Outside the Lines #230

When we have hope, we are imagining the possibility of change with our feelings and when we turn our hope into goals, we are visualizing what that transformation should be in order to turn our reality into what we believe will be just right. The same can be also said about the characters in grand stories whose authentic lives move from what is familiar to the desires and the objectives that are necessary along the journeys that they find themselves on. Whether a story is our own or one created by a writer, the challenges and experiences that are a part of our narratives are what encourages each of us to go outside the lines of the constraints that we are feeling from our realities in order to imagine changing what’s there. In a sense, our types of “flipping out” are a part of our resistance to those limitations but it’s the emotions and the pain that lives in the place that needs us most that prevents us from seeing the series of movements that we need to make as well as believing that we can do them. In other words, without weeds or darkness and the dreaded “f” moments being a part of our lives, the passion and the hope that we are always capable of would no longer be necessary in a location where yesterday, today and tomorrow are all the same although in a different truth that would eventually feel constraining too. Through the years of Ryan’s substance use, sobriety and health challenges, my failure to leave room to be curious in order to discover the unexpected beauty that lives there too, kept me in the position of repeating the knowledge that was familiar to me over and over again which of course was just like Ryan who was doing the same thing even though our details were different. That understanding that we each held served the purpose of protecting ourselves, but we had moved to a new journey in an unknown hell that required us to use our fear and vulnerability in order to create new desires and objectives as well as to find the ways to make them happen. Imagination, then, isn’t just a tool that writers need to in order to create authentic characters who battle mystical creatures while keeping us on the edge of our seats. It is a word that encourages all of us to discover our possibilities, to go outside the lines and leave our logic behind, especially when we are in the midst of chaos or feeling constrained where the requirements of the challenges are to do this in a different manner than we have been with that comfortable knowledge of yesterday. Can you imagine a persona in a novel defeating a dragon by using the same skills that are necessary, for instance, when planting a field? Of course not, because the overcoming of any type of mystical creature, even one such as addiction, requires imagination in order to take what we have and change it into what we need so that we can reach our goals rather than just hope that we will. If you are able to see the failures, then you are also capable of finding the out of the blue wins that transform the strength of those dreaded “f” moments into what they should now be through the powerful word known as imagination or you can continue to limit yourself to a scene or a chapter or perhaps just a few notes in a song. A better story is an authentic one, but it is also a narrative that imagines that outside the lines is a place where transformation really is possible. This is my epic tale of love and loss as well as battles with tricky substances and monstrous pain where the reality of just right has been far more painful than the fear and the vulnerability of letting go of the cliff or going outside the lines has proven to be. It’s a story that over a journey has changed from I can’t imagine that because I don’t want to into, I can imagine that and also visualize how it feels in the place that needs us most. What is preventing you from leaving room to be curious about you? Is it because you think or imagine you are safe enough in the reality of where you are? What will you do, now, with the knowledge of your grand story? Whatever you do, be kind and be loud while having the best day IMAGINABLE for you outside the lines because it is definitely not just about the flowers. Love Always, Heavell