Many times the simplest things in life bring us great joy. For me, sharing time with dogs does that, and in particular, off leash hikes. Their pure joy in running and exploring is palpable, if not contagious.
We walk the perimeter of hayfields adjacent to our home property. I stay to the fields’ edge to avoid damaging the plants. Even in winter, my snowshoe trail is along the outer edges of the fields, the trail followed day after day. Making a nice trail makes the next days’ walk easier, and provides an easier path for a dog needing a rest from bashing through the snow. It’s in walking these trails I have come to realize… SSDD. Same step, different day.
This phenomenon is particularly evident in winter. If I walk randomly, the snowshoe falls in the same step as the day before. I’ve tried walking the opposite direction. Roughly the same thing happens. In summer, if I’m not careful I step in the same hole where there’s an underground rivulet. I’ve realized I’m experiencing the manifestation of “muscle memory”, and all the frustration it can produce. I’m sure on some level in an evolutionary sense, muscle memory ensured survival in that one could hone their spear throwing skills and become a successful hunter.
When it comes to trail making, muscle memory is not my friend. Every step becomes a conscious effort. Larger strides give me a good workout, and shuffling along will pat down the gaps. But if I stop concentrating… SSDD.
Trail making does seem to be a metaphor for things in life, and it certainly represents the creative process. In my photography work if I feel stuck, the weather is poor or it’s between bird seasons, I choose a different lens and see things differently. When I’ve been using a long lens for months, it’s like a new world when I put on a macro lens. Sometimes I use a technique called “In camera motion”, and for the first time, I’m able to see landscapes.
I’m going to apply these same ideas to writing, to which I am really new. I think it’s really important to try new things, to break old habits to be able to see in a new way. Whether I write in the morning, or the evening, with pen and paper or a computer, I’m going to change things to see what happens. My challenge will be to keep moving forward, one step at a time. If I make some small change each day, the path will become easier, the project will progress. Some days, the changes may be bigger. Either way, there will be improvement, a habit will be broken. Over time, the projects will fill. But I must not become complacent. Without conscious effort, our hard wired “muscle memory” will quickly take over and progress will stall.
I look forward to “breaking the habit of being myself”, as Dr. Joe Dispenza says. I look forward to a new creative process, developing writing skills and going from SSDD to DSDD… Different Steps, Different Day.
Lovely Connie.
I have no set way of writing. Guess that’s because working in the creative side of advertising all those years taught me one thing – ideas don’t care how they get born. So, whatever methods give birth to your creative impulses is fine. The great thing is that one has ideas/thoughts and the urge to record them one way or another.
Keep on keeping on.
Ed