Happy Thoughts

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

What? No Activity?

Usually I start each blog off with some sort of animal assisted activity designed to help illuminate a personal challenge in some new way. Today I’m breaking from that pattern just a bit and sharing a project I just finished. Because it was designed to help me focus using creative flow on just one theme I figured it fits as a stand alone for what we’re all about here!

Sure! It’s an All-In-One is all

All of the above sketches were done in the morning with a cup of coffee while still in bed, well before the day got off and running. They were created as a part of a Very Large Art Project coordinated by a group of enthusiasts in Brooklyn, New York. I’m including in our blog here at QuantumSparks because they illustrate just how quickly positive imagery can be – how unencumbered by technique – how off the cuff so to speak.

In the project I chose the theme “Happy Thoughts“, so each page is a little ditty done on something that when I think about it makes me happy. This is an excellent exercise for you too!

In today’s blog post the Activity and the Creative Consideration are one and the same. All you need to do is pick up a small inexpensive sketchbook and with a pencil have at it! Just complete the thing with a bunch of quick drawings about things that make you happy! No wait, I take that back – they don’t have to be drawings at all. You can also just fill the thing up with lists or cut outs of things that make you happy. The point is:

1. to do it a little bit every day for upwards of a week
2. to only include things that fill the bill

That’s it!

See the Originals!

To see my sketches in their full blown glory click here and an online flip book of the whole shebang will open in a new window.

Wind Horses

In northern Asia beyond the Himalayan mountains in a region known as ‘the roof of the world’  there are small pockets of people who have integrated their lives thoroughly with the bands of horses they have lived with for generations.

Their relationship with these plucky equines is one that is as balanced as nature itself in many ways.

Did I say idyllic? No I did not. I said balanced. While they celebrate their horses in many ways (festivals, song, stories) they also eat the surplus. These people’s lives are difficult. The horses’ lives are too. These aren’t mean people. They’re not wasteful. These are highly skilled, very practical survivors in an unforgiving climate. Survivors who are successful because they live with horses.

There are times, I’m sure sure, living in the harsh Mongolian Steppe, in the darkness of those long winters, in the depths of this ecosystem’s barren desolation when it seems all connection with hope has frozen closed.

What do these people who persist under these –what I would consider insanely difficult– circumstances choose to help them talk to (the) god(s)?

The Wind Horse

What we know as Tibetan prayer flags — these horsepeople know as the Wind Horses ; “lung ta“. The ones that adorn mountain tops, temple spires and any point between high to low where the breezes will find them. The ideas behind these are:

• they are flown from high to low to maximize their message transference
• as they move in the wind the messages upon them (typically written traditional prayers) are conveyed directly to the space around them transferring their messages of peace and goodwill to the whole vicinity and all beings within it – a very generous and hopeful practice indeed
• I think they’re horses, wind horses, because their intimate firsthand knowledge through living with them has shown these people that horses are strong, reliable, enduring, and dependable

Prayer Flags

The lives of the horsepeople is by many standards tough, nomadic, largely unmaterialistic, somewhat hand to mouth and inter-dependent with horses. We who romp with, bet on, play with and otherwise admire our sport horses, our pet horses, may take issue with folks who slaughter their weak or otherwise unserviceable horses and eat them. Then again, when’s the last time you slept with a horse or depended on one for your absolute survival? If, like me, you can’t say “last night” or “right now” then I don’t think we’re in a position to judge. I didn’t want to Disney-ize this amazing practice though. I wanted to present it in its raw realty for you. These aren’t sentimental, airy-fairy horse lovers like me. These are hard core horsepeople who have chosen Horse to carry not just the reality of their day to day continuation but also their highest hopes out to spiritual realms.

Creative Consideration

Make your own wind horse(s).

