Lost hobbies,- the missing link?

Close your eyes and remember the last time you sang, the last time you tried to create a recipe from scratch, the last time you decorated your home, the last time you doodled. I was thinking of something I usually ask of my friends (yeah, I'm that person). I ask them to start creating. Whatever pops first into their brilliant mind, that's where some spare energy asks to be directed. I like to use the aforementioned question.

What was your favourite thing to do when you were a kid?

Mine was painting. But I hadn't practiced for 15 years. When I gave it a try and took my own advice , I was given the opportunity, the privilege to step into a magical place I had forgotten I used to call my own, a safe space. It saved my mind and soul during the first lockdown and dare I say it, it helped me have fun? So I ask my friends to find THAT hobby, the one that brought them immense pleasure, the one they dropped.

I am not asking people to quit their jobs and become full time painter and renegade artists. I am a firm believer of balance and some bankers, well they should stay bankers... We only need to look into what brought us joy and give that skill a proper acknowledgment. We like to think of ourselves as complex and complicated human beings but most of the times we have the most basic of needs: eat, sleep, shit and dare I say it, relax? When you are a kid you instinctively know how to relax. It's not shameful to have lost our way but it is in our responsibility to find it again.

But why take something that we left in our childhood? "Can't I use something that I am good at, now?" you'd ask! I feel that as children, we resigned our favourite hobby at a moment of deep emotional and bodily changes. It usually happens in pre-pubescent times when the body is just flooded with hormones, when life starts changing and it seems like nothing will be the same, ever again. If that ain't though, and strange and just plain weird, I don't know what is. So at that point we leave something behind, a part of us that gets resentful. It is our duty to reconcile the Now adult with the Then child.

When creating, the Monkey Mind, that part of your brain that is often called “The Inner Critic”, the part of the brain that deals with such basic responses as fear and desire, is slowly drowned out by stillness with the help of what I like to dramatically call: the Muted Sound of Creation. Yes, there will still be chatter creeping in YOUR background, you do not need to become a Buddha or a Marvel superhero to start on your journey. This is about creating the fulfilment of a good day, every day. It does not matter if you want to be public about your creations or you prefer to keep your productions for yourself. It is not about quality (cause this is the interjection I hear when I bring this up). Remember when I told you I started painting after 15 years? This is my 4th or 5th painting:

My friends came up with such charming ideas, ideas so personal and intrinsic to their own nature that it got me thinking. That is how the idea of a True Unique Content started bubbling under my surface. I believe there is one piece of content that is unique to the individual. This product can only be brought into existence by yourself because it is nurtured in the midst of all your particular experiences and thoughts. The art always exists inside of you, conceptually, but it can only arrive into the world, by being made manifest through your Will and Action. By taking your first step into reminding yourself of your creative nature by tapping into the joys of childhood when being the best or mastering a skill were not important you can uncover a deep sense of fulfilment and self-realization.

In my experience fulfilment is a state of mind. This state of mind comes and goes as it pleases until it is skilfully honed and kept in our midst for more than minutes a week. If it is a state of mind it is thus a state of time. By learning how to guide our Will towards meaningful and enriching activities we can start creating wholesome habits that will bring a sense of joy into each step we take, outside of the craft, into the real world. Wouldn't it be powerful to feel that state of safety, relaxation, exhilaration that our favourite play used to bring.

So I will turn into that Aunt that can take no more BS from you: 1st of all, how can you get quality if you don’t practice? Who do you think you are, Beethoven? 2nd of all, it ain’t even about the quality. Your inner being wants to create. It's more about getting into that flow state. So create, create, create. Put one step in front of the other and come back to your hobby when you need it, when it calls you. This isn't one of those: YOU NEED TO BE CONSISTENT OR ELSE YOU ARE A CRAPPY HUMAN BEING articles.

This is about finding solace from all the adult crap we have to deal with day in day out. So take out that old notebook, order that second hand keyboard off E-bay, dust up the old guitar and just have fun. In time, your True Unique Content will be born and you will happily welcome it into the world because you have taken your time and enjoyed the gestation period.

🎬🧩🎨

So, remind me again, what was your favourite thing to do when you were a child?

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