Follwo your Path

Following your path is crucial for a creative practice. Finding your voice, your creative process, your call. How do we do that?

Some may already be in that process; some may be looking for a way to start. Let's imagine you are wondering how to start being creative and doing your therapy.

Let's start by wondering:

What matters to you?

How do we know what matters to us? It is not a trivial question, as I am not sure what really matters to me. I need to ask and wonder to get into a mental space where I can answer that. I need to visualise things and ask myself, does that really matter?

And the answer does not seem to come from 'me' as a rational thinking being but from a place deeper within. A place that jumps with things that matter.

Sometimes, we need some time to figure out what really matters to us; sometimes, we change and have seasons. Most artists have periods of inspiration when some motive or style is predominant, and I would like to invite you to allow yourself to be 'into' something, indulge yourself with a topic, with an area, with a style, and see how they feel.

I think the best way to learn something deeply is to do it sincerely, get into the game, and immerse yourself without overthinking. Why not overthink? When I think my thought patterns get in the way, they tell me this is right and weird, and I do not know if I will like it.

In Phenomenology, the methodology and philosophy that studies human experience, there is a central concept, sometimes used in slightly different ways: epoche. This means to 'bracket your knowledge' or jour 'judgement'. For some, this is not possible, and instead, you make your judgement explicit, write about it, and consider it part of what you will find—something that goes with you and that you try to challenge or compare.

I think any deepening in the study of experience requires considering this insight.

Our preconceptions change our experience; therefore, we need to approach experience as a movement of a horizon of meaning. We get closer to a horizon, and the horizon moves forward. Experiential truth changes experience; experience changes the truth.

We get closer to a truth, and that changes our preconceptions. Then, with new conceptions, we start searching for a new truth for which we have new preconceptions.

Our path follows two main forces, explained quite simply by Jean Piaget. One force is "assimilation", which occurs when we use our knowledge to add new experiences to the current schemes. Those new experiences always leave a little mark, small things that do not fit. They are not enough to question our knowledge, but slowly, we start noticing more and more disparity.

At some point, we need to change our schemes, similar to what happens with scientific revolutions. A new paradigm must emerge in "accommodation", creating new and more complex schemes.

Our minds are economical and lazy, so we wait until we have enough evidence of a change needed for a paradigmatic revolution.

When we study experience systematically, we try to be aware of those base schemes that are lazy and do not want to open to more complex experiences. Those are our preconceptions; they are instrumental but sometimes keep us in a narrow scope of expertise.

By systematically analysing or putting into question our schemes, we force our minds to look for the missing parts of our horizon. That allows us to accelerate the change of mental schemes, but we must be careful. Triggering a fast development sometimes creates problems, as each step lacks experience and scope. We become developed, but sometimes we do not carry with us the playfulness and the flexibility of someone who has explored each scheme until feeling satisfied.

So, how to find your path:

Know yourself and your preconceptions about life, and explore the limits of your understanding. That will open spaces of questioning, wake up your curiosity, and allow you to start exploring areas of yourself that you never imagined before; experience expands, and a revolution begins.