Whimsy

Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.  Picasso

It is so easy to lose sight of that artist.  I know I do.

I smile whenever I lead a retreat. . .because crayolas and coloring are mandatory (it is an unwritten spiritual principle).  It is amazing how many adults–otherwise very confident and secure people–will say, “Do I have to?  I’m not very good at coloring.”  And I ask, “Who said anything about the need to be good at it?”

We live in a culture where the world of our mind and heart has morphed from a place of play and passion to obligation and mastery.  And we see the artist  (lost, buried, stuck, forgotten, dismissed or ignored) from the possibility of risk or embarrassment or failure.

So my good friends at bouncebackcafe declared a “whimsy day.”  They recommended bunny slippers.  I’m in the airport and couldn’t get my slippers through security, so brought crayons, and plan to be really “productive”. . .so I’m coloring while waiting for the flight.  The looks I get are worth it.  I ask people if they want to join me.  I have extra paper.

Just remember. . .Silly is you in your natural state, and serious is something you have to do until you can get silly again.  Mike Myers

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either – not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.  Robert Fulghum