Stepping Cards

I was walking on a path made of playing cards. The cards lay face-down and when you stepped on one, it would turn over and reveal a very intricate drawing. There were cities and nature scenes. Some were people and others were more abstract. I picked one up to closer inspect the detail. It was a colored pencil illustration of a perfect circle turned into a very stylized little man seen from profile. He had large eyes, an open mouth with large teeth, black hair and brown skin. I brought the card closer to my face to really inspect the detail. It was incredible. The whole drawing was done in a cross hatch style, many colors laid over one another. It appeared to be completely three dimensional, as if you could reach through the netting of pencil marks, down and down into the surface. Olive green, burnt sienna, crimson, indigo blue.

Revisiting after almost 10 years...

I've been feeling, lately, as though my younger self might need some revisiting. I think I used to be more interested in things. I used to dress more fashionably, or at least look more interesting than I do now. I used to make more things. And I used to write down my dreams.

For many years in a row, I don't think I was recalling my dreams the way I used to. I stopped thinking about them, writing them down, caring about them...and I think that's why I wasn't recalling them. Lately I've been doing just that - thinking about them, caring about them; so I am starting to recall them and my dreams have become more vivid again. It certainly helps to do things like take a two week trip to Thailand! And actually, I think it was while I was in Thailand that I started to pay attention to my dreams again. They were more detailed, vivid and interesting, probably because they were being fed by a new place that was full of color and different scenes and happenings and people. My sleeping brain had a lot of new experiences to process. Lots of new and exciting material to work with.

Dreams are extremely influential sources of creativity if we pay attention to them. If for no other reason than to add interest to my days, I will keep paying my dreams the attention they require to fuel them up. Here's to a more exciting year and hopefully the rekindling of a lost life.