Buddhism taught me that a lot of our suffering comes from being too attached. Not just to things, but to people, to ways of living, to the status quo. Being attached means not being able to let go.
When we're too attached, we spend a lot of energy of trying to hold on to things, to avoid change, to keep live as close to our idea of perfect as we can.
But the truth it, shit happens. Things change all the time. We lose jobs, there's pandemics where everything gets turned upside down, we have kids, our lives change, people we care about move away or - worse - pass away.
Getting over our attachments doesn't mean that we stop caring about the things and people in our lives we love. It means being able to roll with the punches, accepting that nothing is permanent, and that beauty can come out of the change we're all trying to avoid so hard.
So today, we'll do a little exercise in 'not being so attached'.
The Activity - Wreck your drawing. On purpose.
The obvious soundtrack for this activity:
Step 1: The pretty
Create a drawing of something you find pleasant to look at. This could be flowers, for example, or simply nice geometric shapes, patterns or just colours. If you've been doodling or sketching for a bit, you know your go to motif.
Draw until you think to yourself “aw, this looks kinda nice”.
Step 2: Wreck it
Now we're going to mess it up, on purpose. There are multiple ways you can wreck your drawing. Here are some examples:
black marker or chalk
scissors
finger paints
smearing coffee grounds all over it
giving it to your toddler or your dog
Choose your (literal) weapon of choice, and go at it. Let out some those frustrations while you're at it. You'll likely feel an initial resistance, but then maybe you can even discover the fun in wrecking something without inhibition.
Go with your feeling, and the flow. Let go of your initial drawing, and the end result. And who knows, maybe your wreckage will lead you down some new unexplored creative paths.
If you found some joy in this exercise, I can highly recommend the fantastic Wreck this Journal by Kerri Smith. 224 pages of space for some exquisite wreckage.
My Example
I started off doodling what I doodle so often. Circles and rainbow colours. I then did a first step in trying to do something outside the pretty rainbow box and added some different and darker and lighter shapes. Still geometric though, still very much concerned with making it look nice:
I then took the biggest and darkest chalk I could find from my sketch kit and went at it. A little hesitant at first, but then enjoying the process more and more:
I channelled all my teenage emo angst and put it over my rainbow circles.
Is the result just as 'nice' as before. Maybe not. Did anything horrible happen because of that. Nope. Did I get to try something new and widen my comfort zone? Absolutely.
I hope you'll have a great week. And whether it's good or bad, just remember that the week after will be different.
Love, Lorena