It’s All… a Process

How about, it’s all… a home-run?

Doesn’t that have more of a sign-me-up ring to it?

Process is such a seemingly daunting, mildly punitive word. It involves the kind of eye-rolling , knee-buckling irritation inspired by tried and true favorites like: over and over again and a solid start and it just takes time.

It implies a never-ending litany of tasks to be performed. A lot of sighing. And uggghhh-ing. And wanting to stab yourself repeatedly in the eyes.

BUT, once you get over all that, there is something kind of cathartic about it.

Let me explain.

Joe and I recently had the great pleasure of attending a beautiful wedding that included two of our favorite and dearest couple friends. So hard to find two people who you find equally as inspiring, interesting, warm and generous of spirit.

One of these friends, Janet Wormser, is an abstract artist.

How anyone goes about what they passionately choose to do is always an eye-opening insight into a new way of approaching life.

It is like being an anthropologist of creativity.

She describes her process of painting on her website http://janetwormser.com.

Making these little paintings is like solving a puzzle and just as difficult except for the fact that you’re the one who makes the decision of whether the puzzle is solved or not. There’s no answer and because of that, making paintings, especially abstract paintings, can be anxiety-provoking and at times seem futile, but it also can be a way of accessing parts of one’s imagination that were formerly unknown. That is one of abstract painting’s great pleasures.

This pretty much also nails the process of parenting!

Right?

Perhaps it’s just me but her experience of the process also seems to explain WHY the process of parenting is so challenging.

The puzzle is uniquely unique.

There is no other Finn or Leo in the world. There are an infinite number of options and combination of options and alternatives to the options and NO guarantees if any of them are right.

There is my way, Joe’s way, Finn’s way, Leo’s way, the bunch of books I’ve read on doing it all better way, the hybrid way and then… there is the quiet of imagination and intuition.

There is the going inside to access something greater.

And herein lies the higher wisdom.

This is where the magic lives.

And, as Janet describes, this is also where the great pleasure of accessing parts of one’s imagination that were formerly unknown, come from.

We think we know.

And then realize we don’t. And then, if we take the time, we discover that our imagination does know.

This is the unorthodox, renegade approach we take in our family.