A new friend recently challenged me to get serious about my blog. It was just the kick in the pants that I needed. So, after much internal deliberation, and a brainstorming session with my sister, I've decided on a blog name, Under the Contemporary Cloche. Why? I'm a sucker for alliteration, and the cloche represents the iconic hat of the early 1900s, precisely the year our Victorian-style Guilford Bed and Breakfast was built. The "under" part is, you guested it, the brain and thought processes that drive me, which I hope will inspire you as well.
What is your passion? What activity stimulates your imagination? Soothes your soul? Empowers you? What is it that has the power to deposit you precisely in the middle of your happy place?
I recall a conversation some years ago with a previous colleague. I had recently joined the company and we were both attending a corporate function together. He asked if I enjoyed my job. I said yes. I told him that when I'm on the computer, working on a graphic design project, the whole world disappears. When I'm in the zone, my focus is so intense that I even lose all sense of time. I escape to another plane, almost. My husband hates it because he knows that anything he says to me will not register, unless he first pulls me out of that zone. Dogs bark, and I don't hear them. Phones ring, and I forget what to say when I answer it. Wait, is it good morning or good afternoon? What’s my name again? It's like part of my brain disengages and it takes a few seconds to reconnect my internal cranial circuitry. My colleague didn't immediately reply. Instead, he gave me the strangest look. So, I asked him, "What are you passionate about? Surely there is some activity, a hobby - creative or otherwise, that transports you to your personal nirvana." Sadly, he shook his head. “No, there's nothing.” I was dumbfounded. Then he added, “But I sure wish there was.”
In retrospect, I believe that perhaps he just hadn’t found the right activity yet. Maybe now that he's aware, he will soon find it. Tell me, what transports you to your happy place?