the shape of patience
finding presence in pause, and meaning in what emerges
After some much-needed respite in the desert, time spent with a good friend, listening to music, and then returning to the daily trappings of life, I finally discovered it. Not by forcing, but by pausing. By being present enough to tune into nature, to let a solitary moment of simply walking Luna open into a fleck of gold, disseminating its creative wisdom.
At first, I struggled, wondering what to write about. It’s been a little over a week since I wrote anything and life has been busy. But I realized it wasn’t that the well had run dry, only that nature has a cunning way of guiding us back to a kind of inner quiet. In that quiet, the thread of creativity becomes visible again. I’ve done this co-creative dance before; I’m hip to its elusive ways. So I let myself simply be with my experience, the desert, the wild underpinnings of my dating and social life, work. And then there it was, as clear as a blue sky after a torrential downpour: the shimmering thread of creativity saying, Follow me.
Creativity isn’t something we can force. Like life, it requires us to let go, to let our very existence be enough, to get curious about what is showing up. Our invitation is to pay attention: to meet the morning, the day, the moment, the lover, the page, the canvas, with presence and wonder. What emerges from there is any number of possibilities. Opportunities to say yes: to adventure, to play, to the work, to the creative idea knocking at your door. Not as a way to contort something into a shape we deem “good enough,” but as something we actually derive meaning and value from.
The gift of meeting creativity with patience and care is that it becomes a metaphor, a reminder to meet oneself, and life, in the same way. To stop and take stock, to let your experience shape and inform you as you step into the next chapter of your journey, the next phase of your career, or the art you feel inspired to make. From that place, the possibilities become endless.
As I sit on my patio, feeling the crisp morning air, writing this, I’m reminded of the Rumi quote: “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” This is not only a reminder to love and care for oneself fiercely. It can also apply to our relationship with the creative force that lives within us all.
It’s the practice of dancing with creativity, letting go enough to allow its shimmering nuances to wash over you, teach you, guide you, shape you. And in turn, that alchemy transforms how you relate to its nature and the nature of life itself.
At least, that is how I’ve come to reconcile my relationship with it.
Question to Carry: What moments of stillness are asking you to pause and listen for the flecks of gold in your own life?
© Alana Foy 2025
