The Ordinary is as Potent as the Inspired

Sometimes when I freewrite I can get there. I can get somewhere I didn’t know was a destination to seek. I can discover a corner of my mind I didn’t know I had. I can experience a feeling I didn’t know was possible. And sometimes, I don’t get there at all. This had me asking the question: “So what does it really mean to let go of attachment to an outcome?” Well, it’s getting used to the effort of getting started as well as the effort of learning to accept that while it may lead somewhere extraordinary, it may also lead nowhere. It can lead to circles and rumination and doubt and blandness. And that’s ok too.

If we want to be our whole selves and experience life to the so called “fullest”, we have to spend time with all parts of ourselves, including the boring ones. We have to include the ordinary, the mundane, the routine, the cyclical and redundant. Because ultimately all of those have as much imprint on our experience of life as any other aspect.

This is why we often hear “the hardest part is showing up” because that tends to be the main barrier to experiencing life to the fullest. We toil with having to wake up at 7:00am and commute to work, doing our laundry and folding it, cooking ourselves dinner and cleaning up! The day to day can feel stuck or boring or uneventful. But when we make the intention around these to be “showing up” to whatever the experience is,, we may find new destinations or feelings with them.

Sometimes the showing up we resist is the one where we choose to stay in bed instead of going to the thing. Instead of questioning that decision, what does it look like to show up for it? You embrace what the experience is now and discover what else might be yearning to emerge for us in the everyday, straightforward moments of our lives, including showing up for not going.

Showing up for the drum event (or showing up by not going)lets you practice the freewrite. Sometimes the improvisation takes us to magical edges of our imagination and other times, it can miss the mark. But how did you show up for it? Because ultimately, all of those hold equal weight in the imprint of our lives.