.
At the same time, metaphorically speaking, it’s from suffering that good things grow. It’s through challenges that we learn. I’m not saying that I WANT to have painful challenges knocking me over when I least expect it or least desire it, but I am saying that it’s reassuring (right?!) to know the show’s not yet over. They tried to bury us in the ground, but they didn’t know we were seeds — and we grew!
And I’ve been thinking lately that if we want to focus on the stormy weather, the grey clouds, the stupidity that’s getting printed in the news, or the very real and saddening hardships that loved ones are experiencing… we can do that. It’s totally allowed. But it’s not the complete picture.
The story of our lives is ongoing. & even were we to die, the positive ripple effects of our lives would keep going. So let us embrace it all! Let us embrace all of the changes.
I think you know where I’m going with this…
Something to Lift Us Up
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Cannonball Adderley Quintet)
A close friend of mine (and reader of The Bridge) shared with me this song the other night. I had been talking about some things that weighed heavy on my heart, and the next morning he shared some soulful jazz music to brighten up the day. Written by Joe Zawinul (who grew up in Vienna, Austria before migrating to the US and being hired by Adderley) in 1966, the song was a hit back then. It’s a jazz standard today. You’ve probably heard it before, but doesn’t hurt to hear it again :)
Something to Quiet Us Down
The Other Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor and Peter Parnall
I have actually featured this book previously, in a Bridge I wrote two and a half years ago, but you might not have read it then. And honestly I love it when we discover natural cycles in our lives that correspond somewhat with the yearly seasons but also have their own rhythms. We can gain such wisdom from deepening our understanding, revisiting a place, a book, a state of mind.
The book is an extended narrative poem about a young girl learning from an old man how to listen. It’s a skill not quite taught in schools. Teachers do ask for children to be quiet and listen, but in this case they’re usually asking for children to listen to the teacher. This book is talking about a quiet choice we can make to be still outside in nature, listening to the rocks speak or to the trees groan, hearing seeds pop open under the ground and hills that sing:
Of course /
their kind of singing /
isn’t loud. /
It isn’t /
any sound /
you can explain. /
It isn’t /
made /
with words. /
…
humming…
It seemed to be /
the oldest /
sound /
in the world.
Something to Practice
In this quiet moment, between you and me, do you hear a dissonance? Is there something that doesn’t sit right, or that doesn’t quite make sense?
Maybe it’s related to your career or to your desired creativity, to life with kids or to finding the right home. It might come as a frustration or a tightness, a sadness you’re holding back or an anxiety you want to forget. It might feel like the smallest thing in the world, because you feel so lucky in other respects, and yet it feels important someone would hear and understand.
I’m going to have an opening next month for a new coaching client. The first call is always free. Would you have the courage to message me?
I have the time, and I’m here to listen.
In community,
❤️ JPC