When the Fig Speaks
This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.
It's been a good year for figs. The neighbor's tree bows over our fence, fully laden. Our own adolescent fig has ripened nearly a dozen. It's like watching a twenty-year-old kid grow his first beard. A little spotty but with promise.
That "promise" is what I want to talk about today. I don't know about you, but I take the "temperature" of my well-being based on how goofy I am. How many bad puns come to my lips. How many times I break into disco while cooking to emphasize a point I'm making to a friend. This goofiness holds promise. It's relaxed, it's comfortable, it's me enjoying being silly.
So naturally I'm pleased when I feel inspired to play with my food. I think absurdity, and even irony, are needs. I love it when they're met. And like all needs, I'm aware that there are ways I can meet them all by myself. Right here. Right now. Even if only in my mind.
Creativity is like that. Once we discover it, exercise it regularly, and enjoy its glow, it's willing to rescue us when we need it most. But only then.
If we don't believe in our ability to meet our needs, when we think our well-being depends solely on those around us, then our wild creativity gets boxed up and stashed in the attic.
The opposite happens when we entertain our creativity. It's like a wild yeast. Our imaginative powers can land on anything and bring it bubbling to life. True, our off-color jokes might spill across the table and sour the conversation. It takes regular cultivation and care to work with the wild.
When I feel it bubbling within me, I feel fully alive.
And so I play. The snapshot of the fig above with aronia eyes is a mini excerpt from a full length feature in which the fig actually talks.
Imagine what fruit would say if given a voice!
If you can't, feel free to find yourself a fig and see for yourself. Playing helps us discover the world and discover ourselves. It's lawless and it's coming for you.
Act now.