may.

may

verb
1. expressing possibility.
“that may be true”

2. expressing permission.
“you may use a sling if you wish”

I know I am jumping the gun a bit but bear with me for a second.

Spring is back in my good books.

This upcoming month holds infinite possibility by virtue of its name.

May.

For the last two years, I have participated in me-made-may.  I posted on Instagram and had a blast wearing something I made every day.  This year, like last year, I won’t be wearing a newly handmade item each and every single day. I will mix some new pieces in and wear some of the older creations too.

Here is my pledge this year:

I, Rozanne Dioso-Lopez, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’15. I endeavour to wear as many me-made garments as possible each day for the duration of May 2015. 

In addition to this May of oh-so-infinite-possibility, I want to make something every day.  To create.  To create something only my two hands could have made.  To explore what creativity means to me. To create something of my thoughts and my accumulation of influences that are only particular to me.

There is power in just even thinking of the potential and giving myself the permission.

When was the last time you gave yourself permission to be creative? Whether its through the arts or even exploring your everyday in a unique way, when is the last time that you created something?

The first step to this MAY MADE MAGICAL is to find what Joseph Campbell calls a “sacred space” or your “bliss station”:

[Sacred space] is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.

Ok after finding it, your little creative cocoon of time and space, move on to the next step.

The next step is NOT to grab that blank page or that blank canvas to begin creating. (Are you nuts?  That is a surefire way down the road to paralysis and frustration especially if you haven’t exercised your imagination in a long time.)  COPY something that moves you like a poem or a simple illustration of an object or even a quote.  It has to be something that stirs that place where wonder, curiosity, and truth reside together.  You know that feeling.  You read something and you immediately say “YES.”  You see a photo or a piece of art and your heart screams “YES!”  You see the combination of colours at sunset or the way the blue of the water blends with the blue of the sky and your spirit breathes the deepest “YES.”

Now keep going.  Go with that feeling.  Be open.  Write about what it is that moves you.  Draw and colour freely without form or function in mind but pure emotion.  Don’t overthink.  Create and draw upon the collective creativity of everyone who has ever created.  Mark Twain said “substantially all ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources.”  None of us create something without drawing upon a well of ideas that has come before us. Take comfort in that.

Keep going.  Don’t stop because you’re afraid.  Don’t stop because that pile of laundry is waiting for you.  Don’t stop because someone is watching.  Don’t stop because your children want to join in the fun.  Trust in the process.  Trust that this is a process. Trust that creativity is fluid and not static.  Trust that it takes practice and can be a habit.

Me-Made-May can mean much more than hand-sewn items.  May can mean a crack in the door. May can mean a glimpse of magic.  May can mean infinite possibilities.  May can be a gift to yourself.

What if for one whole month you can, as Emily Dickinson says, “dwell in possibility”?

Will you sink into this month with me?  Will you let go of the can’ts and the shoulds and come and play?

I won’t take no for an answer.

But I will take a maybe. 

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This is just an intro… stay tuned for more info on what I have planned for us…I mean if you decide to play of course…