buzzed.

It is the most fleeting of feelings, but the most vividly remembered of moments. That buzz-zing-zsa zsa zu-heart racing-of knowing the sudden inspiration which hit is one of those rare big ideas. Now you don’t need to think, you just need to do-let it all flow. It is a satisfied humming which you can hear in your mind coursing through your body, pouring out of your fingers onto the paper/computer. At that moment it is crystal clear and your confidence is booming, convictions running through your mind of why this idea is going to lead somewhere big.

Just as suddenly the bubble is burst, and reality in the shape of your client has entered the dream. He has absolutely no interest in having the greatest idea of all times translated into his design. He wants a regular idea which looks like it’s a part of the crowd, which looks like you’ve seen it somewhere, which is sure to not get negative feedback forget about positive. He has no aspirations to create a landmark in design & he doesn’t care if you do.

What do you do? Do you start doubting yourself & your design? Do you wonder why you ever thought it was that good? Do you get a brain freeze?

Here’s what you should do and that involves neither of the above. Trust yourself. Know that if you felt the strength in your convictions then you were on the right path. If the client doesn’t get it, you put the brilliant idea on the side, work on a new idea for him, and then come back to your original idea-work through it, see where you can go with it, look at the end result. You can use it for your feel-good-moments. You can print it and send it out to friends, clients etc as a direct mailer. You can decide that the entire process of producing that piece was the actual art and it’s the journey which matters. This is where we come to an important point.

Each design/idea/inspiration we explore should be for the fun of exploring/design/thinking it. Creative individuals like you and I sometimes spend our entire careers producing work for the satisfaction of others, without realizing that this is our creative journey and each day we spend working on a design/idea/thought which is not essentially, honestly what we take pleasure in, is a day wasted.

Creating art which we love and enjoy is what the world needs even more than a working design, perfectly correct and functional. The world needs more whimsical creations produced from the heart in those fleeting moments of brilliance or the not-so-brilliant moments of everyday design. People around us need to share with us in our wonderful existence of colour/ideas/thoughts/art/design/writing where we jump from one medium to the next searching for the right expression.

We need to stop being scared of judgement and fearful of approval, and just throw our design out into the world for others to look at, make a part of their life, and send out again, subtly changed but more powerful-vibrating with energy and good karma.

is it too late?

to re capture a feeling, to invoke, to discover, to promise, to love, to giggle, to make peace, to do laundry, to smile with both eyes, to see yourself in someone'e eyes, to dance, to soar, to jump with joy, to blindly believe, to pour your heart out, to laugh uncontrollably, to sleep without dreams, to dream with open eyes, to speak without thinking, to pause, to absorb, to breathe, to fight for who you love, to get a second chance, to give a second chance, to be who you want to be, to scream, to fall knowing you will be caught, to break free, to love without a happy ending, to smile, to laugh, to believe, to know that what you know is right, to trust your instincts, to yearn, to bring the passion back, to make the bells ring, to skip, to say enough, to protect, to love, to live, to sing without words, to take a risk, to love him.

friends 

its a game of tetris

Mom has been gone for 2 months, and time which I thought would stand absolutely still just as a rebellion against a ramzan without mom, practically flew by. I had imagined hardly a ripple of movement in our existence without her, but so many little events of great magnitude happened-visits to sami, khalid’s room hang out scenes, discovery of lets-do-coffee-at-mariam’s, and the crème de la crème;let’s express-that life is not what it was 2 months ago.

Sometimes it feels like life’s reality is like a giant game of tetris, where new instances keep coming our way, and we move, adjust, adapt, accept to fit it all neatly into one constantly evolving plane. Just when you think life is saturated with experiences, overwhelmingly overflowing with thoughts, ideas, emotions, people, something gives way to allow a new presence to find a nook or cranny to comfortably settle into.

Unlike the game, where we must fill all empty spaces to score high marks, life requires us to be slightly more careless. We have to leave some spaces empty on purpose, laying out the welcome mat for those unpredictable bursts of joyous moments and discoveries, allowing them to make themselves feel at home, spread their legs, get comfortable and stay as long as they want.