Without Expectation

We live in a world filled with expectations, our own, strangers, businesses, social medica, friends and family.

If you spend even a short amount of time on social media, you will literally see dozens of marketing tools, advertising ways to live healthier lives, overcome stress, overcome injury, manage your time, your stress levels and your mental health.

Getting in touch with your true spiritual self. You will read about all the ways you are self-sabotaging and there are now hundreds of people advertising that they are qualified in the field you are looking at, to help you solve all of life’s problems, as well as your personal issues and mental well-being. It’s totally overwhelming. You even see practises and life style changes you have never even thought of, or even heard of. It’s enough to close all the tabs in your brain and shut you down, especially if you are struggling with one or more issues. It seems they want you to sign up for everything to “fix” yourself, your attitude, your motivation, your health, your everything.

I would say for the younger generation, teens, tweens, those in their twenties, who haven’t really got started with the life they are planning, this would cause them to be overwhelmed and harassed by their “inner critic”. We all have one of those. It tells you how badly you are doing at everything, managing your health, getting your work hours properly planned and beating you up when you take too much time to do something or fail to fulfil some target or goal that you have set for yourself, or perhaps making sure that you have met the expectations of someone else or the world in general. We are our own biggest critics.

People focus on two-year plans, five-year plans, ten-year plans, or even smaller amounts of time like six months, to reach and meet their goals. These could be for your career, your relationships, friendships, marriages, travelling to places on your bucket list, paying off your home, your car, your boat, your credit card and a variety of other forms of financial planning.

But what about doing something without any expectation of the outcome? Scary hey? Not really. Very liberating. This will definitely help you unwind and destress after a tough day or challenging situation or event. I am no expert and don’t have any training in this, but I have personal experience. I would love to share this with you.

I would also just like to say, before continuing that I am not running those people down who offer courses to people who are trying to better their lives or overcome experiences they have had. There are a lot of very helpful practices out there. I do however think that one needs to be cautious and research properly before signing up for anything. Just as there are experts out there who really want to help and share their knowledge with you, there are also scammers and people who want to prey on the vulnerable. So do your due diligence before going ahead with anything.

About a year ago or more I joined a group of like-minded people who wanted to work through the book “The Artists Way” by Julia Cameron. A phenomenal book and not only for artists, or people you perceive to be artists. Ah ART, that is a topic for another blog.

The course was over 12 weeks and facilitated by Tee Hardman, a qualified architect and amazing artist. I consider her to be a friend and wonderful mentor as well.

I also did some other workshops with her including how to draw, which encompassed about five different techniques.

The one that really resonated with me was the online continuous drawing sessions once a week for 45 minutes.

There are so many people who insist that they have zero creativity. They think that “Art” is about being able to draw perfectly or paint works that are worthy of being exhibited in famous galleries, and carrying huge price tags, purchased by wealthy art collectors. But this is only one type of art out of many.

Whenever we started something, Tee would tell us to just let it flow. Start something without any expectation of the outcome. Difficult for us humans… we seldom “flow” or “go with the flow” because we want to know what to expect on the journey. We form a picture in our heads of what the end result will look like.

I was amazed how quickly I learned to tune that all out and just focus on the pictures we drew during those 45 minutes. We would draw three. Tee would put an image up on the screen and we would have roughly 15 min per picture to get as far as we could. Guess what? You didn’t have to complete the entire drawing in the allocated time. There was no expectation about that. You could carry on in your own time later.

The important thing is drawing slooooowly, taking note of every single little detail. If it’s a flower, every nick in the petals, turn of the petal, shape of the petal. Is there a part that has bent over, perhaps from the wind? To slowly make your way around the picture, starting at any point you chose.

We had to use pens, fine liners, so no rubbing out. You get that one chance, but it doesn’t matter whether it is a perfect drawing of the reference photos or not. The focus is on the minute detail and not the big picture

The phrase “drawing is taking a line for a walk” is attributed to Paul Klee, a Swiss-German artist and Tee would often say this, as a reminder before we began with the first reference photo. We let the line lead…… rather than doing what is so natural to us humans…. controlling it.

When doing a continuous line drawing, the line should be unbroken. You should not lift your pen or fine liner from the page. As Tee used to say sometimes, you are focusing on the flow and not on the accuracy with which you capture the reference picture. Sometimes continuous line drawings are done “blind”, which means you don’t look down at the page you are drawing on at all. You move your hand to create the shapes that you see. Learning to focus on detail!! The end result is truly amazing.

Over time I have done drawings where I look at my page from time to time while drawing. I have also done a number of blind continuous drawings which, while looking almost nothing like the reference picture, come out in a creative flow of shapes and sizes. It is a form of art, of focusing, of relaxing, of having fun and laughing. Leaving behind all the expectations we are often weighed down with and just being in the moment, flowing with the beautiful creativity of “taking a line for a walk”. ZERO expectation of what it will look like in the end.

In the images I have shared, the first one is a blind continuous drawing. There were some flowers, leaves and small branches in the reference picture. I am so excited about how it turned out. I had no expectations about how it would look. The second image is the humble dragon fly. I tried to focus on all the minute details in the reference picture. His head is a bit weird but I was also super excited about the way he turned out.

If only we took this attitude and method of doing things in other areas of our lives. Think of the excitement of discovering something you had no expectations about. Just getting on the road and doing a road trip with no plan, no expectations of where you will stop, what will be there when you stop, how far you will go and what you will see along the way.

Do something without a plan. Don’t even discuss what you may want to try on Saturday. Just wake up on Saturday and go and try something you haven’t before, or maybe you have before a long time ago, but don’t think ahead of how it may look or how the day will go. Just go with the FLOW!!

I would love to hear what you have done without any expectations. Email me or pop your experience under “Your Scribbles” on the website. Sharing with others is both uplifting for them and for you. Your experience will always resonate with someone out there.

Yours in Soul Scribbles

Jacqui