It’s been an unusual week. The sort of week that has consistently surprised me and turned my expectations on their respective heads. It has, basically, been rather brilliant. People have surprised me with business propositions, personal propositions and made unexpected selfless offers for no reason that I can comprehend but for which I am grateful. It reminds me that while the world does indeed work in mysterious ways, there are genuine good people out there. It gives me faith that things will work out in the end, however and wherever it happens.
This week, the world seems to have seen fit to show me new friends, new perspectives and encourage me to follow my path and find what joy it can bring. Sometimes, chance meetings with people you never expect are designed to make you re-evaluate yourself and your beliefs. A few days ago, I met someone who did just that: challenged me and pushed my boundaries and waited for me to push back. It’s good for me to rediscover my own boundaries and see over the years how they have shifted and changed and how they have stayed the same. If you or other people don’t challenge those things in you, you become stagnant, unchallenged and entrenched.
To re-examine your own perspectives or have someone who does the same isn’t the same thing as having someone agressively demand that you defend your beliefs. A good friend can do it by asking, enquiring and noticing. It’s what makes conversation flow, it makes ideas develop, it brings people together. It’s a creative process.
I often refer to myself as an unwitting creative, because I find that creativity exists in us in ways we often don’t recognise and can even more rarely imagine. I’ve worked in creative settings, I’ve worked in situations you wouldn’t consider creative but as I went my merry way through life, I find that creativity exists in places you often expect it least. It’s creativity that expands your mind to concieve of new ideas and find ways of putting it into practice. It’s creativity that helps me to find and articulate answers to questions I hadn’t considered. It’s creativity that broadens my horizons. And it’s creativity that opens my heart to new experiences, new perspectives and new friendships.
It’s nice to imagine that every fascinating and exciting person that happens into our lives will be a lifelong friend, and sometimes if we’re very lucky, they are. Sometimes, though, they’re a fleeting moment, designed to interact and inspire, to be a momentary muse in the tapestry of your life.
Last night, I found myself upon a number of occasions, stretched and challenged. I discovered which beliefs of mine stood firm, which I was happy to jettison. I opened myself up to new ideas and I grew. Opportunities and possibilites blossomed in my mind. I made connections that hadn’t occurred to me before. I understood things I hadn’t before. and I ENJOYED IT.
I want to be more than I am. I want to be everything I can be. I will only become that if I pay attention to the things people ask me and share with me, open my heart and mind and take chances that could change me.
They’re happy days, people. Happy days 