“Differences are what make us come alive – in art and in life.” ~ Nicholas Wilton
Quick: what’s the most memorable thing that happened for you this week?
My guess is your answer was something that was different than your usual. Lunch with a friend. An unexpected illness (hi, COVID). Taking a new class. The aliveness of differences is part of the human experience.
Last week, on the recommendation of the gifted painter Howell Burnell, I took part in an online art workshop with Nicholas Wilton and the Art2Life team. Even though I’m not a painter, the experience has changed the way I see art, make art, and plan my days.
One of the first things that Nicholas shared in his opening lesson was that differences are key to making engaging, compelling art. Differences, he says, make us come alive.
Take, for example, Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace & Hummingbird.
What immediately draws our eyes and attention are the differences: her face and blouse against the black monkey and black cat. The stark curving shapes of her eyebrows and the hummingbird at her throat. The cool colors of the leaves and the warmth of her cheeks, lips and blood. The bright sparkle of the butterflies and dragonflies against the organic textures of leaves and thorns.
You don’t have to know anything about Frida Kahlo or art or anything. Just using your human eyes reveals that the contrasts, the differences is where the energy is in the painting.
The same is true in movement.
One of the things I love most about the Nourishing Movement practice is using different movement qualities. The form may be simple yet we can bring it alive by changing the quality.
A basic walking step can be done small or big, fast or slow, flowing or sharp. We can walk in a linear, rhythmic way or a circular, melodic way. We can move with precision and clarity; we can move loose and sloppy.
Even more energy of aliveness happens when we use contrasts right next to each other: switching cleanly from flow to sharp, linear to circular. Contrasting movements expand movement vocabulary and wake up the whole body. Differences is where the energy is in the movement.
The same is true in life.
Even if you absolutely love your day-to-day routine, nothing enlivens life more than changing it up. Going on a trip or to a party or even walking a different route energizes what is around it. Learning a new skill or making a new recipe or getting a surprise call from a friend juices up whatever else is happening.
Our brains default to habit as an energy-saving strategy which is all well and good for getting stuff done with less effort. But doing even small things in different ways is like sprinkling some cayenne pepper on your pasta: it wakes up the whole experience. Shazam.
Right now, I’m planning a summer trip, ordering tickets to The American Shakespeare Center and setting up a dinner with friends. I’m doing these things intentionally to create differences in my future days. Differences is where the energy is in life.
It may seem like a trivial thing, this aliveness of differences. Why bother, you ask? Why, when the world is burning down is it worth playing with differences? As 20th Century theologian and civil rights leader Howard Thurman said,
“Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
This week, increase your aliveness: play with differences.