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When I was in China I had several chops made, and I asked one of them to be the Chinese word for Beauty. "What kind of beauty?", the artist asked me, explaining that there are many kinds of beauty in the Chinese language. I replied I wanted the characters that meant the beauty of life itself. "Ah!", he said, and carved me this chop. It means "Everything is Beautiful".
I have long been thinking about how language creates reality, and how important it is to be conscious of this in our communications.
I touch on some of the practical aspects of this for web communications in The Art of Words, a piece on language taken from my Beauty & Technology Squidoo Lens, but there is a much deeper study I would like to make on the subject. In particular, how to use language (in the widest sense of the word, including image and sound and movement) to bring an aliveness and awareness of the natural world into online communications which can otherwise seem disconnected and a little unreal. But that is a topic for another day.
Today I want to talk about a post I ran across recently by Kate Rutter of Adaptive Path. In it she says:
"I honestly feel that in order to create engaging digital experiences, we need to continuously evolve how we think about them. And this means we need to change the words we use to design them. What we need are new metaphors to play around with…words and terms that unleash fresh thinking appropriate to experiences in the Web and beyond. A language of experiences that can prism through different devices, objects and spaces."
My own interest in language includes but extends beyond this professional concern for design coherence between interactive devices, but what I really liked about Kate's thinking was her recognition of the power language has to effect our experience and to limit or extend our sense of what's possible. I love where she came out as a result of her experiments:
"It sharpened the realization that I was not a web designer. I was a designer creating an experience for the Web. And that’s a powerful shift in perspective. It’s one thing to say “I’m an experience designer.” It’s another thing to really think like one..."
"At the start of the Web, many of our approaches were limited by the technology. Now we run the risk of being limited by our metaphors."
Can you think of a metaphor that describes how you'd like to experience your online communications?
There is an external order to my web design work that usually begins with some some variant on the following:
These are all elements that I can share with my client, they are what I say "out loud". But lately I've begun to become aware of another, subtler process that is happening internally, right alongside these external steps. As soon as I start gathering the data in step one, if I pay attention I notice that I'm listening more deeply for the things that are not being said: hopes, competing needs, dreams, aversions and aesthetic quirks, what they want the result to "feel" like, etc. etc. and often without my knowing when or how, a process of incubation begins.
Much of the time I'm only half-aware of what is happening, but inevitably, in its own pace, what I can know with my external senses begins to dance with my intuition and the as-yet unknown. The creativity that flows in my underground streams starts to converge and sooner or later images and sense impressions begin to take form.
I learn about them in my dreams or when I sit down to work on a design and something wholly unexpected emerges. Or, I find I'm always thinking of the project on some level and sometimes I catch a reflection of my thoughts or a disguised version of what I'm silently looking for.
As I become more aware of this process, I'm able to move with it more fully. When that happens my work feels lighter and more "fun" while the results get better and more satisfying.
What about you? Do you have an internal work process that runs parallel with your external routine? What's it like? Are you aware of it? How does it make itself known?
One of the most talented bright young lights I've seen in years is performance poet Jahan Khalighi.
For all his creative power, Jahan is a shy soul and puts his promotional energy into the community arts he loves. So if you haven't been lucky enough to see him perform live, there has been no way to connect with his work. This is until now - I'm excited to learn that he's recently created Poetry n Process, a website where his soul-restoring poetry is archived for all to see. Occasionally erratic spelling choices aside, it's well worth reading.
I've been in Eugene Oregon for the last week or so, answering an invitation by the extraordinary Tree Bressen who'd asked me to join her and a dozen others to explore the idea of pattern language in group process arts. Given my work with the World Cafe, which is based on the pattern language of its seven design principles, and the pattern language project I'm involved in with the Power of Place Collaborative, the invitation was definitely intriguing.
My personal interest in the subject goes beyond the specifics of group process arts, in that I'm looking for a pattern language for catalyzing collective transformation online. I'd hoped we would touch on that as well, given the presence of the inspired visionary Tom Atlee and the 3-4 other folks who also work online - John Abbe, Kaliya Hamlin, Bill Aal & John Kelly. Obviously I didn't read the invitation closely enough, since that didn't happen, but I wasn't disappointed (and I haven't given up on the idea of a pattern language for collective transformation either).
As it turned out, the idea of actually coming up with a pattern language for the process arts was far too ambitious for even a full week together, but it was well worth our time to learn what we did about the process of co-evolving the beginnings of a pattern language for this field. There is ongoing work being done to collaboratively evolve the project and share it with others, so stay tuned for more.
