Nostalgia

Books are like machines. Your hands are like oil to its cogs, keeping them alive and working in your mind. – Stefan 🙂

The paint brush shakes in my hand as I try to make a delicate stroke. I hear the alarm, it’s 6.00 a.m. I flinch, the paint at the end of my brush seems to explode and fall onto the paper below me. The sun seems to peep over the horizon, it’s rays changing the colour of the unfinished piece of art. I smile. Another night. It’s not like I’ve always loved working in the peace of the night, but as of late, I’ve been enjoying one specific part, always watching the sunrise and never missing it.

I sigh, put my head back and close my eyes, sinking into my chair, just enjoying the moment. I open them and look at the slow swish of the blades of the fan, cutting the deep yellow rays of the morning sun. I sit up and look around on my desk. It’s a mess. My eyes drift to the stack of books on my desk.

I feel sad.

From when I was a child, books have been my friends. Being shy, I never had many friends and so, I always had a lot of time on my hands. With no TV to stare at and no video games in my reach, I would turn to books, with an excitement that is amazing, even to think about.

As time passed, I found more and more things to occupy my time with. A 30 year old guitar lying around the house was a turning point in my life. I took it in my hands, and I could feel it, the indefinite potential and the promise of great joy. So I spent every minute I had with it. My dislike for musical notations and my desperation to learn, somehow taught me to learn the guitar without them and I embarked on a new journey, but in taking that turn, I forgot all about books, I forgot about the wave of energy and excitement that flooded me when I saw a new book. The sound of music somehow replaced it, but it never completely filled it, because the excitement was different, the experiences unique on their own accord.

Time passed and I started exploring my childhood love to draw and paint. My endeavors on the blank paper took the time that my musical explorations left behind. Again, my books were left behind, and they mournfully looked on from the shelf, where dust settled on them as the clock ticked on, increasing my guilt. But I ignored it, justifying it as the unavoidable result of my development into an all-rounder, something I’ve always worked towards.

Time passed on…………

Then came into my life a new challenge. Long gone were the days when I could play music and live life easy and get an A on all my papers studying overnight. My backpack got heavier each year and the assignments piled up, taking what little vestige of time I had left.

The dust settled inching it’s way into another millimeter every year, camouflaging my once beloved friends, blending them with the furniture and what else there was that never moved.

Now here I am. School’s over and my guitar sits in it’s case. My paint sits safe in the back of my drawer. They are still alive in my life however, adding perspective and colour to everything I do. But they don’t take up much of the clock. Not like they used to.

I wonder what I could do to use my time well………

I get up from my chair and move over to my books. I take one and wipe the dust from it’s cover.

Nostalgia! That must be how I can best describe it. A longing for a time past, an excitement that took me through at least five books a week.
I look at the book with love. I open it. Then I look at my bed. I should probably sleep. The book looks at me. It somehow seems to understand. ‘No Worries’ seems to hang out from it like a placard.
Not this time, I say. Not this time.
I sit down once again, this time with a book in my hand.

Have you ever felt like I did? Do you have a hobby you lost in time?

Like. Comment. Share. Be a part of the movement!
God bless! 😊

Sleeping In Your Art.

Hello there!

Thanks for dropping by. For the next few minutes, I am going to take you into my perspective on life. You guys have been so supportive and I am very grateful for every like and every comment. Let’s live life beautiful!

I was helping out at church today along with some of my friends on a programme for kids. After some time we decided to take a break.

When you are old, the games you played when you were ridiculously young suddenly become so amusing and entertaining in many ways. Not like I am old or anything. I mean I’m just 17! But you know………..

So we took some colouring books lying there and decided we were going to colour them. We set out on this venture armed with mini crayons and sketch pens. I was actually thinking of doing something else so I was not as enthusiastic as the other guys in our group but I thought I’d do it anyway.

So we sat down and started colouring in between jokes and loud laughs. But as time passed on, the place became extremely quiet. I was surprised at how concentrated I was on getting the curves of the flower just right. It was just amazing. In a split second, I had been snatched away from reality and embedded into a reality that once existed in my past, in my childhood.