Materials:

• fiber (silk for purity – otherwise cotton or cotton/poly blend) cut to about 10″ x 12″ or some such – this does not need to be exact
• fabric pens or paints
• or Sharpie markers and/or watered down acrylic paints
• paint brush
• ribbon or string
• needle and thread or clothes pins

Sketch out what you want to transfer to the area you will be flying your wind horse. What prayers or hopes do you want the area to be infused with? Using words, poems, images or some combination of all decorate your flag. Sew or clip onto the ribbon or string and hang in an area you want to infuse with the message. By the way leave the edges on the material raw and unsewn. You want the thing to eventually unravel and fall apart – helps get the content distributed.

Colors and meaning ascribed:

• blue – sky, space
• white – air, wind
• red – fire
• green – water
• yellow – earth

Activity

Fly it. Place it anywhere you want the message upon it to infuse the surroundings. Indoors, outdoors, in your car, in the kitchen, the barn, next to the kids’ beds — wherever!

Discussion

So, what is the proper treatment of horses? Are there acceptable variations?

• stalls vs. steppes
• arenas vs. rocky slopes
• arbitrary groups vs family herds
• long pampered life vs rougher freer life

How might these extremes relate to your own choices in life?

Finding Unicorns Part 1

Unicorns have been a part of human folklore for many centuries. Their mystique is captivating. From what I know of equine nature, the practicality of a thousand pound creature with a propensity to skedaddle in perhaps unpredictable directions with a saber coming out of his head is questionable from a handler’s point of view.

“Can I pet your unic—AAAARGHGH!” as the startled equine whips his noggin around to get a gander at his now punctured benefactor. A fresh victim to the unicorn’s flighty nature and gold and ivory head piece.

So I give you “Exhibit A”:

We may not actually want to find unicorns.

I think that we’re after, our ‘Holy Grail” of unicorn seeking is the notion that these marvelous animals are enduring symbols of the fantastic in nature and what we actually hope to find is more evidence of that. In this, with the right attitude, we can never fail. Thus we can be and are ever surrounded by unicorns of every size and color. For the so-enlightened they are ubiquitous throughout every landscape. Every ecosystem is lousy with unicorns! Forests, seashores, mountain tops, gardens, yards, parks, trails, rivers, empty lots, moonscapes, underneath rocks — all loaded with unicorns.

For the really clever among us, the well practiced, the open minded, the seekers of joy — unicorns show up in even more places:

• board rooms
• communication exchanges (letters, email, Facebook posts)
• parties
• in books, magazine articles and blogs,
• the shopping mall
• certainly every farmer’s market out there
• artists’ studios
• stages
• in every melody, drum beat and rhythm
• in math equations
• strange conjectures
• good design
• bad design
• menus
• fashion…..

You get the idea. Wherever there is a garden of ideas in various states of growth or dormancy there are potential unicorns.

Perhaps where we're looking is a bit 'off'...

Beginners Guide

To get up and out of our ‘normal’ selves with our ‘regular’ point of view we’re going to have to get up and out of our conventional routines. This will help set the frame of mind necessary to successfully find these unusual beings.

Prep Activity A

De-Routinize the Day

• Eat dinner for breakfast Starting with dessert
• If you shower in the morning — don’t. If you shower at night — do it now.

Outside Influence

• Do you usually log on, link in, check your email/messages/voice mail, etc? Not today.
• Watch or listen to the news? Nope, not today kiddo.

Positive Armor

• Mix up your clothes. Wear that thing you usually save for special occasions; a pair of shoes out of daily rotation, a necklace that usually sits there waiting for its chance to shine. What I’m talking about here are items that you got because you out and out had to have them — not for any practical purposes really, just delightful ones. These are your own ready-made personal power emblems.

You see, this is the perfectly nonsensical thinking that unicorns find so irresistible!

• You are also encouraged to create your own unicorn finding outfit. Special shoes, jeans, earrings, top, tie, belt, socks you catch my drift.

Prep Activity B

Now plop down and write out all the reasons you will NOT find unicorns. You know what I’m talking about. Stuff like:

Because they don’t exist.

No one’s ever seen one.

They’re invisible.

They’re scared of people.

I don’t know what-all. Go ahead be negative. Give it your best shot. Phew! Feel better? Feel all grown up and smart? Right-o. They can’t say you’re crazy now — look how sensible you are with your list.

