I sat in a cosy corner of a local coffee shop in Cork, with a warm beverage in front of me, overlooking the Lough, as I had met with a friend for a “work and coffee” date. It was something I'd wanted to do for ages but never got around to alone. I needed the push of meeting someone to break out of my routine. It had been a little goal of mine, to make “work and coffee” dates into a habit. I’ve always liked seeing people working in coffee shops and I’d tell myself that I wanted to do it too someday. I hoped being in a different environment would spark new ideas, letting me see things from a new perspective than when I am sitting at the same desk, in the same room every day.
As I sat there, it kind of did. I looked around me and saw all these unfamiliar faces. Faces with many stories. Faces with ideas of their own. Ideas, projects and dreams that never got finished. Or even started. All of a sudden, the ideas were springing up into the air! My mind wandered, imagining harvesting these different ideas from all these different people around me. Brain doors were opening and unrealized dreams were walking out. They would then float around and knock on someone else’s door to see if they’d be let in, to see who was ready for them.
“I am! Hey! I will open the door for you!” I say. “Come on in, you can sit here with all those other ideas and projects that need attention. I’ll get to you as soon as possible.”
There’s more and more, and soon enough there’s a big circle of ideas in front of me. I get the biggest tea pot I can find. Spread a few butter biscuits on a plate.
I sit down with them, let them fight over the biscuits. I look around and try to read the room. Who would want to go first? Who will tell me all about their potential? Who will I give my full attention to? What idea is ripe for me right now and what idea has been searching for me as much as I have been searching for it?
Oh, there’s an interesting looking one.
-“Hi. What kind of idea are you?” I ask.
It creaks and cracks like old wood.
-“My name is Renée the Revitalizer. I was the idea of Mrs. Dupont, but she never got around to me as something else came up. My proposal was to refurbish that old kitchen dresser that her friend Lisette had lying around in the garage.”
-“Oh, that sounds lovely.” I say. And I mean it. “But I actually don't think that this is something that I have time for just now. It does sounds amazing though, don’t get me wrong! I can already see that some other ideas in the back there are wanting to add to you! But you’ll have to sit down again and be patient.” I try to be as gentle as possible as to not scaring it off. I like Renée, but it doesn’t feel like the main idea I am looking for right now.
-“I am looking for an idea that will help me create something new for my Story Mail…Anyone?” I say, looking across the room.
There’s some coughs. A sigh. And then I hear a faint voice in the back:
-“Ehm, yes? Hello!” I have to squint my eyes to recognize where it’s coming from and even have to walk towards it to get a closer look: it’s an old idea of my own. One that I had forgotten about and left in the back of my mind, where I was now standing.
-“Oh, hi. What’s your name again?”
-“You didn’t give me a name yet. But my essence is about Home…”
I roll my eyes…Home. Can’t I come up with something else, something new and fresh?!
-“…and my proposal was to create different illustrations of different rooms for a dream home.” I’m intrigued. “We could then animate those illustrations and use one every month in Story Mails. Making a little illustrated film about your future home. You already kind of started working with me last month when you shared a colouring sheet that showed the outside of a lovely house right by the sea. Now, we could make a sequence and start illustrating the inside. We could turn it into an actual story! And then we could…”
-“Ok, hold on! That’s a lot at once…Don’t get too much into detail or you’ll influence the other ideas.” And I know how that ends: in a big idea scramble. “Let’s start with that. You’ve got my attention…will we work together?” I ask.
-“Yes, let’s. But don’t lose momentum with me again, Ok!?” the idea exclaims back.
-“I’ll try.” I say.
I snap back into reality. Back into the now busier coffee shop. I must have spoken out loud, because my friend nods enthusiastically and says that the idea of illustrating different rooms is a great one and that I could show all the rooms together at the end, like a doll house. It’s like my friend became the personification of the idea, whom I just talked to 5 seconds ago. I smile and nod back at her.
I leave the coffee shop with a sense of triumph. My plan of getting new inspiration by changing my surroundings and company had indeed worked. All I needed, was to engage with floating ideas from people I didn’t know, and sit with them in a group session. Then it became clear, that there were old ideas of my own, with big potential, that needed my attention.
Back home, I get to work. I have a deadline to meet and now I have a collaborator for my 11th Story Mail: my new (old) idea friend. I name her: Coral Greenwood. She is with me now, and together we start creating the first room in my future home: the kitchen. Of course it had to be the kitchen. The heart and hearth of a home. I could probably illustrate hundreds of dream kitchens, but one will have to do for now.
Would you like to come in and have a look? I’ve just taken out a fresh loaf of sourdough bread and the kettle is boiled! Oh, and even Mrs. Dupont’s idea got somehow realized, can you spot the refurbished kitchen dresser? It looks like new!
All we can do is try. Each day, again and again. Slowly, we will see how we are working our way through all these different ideas and how we can achieve each one of them if we put our mind and energy towards. It requires tons of commitment, a sprinkle of love and a dash of patience. A simple recipe…that calls for practice.
Here’s to all the ideas floating around, knocking on doors. Which one are you going to let in this April?
With spring hugs,
Luna
PS: if you liked my little stop motion of “how many are we?”, you can now purchase the original collage piece ❊here❊
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