You guys know I love art. But as of late, I’ve been more into just pencils and sketching and that sort of thing. I am not professional or anything. I just love doing it. I’ve not added any colour to my art in years. So, when I held those mini crayons it was like an small wave of electricity passed through me.

And I absolutely truly loved it.

As a kid, I used to completely ‘sleep’ in my art, as I like to call it. I would lose what little attachment I had to what was going on around me.

I felt that today.

And it was magical.

I believe as kids, we all ‘sleep’ in our art. As parents, you might have used crayons and colouring books to make that toddler settle down or calm down your baby. You see this phenomena at it’s best in babies. Give a crying baby anything new and she will stop crying instantly. It’s what I like to call ‘baby love at first sight’. A true passion for curiosity and learning. I believe we sleep in our colouring because every time we put the brush to the paper, we learn something new.

Why do I ‘sleep in my playing’ when I learn a new song on the guitar?

Because I am learning something ‘new’.

But as time passes by, we stop doing that. We have trouble concentrating. We have trouble resting while working.

Why?

Why do we find it hard to fall asleep in what we study at school? ( Ironically)

Is it because we have stopped adding colour to our art?

Is it because we have kept creativity waiting at the door too long?

What do you think?

It’s high time we thought about the way we learn things. Look at nature. God has created this universe in a way that even the scientist who has been glued to his telescope for a significant part of his life, falls asleep in what he sees.

Why is it that kids hate what they learn at school?

Why is it that we are fed up with work?

Why do you think we find refuge and peace in hobbies like blogging?

Creativity is an important part of learning because it uses resources that are the very basic languages of human cognizance like colour, sound and movement. Incorporating them into every activity we engage in, everything we learn and everything we teach is an important part of making the process enjoyable and comfortable.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post. What is your perspective?

Comment. Share. Be a part of the movement.

God bless!

 

Awakening

It’s that one word we all hold at the back of our minds with some sort of strange respect. We like to connect it to some kind of internal revival. A spark, maybe.

But I find awakening to be much more. It is that moment when you start appreciating the beauty of who you are and who you are with, that moment when you become aware of reality and yet choose to be inspired by it.

Every morning, you look out the window and you see how the sleeping plants and animals come to life. How the leaves wake up and look up to heaven, glorifying God and how the flowers bloom into their surroundings, blooming into a funnel made from petals of colour, that seems to take in all the beauty and concentrate it into a unique beauty.

It’s amazing how light brings to the light, things yet unseen, how the rays of sun curve behind the clouds. giving it a golden lining. Every flower, every tree seems to be taking in it’s surroundings and uplifting it.

What is awakening for me?

It is that moment when I turn to God and I say, I am willing to do what I can, to take in what I have and lift it up. Awakening is awakened that moment when I decide to bring heavenly love and compassion into the things around me and the people round me. Into my everyday reality.

It is a call to reality, but then you view it differently. There is a touch of excitement to it somehow.

The dictionary says it means ‘waking from sleep’ or ‘the act of becoming aware’, a ‘coming into existence and awareness’. Well, all true. But the magic resides in how you view what you see when you finally become aware.

I believe the magic in the word is complete only when something amazing comes out from being aware.

The true awareness we need today is in how we are able to bring change into our lives. God wants us to live productive beautiful lives. He created beautiful beings. We are already aware to the harsh, turbulent roads of life. What we need to be aware of today, is not what is wrong, but what is right. We need to look up from the thorns and see the rose. We need to catch our heads from falling to the ground in frustration and turn it towards the heavens in hope. Only then you will be able to walk with your heads held high. Only then will you be able to see the faces of others. Only then will you be able to join hands in prayer for our nations, only then will we be able to stand strong together.

We need to ‘awaken’!

To sad reality?

No!

To potential change?

Double yes!!

I just want to encourage you today, to look around you. Things may not be all going right. You maybe asking God right now: Why?

But change and hope resides in reality only when you learn to see the right things, when you choose to be ‘aware’ of what you can change!

Awaken!

What does ‘awakening’ mean to you? Share. Comment. Be a part of the movement!