Learning to Speak the Language of the Universe

There's something I want to say here. There's something I want to say, and I'm not sure exactly  how to say it, but it's about art and work and sharing, and learning the language of the universe. And here's the thing -- I love that I really have something I want to share with you, and it really wants to come out, and I've already flowed through 649 words just letting it come through, but I've only just barely started to get to what I wanted to say now. And this is it. I'm saying it now. Are you getting what I'm saying?

This is it.

To most people I said nothing, but to some people -- I said something. I said something about what's really going on right now with me as I'm here looking at what I'm seeing, and trying to give it life -- or rather, to let it come alive. ..

I'm in a photo essay project led by the luminous, wise and fiercely talented Bindu Wiles. I'm supposed to take black and white portraits this week. So, I had that in mind when I shot these two pictures. The one on top is the one I like better. The one below is the one I think might be a better picture, but I really don't know...

Look at the picture at the top -- it's kind of plain, but it evokes something. It's not an amazing picture or anything, but it moves something in me. I like the light and water, the roundness of the glass. I like the way that odd trolley in the back places the photo geographically in the world somewhere, and that it's somehow out of place, but still not. (Click to enlarge).

Now, look at this one below:

A lady walked in the door of the coffee shop as I was shooting, so I grabbed it. There's a lot more happening in this shot, it's sort of interesting, I think, for being a shot of a flower vase. But it doesn't do much for me.

So, here's the dilemma: do I share what compels me, what sparks this very intimate recognition within me, pulls a small heart string.... Or do I share the thing I think other people might resonate with? The thing I think might actually be more compelling?

In this case, I decided to just shelf it, and do nothing. (Until it occurred to me to add them here about 5 minutes ago).

The point is -- how to decide what to create, and what to share, and what voices to listen to in deciding...?!

Sometimes you just know -- that thing you just did is Fricken good. It's ready to fly. But more often than not, there's this gray area...

A lot of people get stuck in that gray area. Especially when trying something new, or finally listening to those voices and actually pursuing a soul calling. Everyone has an opinion, or an idea of how to do it based on what they've seen and done, and unless they're really amazingly brilliant and/or they know you really well, their opinion is absolute crap when it comes to you. Totally useless. Please don't listen to them.

There's a lot of voices you can choose to listen to, but then there's one really awesome one that rules them all, and it's the language of the universe when it comes through your spirit.

Some people hear it speaking through a tree they're sitting next to, or the wind rustling overhead. Sometimes it comes through on the smile of a child, or a flash in the eye of the checkout bagging girl. You recognize it when you're really open to it -- when you're connected to yourself, and actively surrendering to the marvelous creative pull of your work. Whatever and whenever that might be.

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I'm on a journey -- a quest of sorts -- to re-capture the magic spark of my life, and let it set me ablaze in all my work. Sometimes it's an epic adventure, and sometimes it's frankly a pain in the ass. I suffer through it like most of us -- I have my fears, my frustrations, my self-doubts. Occasionally I wish it would all just go away and I could be off the planet for good, but usually shortly thereafter I realize I've been sucking some bad energy, and I fight it off, and the next day I'm on top of the world. Like I could EAT the world, and I'd still be hungry...

I'm glad you're along with me. Sharing this or saying hi on Twitter or Google+ or Feacebook or email are all great ways to connect. The greatest, though, is to really think about this stuff, reflect on it, see if it shifts anything in your perception, and use it to fuel your work. I may not know what you're doing, or I may notice -- you might share it with me along the way -- but I will most likely feel the resonance coming back in waves.

Everything I put out comes back to me in some way. I watch what's happening around me, and inside, and I feel the resonance.

The universal flow works in mysterious and magical ways. The more you stay true to yourself -- cleave to your vision, and let it drive you, the more the universe speaks to you in a language you can understand.

Staying true to your vision, something special happens -- you start to get more fluent in this language. It's a language only your own -- a language of your soul. It whispers in the wind. Suddenly the universe begins to speak more in a way you can understand. It's sometimes quiet at first, but it grows slowly more tangible.

And it speaks through people all around you. They start to tell you things you've never really heard. Maybe it's not even that different from what you've heard before, but suddenly you have virgin ears. Like being with your first love. Then you learn how to really speak in this language, because it's a really delicious language of love.

What you see in the world all around you. The beauty you feel and resonate within -- the magic in that. How marvelous to have that privilege, that opportunity to revel in that, and then to reflect it back out. This is the language of the universe.

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The little secret about the picture at the top is it evokes something very intimate for me -- a mixed sense of aloneness, sadness, beauty and hope. It captures a really simple moment from this week, without trying to be anything. Aside from that, I reckon it's a bit boring. Does it do anything for you -- do you like the other better, or neither -- and does this whole approach turn something on for you? I'll be listening.

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