Unmeasured moments

I've thinking about the "spaces in between" in our lives, spaces not geographical... Spaces in between emotions, spaces in between people, relationships or milestones, or sometimes just in between moments.

I've been dwelling on them. These non-events. And trying to figure out how to paint them. To paint them in order to celebrate them and to have you notice them.

Because its these transitions, these spaces in between the things that are readily counted, that are often the most formative. Quiet moments that allow inspiration or change to creep in. Moments when we are not busy being busy, that create us, that allow us to see who we might be. Moments that might otherwise go unnoticed, and which are themselves opportunities to notice.

Once upon a time, I worked in the public service. And in my job I had a clear purpose - to deliver on the charter of my agency - and I did a fine job of it. I took on worthy projects and created worthy outcomes. There were a fair share of challenges and frustrations, but on the whole I achieved things that I could look back on with a sense of satisfaction and pride.

Each morning when I turned up to work I knew what I needed to do. There was a lot to fit in to each day, but I had a clear sense of purpose I which I absorbed, in part, into my identity. And all of that was a good thing. And it could have gone on ad infinitum, except that, in the way of government agencies, there was a restructure and a redundancy.

In an age where almost everything in life is done with a pace approaching urgency, where there are too many tasks to fit into each day, we are a generation short on moments on reflection. We don't create enough time for allowing space to step back and look at the big picture and see where our day-to-day is taking us or even perhaps, if we are on the right road to get us there.

Sometimes, without realising, we allow things outside of us to give us our purpose. Sometimes, we forget about that little light inside of us that makes a glow unlike anyone else's glow.

It is important to spend time in nothingness, to find space to counter the urgency, to create space in our minds for reflection, freedom, imagination and flight.

For me, that forced space, that job that was no longer there, was a gift.

That space was what let me slow down enough to look at my "big picture".

When I took a step back and breathed deeply, and allowed some time for nothingness, a new purpose began to emerge. It was an opportunity to reconnect with my creativity.

And now I'm looking for ways to paint it. Ways to inspire you not to wait for it to be handed to you on a platter. You can do it now. Perhaps I should have done it earlier, or perhaps it came at exactly the right time. Who knows!? But there is never a better time to start creating space than now.