Prep Activity C

Argue on paper with your sensible list. If you’re with a group doing this activity, shoot holes in everyone’s ‘realistic declarations’. e.g. “No one’s ever seen one.” YET. “They’re invisible.” So are atoms. So is air. You get the gist. If you don’t get it, just call it “Opposite Day” and go with that for now. The ol’ up is down, left is right routine. You get the drill. After all Rome, and it’s zoos full of unicorns, wasn’t built in a day.

On to Finding Unicorns Part 2

Finding Unicorns Part 2

We left off from Finding Unicorns Part 1 - with you being just about ready to go thither and find unicorns. Below are some pointers for how this can be done.

On a trail or at a park:

• sudden lull in sounds (birds and young children, if present, startled by unicorns)
• a healed gash in a tree truck (old horn would – unis have been known to be a bit clumsy about this)
• faint unaccounted for noises (whip your head around – one’s following you!)
• a weird –but not creepy– sensation that you’re being watched (you are, you are)

In an urban setting

• anywhere there are sparkles – sidewalks in front of old movie theaters, fountain splashes on the sidewalk, near little girls
  

• the sudden flight of pigeons unassociated with loose dogs, loose boys or loud noises.
• carved graffiti tags of a vaguely positive nature
• outposts of hope (those Salvation Army holiday bell ringers are always surrounded by unicorns for starters)
• soup kitchens
  

• groovy coffee shops in blighted areas
• artists’ spaces anywhere
• planted plots
• rescue facilities of any brand
• poles with flyers attached to them
  

“Whoa! Hang on there. We thought you were going to show us how to find unicorns. You know, equine thingies with the one horn in the middle of the forehead sort of creature.”

Yeah, ok, you’re right. What we’re going for here are ways to find their habitats, the places they hang out; the intersections of hope and the will to be, to thrive, to grow. Once there, you see, the unicorns find us! When we come at this search sideways like we are our luck increases exponentially because now we’re not seeking the physical embodiment of a being but it’s far more influential essence. So here’s the thing; unicorns as literal interpretations of themselves are at the very least impractical and at the most just some sort of equines with pointy sticks coming out of their foreheads. Kind of a one trick pony if you know what I mean. Not very interesting after a minute or two, and pretty dangerous almost immediately!

We’re going for something larger. Much larger.

Creating Unicorns

When we expect we will find unicorns we become surrounded by them wherever we are. We create unicorns by seeking them. That is the magic, the alchemy of hope. In its elemental forms optimism inspires possibilities of grand and enduring scale. It reaches depths of existence right into the quantum of what connects us to each other and everything else.

Activities

Habitats of Hope
Reflect on places in your own experience that could well be the natural habitat of hope and hence unicorns. List as many as you can. You don’t have to do this all in one sitting. Come back and add new thoughts as you go. See above for inspiration as to where to get started looking.

Talisman

Acquire a unicorn charm object of one kind or another that is pleasing to you. Put the desire to find it ‘out there’ and see what shows up for you. This is applied unicorn thinking in action. You’re looking for the perfect symbol, so believe it will show up. Make notes of this process. Put it someplace you’re bound to see it every day to remind you of your success in finding unicorns and to get you thinking about finding more!
Collage-a-corn
Using your super powers as a unicorn creator you will now turn ordinary equines into unicorns!

(Note: there is no such thing as an ordinary equine – that was a test). Oh and one more thing: Horses that are descended from unicorn lineage will have a whorl pattern on their forehead where a horn would be. Now you can spot true unis wherever you find horses!

A whorl where a horn would be identifies a horse from unicorn lineage

You’ll need:

• horse magazine(s)
• paper – something nice and stiff
• scissors
• glue stick
• optional – glitter!

Cut out regular horses and stick them to your nice stiff piece of paper. Then cut out separate horn shapes for each head and glue that in place. >viola!< instant unicorns! Add glitter as you see fit. Now put that baby somewhere you’ll notice it so you can remember how awesome you are – awesome enough to be able to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Now go out and do that in your head to everything around you that needs some magic.