Returning to Your Rhythm
What if the first step is dismantling what you've already built?
Every so often (like really often) something comes along to shake up my routine and like a snow globe all the bits and pieces go floating slowly in every direction. I am dis-sorted. In time everything begins to settle, but I am left lost and puzzled wondering “What was I doing again?” Even worse, sometimes the existential voice then whispers a hollow “Why?”
Back to the drawing board I go in search of my ever-elusive rhythm. This rhythm is beyond rituals and routines. It’s more about this supernatural equation of energy, flow, and focus. An unpredictable spell that casts creative juju and magical mojo. It’s sourced in the structure of a routine but needs a continual feast of inspiration to keep from starving.
In yogic philosophy a divine myth of Shiva and Shakti tells of the great dance cycling birth and death. Shiva is the master of transformation recognizing that before something new comes into being, there must be destruction. Shakti then takes the vacancy and fills it with creation. This isn’t a tit for tat situation, but instead a process of evolution. The cosmic pulse of expansion and contraction.
Destruction Sounds Too Scary.
Little shifts can still charge change and resuscitate what most needs breathing room. There’s no need to fully blow up your life to experience some new inspiration. How about a friendly game of deconstruction instead?
Ayse Birsel’s book “Design the life you love,” explores this idea of deconstruction as the crucial step in creating a more intentional life. As an industrial designer for over four decades, she shares the process each creation goes through to become what it’s meant to be. The initial stage is deconstruction, stripping something into its parts and pieces in order to really see what’s working and what’s not.
Okay, go get your journal… (I’ll wait)
Deconstruction gives you a chance to examine all the facets that make up the whole; work, relationships, habits, routines, beliefs, and creative endeavors. A snapshot of your life. Everyone has different puzzle pieces that uniquely fit to see a bigger picture. It’s astounding to see what you’ve built.
I recommend a mind mapping session. What are your categories? (Let it all come out on the page and take it as micro as you feel like going) ~
Birsel’s process goes into detailed steps between deconstruction and reconstruction, but like Shiva and Shakti it all begins with the DE- of destruction and deconstruction. I recommend her process and her book, but I simplify it a little bit for a quick negotiation of my main focus and priorities.
Reconstruction is just a careful creative iteration.
what comes next is discernment…
Before putting it all back together, highlight the priorities and calibrate them to what is actually needed and wanted at present moment. It’s easy to put certain priorities to the top every time without question either out of obligation or habit. Priorities can be fluid; they can evolve and change with the times.
Will you feel how you want to feel if these priorities are your focus?
What feels alive with creative potential?
What feels heavy and draining?
What feels true to who you are now?
The hardest part can be defining priorities and not feeling guilty for putting one ahead of another. While you may be able to hold two things true at once, you can’t hold everything in endless possibilities. It dilutes and diffuses your creative prowess.
Edit, Edit, Edit.
Simplicity is the pathway to clarity. Edit - remove, redesign, reshape. Rather than staying in cycles that feel stale. What is ready for a change? Remove what no longer sustains you, redesign schedules that feel tired and tried, reshape relationships that need some devotion.
What actually matters most?
What experiences give your life meaning right now?
What routine supports your mental, emotional and physical well-being?
Sometimes we have to power through and to be regimented in order to meet certain goals and aspirations. But a life designed around productivity doesn’t always feed you. Usually, we are well aware - - but it may be a good time to do an energy audit if you aren’t clear on what is depleting you.
Destruction proceeds creation when you let go of the parts and pieces of your living that feel lifeless. Space opens up and you’re no longer tripping over mental and emotional clutter. Here, I find a rhythm in the movement between what I want and what I don’t. I often get lost in not knowing which is which.
Sometimes it helps to draw a map so I can find my way back home. Turn to a clean fresh page and go again.
