Meraki

A reflection, because sometimes it's just time.

The word of the day is Meraki: to do something with soul, creativity, or love; to put "yourself" into what your doing, whatever it may be. 

There is no other feeling that can replace full investment of your heart, your soul, your creative spirit, your love, into whatever it is you may be doing. To paint is not just painting. Infuse the paper with little pieces of self, like soul origami that melts into the page. Paint with colors that invigorate the mind and brushstrokes swayed by the mood which dances within. Perhaps fiery. Perhaps quiescent. Maybe, in moments like this particular, perhaps salty. The color of today is sea-spray, with a hue of empty heather, like the dirty feathers of a sad seagull. 

To write is not just writing. Words: not just letters, but combinations of the familiar which, when stitched together, craft any tale you can dream. A careless seamstress sews these words from patterns, as if one size fits all. But she misses her moment to notice her words: the way they sound together, the way the sit next to one another on the desert page, white for miles, waiting to be adorned like a temple. 

Were the words selected thoughtfully? Were the details a choice? Do they flow together? Are they fighting? Are they empowered? 
Do they have agency? Can they move and shine? 

To give an outlet this attentiveness is not a simple task. It does not come in every moment. The modern clock spirals fast, like a vacuum vortex that takes every ounce of energy to not fall into. And ironically, only in the hardest of times when your life, like the clock, begins to spiral, and your feelings are the very most felt, can you channel an inner superpower to slow things down to notice.