It is very easy to get locked into a specific pattern.  The image above is an example of that.  I was working three jobs at the time, trying to finish a film project, going to university and watching things in these and personal places fall around me.  For some reason I had time that afternoon and went for a walk with headphones for the first time in ages.  Not all that much of an escape but something as simple as that is well worth it.  Take time and get out.  On your own.

Victoria is a wonderful place for doing just that.  Take a time each week where you intend to wander and take things slow.  One of my favorite books is “Faster” by James Gleick.  In this he talks about the number of ways we have tried to speed ourselves up, the multitasking and then fact that these things that were supposed to help have just given us excuses to need to go faster still.  Step out of all that.  It’s not real, you are.  There is so much to be grateful for here as a human being that it staggers the mind.  Literally anything you couldn’t think of is available for you to explore.  Our city is a dream of little communities within communities.  Go to a open stage night and listen to some of the musicians who have honed their craft alongside fellow musicians, some for decades now.  Go to Imax and watch a show you never would have thought of watching.  Explore the library for titles you never would have thought of.  Get lost in the streets of Oak Bay with headphones (you can always use google if you get hopelessly confused)  Twitter search #yyj to see what is going on in town today (and yes, you’ll probably run into yours truly on there.  I’m @tomrambles.  Hi!  :D)

Does this all seem a little oversimplified and not in the adult world?  Yes.  But I’ll be honest.  I’ve tried being an adult and I find it a mix of both stressful, kind of boring and not much in it.  Mostly joking there, and the ironic footnote is that this blog was not written in one sweep.  I don’t mean to run down the effort we all put in to be responsible but who the heck wants to make strata councils, finance and long line ups when we don’t have time our whole life?  In the arts and even in the martial arts there is the concept of the child’s mind.  It’s roughly related to the “from the mouths of babes” idea.  It’s also, I feel, connected to the same concept of meditation.

You step out of your reality and accept that you only know the world from your perspective in the same way that I know mine from mine and the guy driving the bus (for instance) knows his from his.  In creativity its like pretending you don’t know how to do your craft at all…now what are you going to do?

The best way to explore it all is with the sense of gratitude, which was the original spark that started this blog.  Feeling that your actually lucky is one of the best things you can do for yourself.  Being outside of your world and just exploring the city is one great way to discover how lucky you really are.  So leave all of the adult world behind for a couple hours.  Have the meeting tomorrow.  Go play outside.