Month: December 2017

When I tried my hand at Stand Up Paddleboard back in July, I met a lovely young woman named Leah. I was telling her about my 60 X 60 quest and she gave me a wonderful suggestion for my list – To complete The Artist’s Way. She explained it as a 12-week program that sparks creativity. I told my friend Suzanne about it and she immediately bought the book assuming obviously the message was for her since she’s the one who suggested the paddleboard. I know. But that’s one of the things I love about her – she listens to messages from the universe. Anyway, she completed the program and said she wasn’t sure I’d like it. I ignored her, bought the book and began the program in October.

The book proclaims to be “A course in discovering and recovering your creative self. A spiritual path to higher creativity.” Okay. I’ve always been a creative person and lately I’ve missed drawing. I stopped many years ago and have been stuck – unable to get back into it. Fear? Lack of inspiration? Confident I’d lost any talent I may have had? Yes. To all of that. My main concern was the “spiritual” part. I am not a “God person.” I don’t subscribe to a religious faith, but thankfully the author addresses this and tells the reader to substitute ‘God’ with whatever word works for you. Sure. ‘Universe’ works for me. I got started.

The gist of it is you read a chapter a week for 12 weeks and complete a number of tasks that allow you to discover the link between spirituality and creativity. In addition to the tasks (which require a lot of writing and more thinking than I’ve done in a long time) there are two other continuing things you must do. One is to take yourself on an Artist Date, described by the author as “a block of time weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist.” I could do that. The other part of the process is something called Morning Pages. This is done every day. E-V-E-R-Y   S-I-N-G-L-E   D-A-Y. In the morning. Like set your alarm ½ an hour earlier than you need to get up and write 3 pages of long hand stream of consciousness writing. This was exhausting, often frustrating and caused more instances of “numb hand” than a pinched spinal cord. I did learn to recognize synchronicity. To put things out there and listen for the answers. One day I wrote a solid two pages about my high school art teacher who destroyed my confidence as an artist – something I’ve been holding on to for the last 40 years. A few days later I learned that she died on October 4th and on October 14th a memorial service was held for her in Northport. I started this journey and wrote my first Morning Pages on October 15th. I was finally able to let go of the grip she had on my creativity. This is synchronicity.

Anyway, you know how sometimes you set your mind to something and promise yourself no matter how hard the journey may be, you’re gonna stick to it? You’re not gonna give up? You’re gonna see it through to the end? Yeah, me either. Six weeks in I was done. WAY done. I hated the writing, I only found the time to do two Artist Dates, and I wasn’t getting out of it what I wanted to. The good news? I bought two new sketchbooks and watercolor supplies. I’ve tried my hand at drawing again, and I played around with the paint, and I swear once these holidays are over, I’m getting back to it. And I did learn to recognize when the universe is sending me a message and when it is, to actually listen to it.

So while I didn’t exactly finish this challenge, I did give it my best effort so I’m adding it to my “completed” list. As someone wise once told me – it’s better to quit than be a loser.

Began 10/15/17. Abandoned 11/30/17.
Suggested by some chick name Leah

Picture this. It’s a crisp Saturday morning in Manhattan. Suzanne and I had just taken the train in and are on our way to a dance rehearsal space on 8th Avenue. The elevator takes us up to a colorful lobby with a sign that says “Quiet Please. Creativity at work.” All around us are young actors, singers, dancers, musicians preparing for their auditions for some of Broadway’s top shows. We find our way into Studio E with 80 or so other hopefuls waiting for our chance to show the Great White Way what we can do! Well, not exactly. We were actually there with Flash Mob America to rehearse the dance we would be doing for an unsuspecting woman, who if all things went as planned, was about to become engaged.

We spent three hours learning (more or less) the rather complicated dance moves to “Can’t take My Eyes Off of You” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. You know when you like a song and then you hear it 20 times over and over again and you want to rip your own brain out of your head to make it stop? Yeah. That’s me now. Anyway, the group of amateur dancers was very diverse – young families with children, millennials, middle aged men and women – all with varying degrees of dance skills. I’ve always liked to dance, but for some reason, give me steps to follow and suddenly my hips and torso become fused. The dance wasn’t easy and my otherwise keen sense of rhythm had taken a holiday, but I wasn’t letting that stop me.

The choreographer staged the performance, deciding who would join the dance and when. First she and a “friend”, then two more people, then four more, 6 more and on and on until everyone was dancing. This may come as a surprise, but Suzanne and I were relegated to come in during the “everyone else” portion of the dance. Fine by us. That was the only portion of the dance we “sort” of knew anyway.

We all headed individually to Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. I’d seen it in media forever but had never been there personally. What a beautiful spot! The fountain (dry this time of year) surrounded by the park and the lake was lovely and the perfect spot for a marriage proposal surrounded by 80 dancing strangers.

We were left to mill about like your average tourists as the couple entered the park. The choreographer asked the gentleman to snap a photo of her and her friend. He did, gave her back her phone and as she pretended to look at the photo, she hit PLAY. The music started and the two of them struck their first move. In came the rest of the group bit by bit as the bewilderment, excitement and joy grew. Park goers stopped in their tracks as people started filtering into the fray, creating a large…well…mob of dancers. The couple stood there watching and smiling and when he was brought into the dance toward the end, her surprise was palpable. At the end of the song, he approached her, got down on one knee and presented the ring. They hugged, they kissed and thankfully she said YES!

I’m a romantic at heart and It was so amazing to be part of a couple’s very memorable proposal and start of their life together.

June came into the city to watch the flash mob, so the three of us celebrated our performance with outdoor drinks at the lakeside Central Park Boathouse and finished up at The Ribbon on the upper west side where Rob, Suzanne’s husband, met us for dinner. An absolutely wonderful day from start to finish!

And oh – I would totally do a flash mob again, so if you’d like to join me, sign up with Flash Mob America and they’ll send you an email when they’re in New York. Just think – you too could be an indelible part of someone’s lifelong memory.

Suggested by Me
Completed 12/2/17