With the festivities behind us and our New Year’s resolutions perhaps just a faint good intention, many of us find ourselves looking at months of gloom ahead. We go back to work where the niceties of the holiday season have been replaced by deadlines and apathetic colleagues. However, this could be an opportunity to create purposefully. Whether you want to put this creativity in your work or a particular project within it, or maybe you would like to put it towards a personal undertaking, this is the moment to be patient and like the winter landscape, let time unravel the bounty that lies hidden away.
It’s important to think of time and space as intertwined: time is space. So when we allow ourselves time (even a few moments each day), we are creating space for our imagination and creativity to grow. Let us look at nature to understand how this can be achieved: Anyone who likes to go for a walk in nature will observe the barren land and trees and seemingly lifeless forests and creeks. Even though we know that underneath this blanket of stillness lies a festival of creation, it is only in spring that we fully remember the sweet smell of nature budding into new life. But remember, new seeds grow in the places that are most empty. In the same way, our new projects and concepts need an empty space to germinate. We would be wise to clear out the clutter – both physical and mental – to allow for an empty space. Then, through our daily nurturing, our ideas will slowly grow and at some point when their roots are deep and strong, they will spring out from the darkness and into the light.
It only takes a few moments of your time, an idea that ignites the fire within you and your devotion to witness the birth of a precious legacy.
So go on… embrace the deep, dark winter, for it is the space for new growth.