One of the most exciting parts of the journey, however, was the snowstorm that came in with me - four inches the night I arrived - and stayed the whole week, turning the roads into an ice rink and the scenery into a winter wonderland. The snow-covered lawns and trees were exquisite, so pristine and lovely in the mornings and glistening with drama in the evenings next to the Christmas lights of the houses. All this snow was a totally unexpected and unusual occurrence for the Oregonians, and an especially delightful treat for this California girl.
I've been working with amazing musician and intuitive Shaina Noll on a number of projects, including her blog which will be launched in the new year. Among her many talents, Shaina offers Tarot readings over the phone and after an incredible reading she did for me earlier this year, I wanted more.
When we first started working together Shaina had sent me one of her Life Path Profiles to introduce me to this part of her work, and my profile said that this year is a very important one for me, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Since it is about to be over (on my birthday - January 31st - make a note! :-), I wanted to see whether there was anything I should be doing to take full advantage of this unique moment in time.
Our session only lasted half an hour, but it seemed timeless and I felt I had received everything I needed. The two cards I drew - one for what I had already gained in this powerful year, and the other for what opportunities might still lie before me, were absolutely perfect and Shaina's interpretation answered my questions completely.
The first card I drew was the Ace of Cups. Aces represent a pinnacle of development in the specific area of their suit, in this case cups, which represents love and relationship. If you've ever seen this card, you'll know that its archetypal image of a fountain of water overflowing the bounds of an elegant chalice is a joyful sight to behold. And it spoke so beautifully to this last year, in which I have been granted so many of my heart's desires.
Here are my notes from this part of the reading with Shaina:
The Ace of Cups has to do with deep love and appreciation of yourself. It fills your heart with the sense of self-esteem, self-honoring. Aces are the tools of the Magician card, and as such what one expresses in the world can become a blessing to others (this is my deepest wish fulfilled). In terms of the question, cups being the suit of love, drawing the ace would say that the core blessing has to do with my capacity to be a channel for a clear and loving energy. This is something that I have now and will be enriched over time.
The next card, answering my question "What's the core opportunity from now through the end of this cycle?" was the Ace of Swords. The Ace of Swords is a powerful-looking card with a mighty sword held directly upwards, cutting through a layer of clouds into a crown of brilliant light. The suit of swords corresponds to mind, and in my case its potential for achievement would most likely be in the sphere of writing and communication.
Here are my notes from this part of the reading:
Inspired Communication penetrating the clouds into the realm of spirit. The capacity is to be an inspired channel for the clearest possible energy. This ace is a card of the mind, and offers the opportunity to open my capacity for language even wider. To open my mind to a realm of communication that is more significant than any I have achieved before. It suggests an element of ease, where things just come naturally. It augurs a time when I can ask for support & guidance from Spirit, and receive it directly.
There was more, about the family of cards that support these two and how they work, but the gist was that these two aces offer an increased capacity for a clear heart and open mind to come together and communicate in a unique and powerful way.
This made me very excited, because I am going to be working on a series of videos for the World Café throughout this next month. Video is a medium I have little experience in but a strong intuition about, so I can't wait to see what comes out of me!
But mostly I wanted to share this because I think Shaina is amazing and I wanted you to know about her, in case you too would like to explore one of these incredible readings with her. (If that sounds like something you or someone you love would like, use this address to contact her: [email protected])
One of my favorite thinkers/bloggers out there, Dave Pollard, recently shared his association between "slow blogging" as defined by Barbara Ganley and what his friend Chris Lott calls "mindful wandering". Here's an excerpt from Dave's post:
The photo above was taken by FireHawk Hulin of his wife Pele Rouge and I, taking a break from an informal writing retreat we set up with each other to do just that.
It was exquisite, and I can't imagine anything better than to spend more time exactly like this... Walking, looking with fresh eyes at what is around me; seeing the juxtapositions of line and light and color and following them with my camera - like a dream or a story without words.
It's such a pleasure to let my thoughts wander over the things I've seen or read or heard recently and listen for the patterns I sense emerging between them; to what is becoming clearer, or where new questions are surfacing. I crave conversation about these things with other thinking, aware, sensitive people, and I love the experience, the artful practice, of composing something tangible - a blog post, a story or poem, a finished photograph, a video or slideshow - from these elements.
I recently advised one of my clients to make reflective writing part of her daily practice, even if what she writes doesn't always make it to a blog post. Simply to take an hour every morning, or every evening, and contemplate what has meaning in this moment, or reflect on what carried energy in this day.
I can't wait to see what comes of this from and for her.
Hmmmm. Maybe it's time I listened to my own advice. :-)
Have you used Wordle yet? Created by Johnathan Feinberg in his spare time while working for IBM Research, Wordle takes words (that you either generate specifically or draw from pages with RSS feeds), and creates these word art images.
You can customize them in all sorts of cool ways - this is my first one, taken from this blog's front page a few weeks ago:
Go on - I know you want to! Make one yourself...
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