Searching for Home

Weekly wisdom to level up your creative life in 3 minutes, for free.

A SHORT STORY

Rather than getting caught up in resolutions this year, I’m committing to a deeper search for home within myself.

A significant part of this journey involves sorting out my daily rituals and creating structures that help me tap into my inner voice and self.

In this pursuit, I draw inspiration from a concept found in the book 'The Snow Leopard.' The author, on a quest for a nearly mythical animal in the Tibetan plateau, was asked at the journey's end, "Did you see the snow leopard?" And his response was: "No, isn’t that wonderful?"

Much like the snow leopard was the catalyst for the author’s journey, my current image is that of my mother’s childhood home, which also symbolizes this newsletter.

I keep coming back to it because it holds a mysterious quality—linked to my ancestral past yet carrying a hint of my potential future.

For others, it might be a family dinner table, reaching a work milestone, or perhaps receiving an award.

The pursuit of this image propels me forward in an effort to uncover its meaning. It encourages me to embrace the adventure, and keep showing up.

And, ultimately, it encourages me to embrace the mystery of not knowing precisely how I'll reach my destination.

What image propels you forward this year? How will you begin to take a step towards that image this week?

A CREATIVE TOOL

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, I’m wanting to create more accountability towards my individual creative practice with the continued development of my piece Welcome Home and would love to share this space as a place of accountability for our works in progress.

I have already heard from a few of you, but wanted to make one last call just in case!

So, if that is something of interest, will you reply to this email and let me know?

In the meantime, here is a little video I made back in 2016 that showcases the Ithaka poem below (with a voiceover from my dear friend, Patrick Page).

A PIECE OF ART

“Ithaka” by Constantine P. Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
 
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
 
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
 
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
 
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Grateful,

Michael