Are you familiar with the phrase "navel gazing?" The definition I found online defines it as both meditation and excessive self-contemplation. You can stare at your belly button to help you meditate and/or you can spend too much time thinking about your own thoughts, feelings, or problems. I lean towards the latter: self-reflection and introspection as an extreme sport.
I myself am a compulsive navel-gazer and proud of it. Ha. Writing in my journal, pulling tarot cards, doodling in my art journal, reflecting on life, pondering the mysteries of the cosmos and my role in it all, worrying ad nauseum about why I'm here and how I'm doing this thing called life... all very familiar territory for me. But I feel that self-awareness is vital to being a better person. Knowing our strengths, our wounds, our challenges, and our gifts and talents can only help us be more intentional about how we do life, to not harm others, to actually see how we impact the world around us rather than merely blindly reacting to it.
However all that self-awareness needs to have an outlet. I believe it's important to look up and around and to consciously experience the world around me. It's vital to put all that reflection and introspection into a greater context. I am but one of billions on this planet and I know it's not just all about me.
I deeply believe that I can use all that navel gazing for good. Spending time being introspective means searching for how I can best give back to others. What are my strengths and talents and how can I share them with the world, or at least my little part of it? What's important to me? What's my cause? There are no shortage of challenges and problems that we humans have created here on this planet and I truly want to make a difference and contribute in some way to finding solutions to them.
This is basically the core and foundation of the work I'm now doing. For me, I'm an artist, so it's a matter of matching my creative skills and passions with my desire to envision and build a better world. When I first tip-toed out onto this new creative life path of mine the phrase "navel gazing for a cause" didn't make sense to those I initially shared it with. But rather than digging in my heels and figuring out a way to get my message out into the world, helping to make it better understood, I got discouraged and put it away on a shelf and forgot about it. Yet the concept stayed with me. It has driven everything I've been doing for the past year and half. It has been the underlying motivator fueling my efforts all along even if I didn't call it navel gazing.
Recently I shared this phrase with someone that I've met only recently and she said the most brilliant thing to me. Why not, she said, instead of tucking this phrase away waiting for permission for the world to be ready for it, perhaps I should be the one bringing it to the forefront, taking initiative and making it a THING! Perhaps I need to be the one leading with this phrase and concept, helping folks to understand it and embrace it. Perhaps, just perhaps, I can be the one guiding the ship rather than bobbing along next to it hoping it will go in a better direction, waiting until folks are ready for it.
My mind? Blown.
What a revelation!
So. Navel gazing for a cause. I'm bringing it down off the shelf, dusting it off, and sharing it with others. I'm going to be proud of this idea and shout it out from the rooftops. I'm taking the helm and steering this thing in a new direction. Ready or not world!
That leaves me with these questions for you to do your own introspection and pondering: Do you spend time reflecting on who you are an why you're here? How do you do that? What tools do you use? Are you aware of your gifts and talents? Do you honor them and share them with others? How can you use them to help create a better world? What is most important to you? What would you like to see changed for the better?
I highly encourage you to get to know yourself better. The world is waiting for you to share your badass self with it.
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If you know you want to be a more creative person but just aren't sure where to begin, this online self-paced course is for you, The Portal to Creativity. The activities invite you to be curious, to start reflecting on who you are, and to find out more about what moves you in life. It's a chance to get to know yourself better. By the end you'll have a clearer direction of where to start your creative path, and know yourself even better too.
I love that you are doing this and helping others with your talents and insight!
Also an Olympic calibre navel-gazer...so naturally I think this is a BRILLIANT idea!! xoxo ~ mel