Desert Night © Quinn McDonald. Fabric, marbled paper, stitching on watercolor paper background.
Hope is a tricky emotion. It’s necessary so we can imagine what will happen if we take action and overcome hardship. It’s useful to use as a ladder out of sorrow: we can imagine life getting better, and we go where we look.
So why have I said that I’m not a fan of hope? Heretic. Well, in a way, yes. When we expect hope to be enough, to be the only fuel to drive a dream into reality, hope isn’t enough.
When we rely on hope to create what we cannot, we will be disappointed.
When we take that word for 2014 and expect it to change who we are, to be the magic eraser that vanishes all problems, we are making it carry to much of a burden.
Treat hope for what it is–the clay that we shape into a plan with the skill and
It’s not clay; it’s a rendering made to look like clay. A good metaphor for hope. From: http://www.secondpicture.com/tutorials/3d/clay_render_in_3ds_max.html
talent we have.
Take another look at your word for the year and make sure it’s strong enough to last a whole year, to push you when you want to stop, and to be the chuck under your wheel so you don’t roll back.
That’s a strong hope.
–Quinn McDonald is a certified creativity coach. And the author of the Inner Hero Creative Art Journal, published by North Light Books.
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