Sailing off the map

Are you sure? Well, okay, I will. If you ask.

Things are moving again, and I'm pleased as punch. I could kiss the next person who walked through the door. Well, maybe not, but I could certainly give you a hug. I curse the cultural standard of dignity and wish I could go spinning around the room trilling a nonsense melody.

I'm going places I've never been before, and its scaring me to death. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Connecting to people is more important than most people realize. I heard a quote today that said human emotions and experience fascinate people in a way nothing else can. I can't help but think they're right. Look at the things people create. Music, sculpture, film, dance, literature, graffiti. The vast majority of it is trying to express something. To say hey, look, I'm alive, I exist, I have a place in this world, and I feel. Some days I'm nervous, some days I'm stressed. Some days I feel like I just got my guts ripped out, and some days I could fly. Things happen to me, and maybe they don't matter to the world, but they matter to me, and that makes them worth something. We all have different experiences, but underneath all the superficial details, there is that raw human emotion that we all experience. That is what we try to capture in our art. We try to craft something that will speak to that deep, powerful, confusing place inside each of us that science has never managed to chart. And when we see that in something, or someone, we respond to it, emotionally. We feel something. We form a connection. Connections are all about feeling with someone. Sharing something. Whether it's actually going through the same event, or just listening to them relate the experience and finding a part of yourself that feels the same way as that experience makes them feel. Its a part of being human, and it fills an emptiness inside.

Can you look me in the eye? Why do so many people sit in a circle and stare at the floor? Meet my gaze and tell me that you're listening, that you care. You give me confidence and courage to let go of the wall and take a chance. Let me know you're worth the risk.

A new post on Casaltar. Actually rather appropriate.