The art of imagination. The new travel
The recurring question: “Are you still travelling? I used to follow your trips on social medias but haven’t seen much recently” I was told a few days ago…
My recurring answer: “Not really, I haven’t moved from Dubai since February 2020”
I dwell on the question to recognise my answer wasn’t totally correct. As in reality, despite the kilometers count has halted, I felt as I never truly travelled as much. With the stopping of going without, the travel has transitioned into a journey within and unfolded a new way of framing what’s possible.
Every story we tell ourselves is framed in a network of assumptions that confines our perception of what is possible.
Every story we tell ourselves is framed in a network of assumptions that confines our perception of what is possible. In 2020, I started questioning whether I could become an artist when I had just started painting. Will I ever be able to call myself an artist without the academic studies that are generally considered necessary to be taken seriously? Well… it took me some “inner travelling” to break the frame and some courage to channel my creativity into novel forms. Today, being an artist moved from just been in my imagination to actual reality.
To be something, the only validation required is ours. No matter the studies, the awards, the external recognitions. If we don’t get it, nobody else can be expected to get it.
On this journey, I discovered the power of fostering imagination to impact our mental wellbeing, personal growth and accessing altered states of mind. Creativity and expressive art are the best pill for unleashing our full potential.
“Imagination is the preview of the life you can build. Creativity, the act to bring it to life.”
If you can imagine it, you can create it. Reality is largely negotiable.
Tim Ferris promised a group of students at Princeton that he’d buy them a ticket for any destination in the world if they could get a celebrity on the phone. None of them accepted the challenged. One year later he tried again and 35% of the students came back with results.
What’s the difference between those 2 groups of students? The second one believed it was possible.
The first reaction for most people in front of audacious goals is to find excuses. Elaborating in our mind a long list of explanations to justify why it is not possible. For fear of rejection and failure we convince ourselves that our dreams are not realistic, and we don’t even try. We grow older dismissing others’ success and till our normal state of being tastes bitter.
Committing to our dreams takes courage. First though, we need to be able to imagine it and believe it is possible.
Michelangelo is often quoted for having said that “every block of stone has a statue inside and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it”.
Stripping away the unnecessary material to reach the core of our true self is the most meaningful travelling one can take in a lifetime. Giving space to express ourselves the ultimate luxury.
It might not the visible, jumping-on-a-flight-and-sipping-a-Negroni-around-the-globe kind of travelling, but the answer is – YES, I’m indeed still travelling. And it never felt more life changing.
I invite you to celebrate the art of imagination and our innate nature to create.
Happy creative travelling to all!
