Last week I spent a few evenings getting acquainted with the newest volume of Kinfolk magazine. The narrative “Undocumented Hours” was particularly curious and complex and has since inspired my to read again and again.
It begins….
“The past few years have levied a strange burden of proof upon our backs, a burden to account for our hours and days, to prove to all who care to watch from the screens of their phones and computers that we are doing something worthy with our lives…”
I’m guilty. Even on this day, where I hopped my quad and rode our property, picking the latest wildflowers to poke up from the earth. Even in that stillness, I was snapping shots with quirky captions uploaded to various social media outlets. It is a compulsion to share, even the quiet moments that once were only ours to revel in.
Butterfly Bush, Rose of Sharon, Queen Anne’s Lace, Cosmos
So what can we do, to be more inside the moment rather than just another spectator? Let’s be honest, we won’t stop sharing. Our lives are enhanced by technology at our fingertips, but we must mindfully restrain ourselves; find ways to remain quietly in moments that we reserve for ourselves. Technology inspires connections, but face-to-face inspires the deepest – the first feeds on the other to thrive.
So perhaps you have a dinner for friends where phones are left at home…maybe you take a walk in a place where there is no service, on purpose?
For me, I paint. Of course I walk and eat and have those wonderful times where moments slip blissfully away amongst the sounds of outside or the chatter of friends. But my painting is a fail-safe, a quick retreat that inspires deep solitude.
Botanical moments in watercolor inspired by my flower-picking-trek.
I can get lost in the detail and paint a fern leaf 4 different ways, for hours. This quiet is what “Undiscovered Hours” is all about.
Losing track, diving deep, being lost… do it for no reason at all.
I’m inspired to share less, do more, see more – an attempt to re-discover some hours. You?
