A Reflection on Reflection

July 19, 2020

I have been absent from writing because I have been absent from traveling, one of the many depravations that we have all had to deal with during this seeming endless interruption to our lives. Now facing nearly four months without travel, my longest in probably more than 20 years, I recently realized that one of the key depravations has been reflection time.  Whether driving back to the office after working at a school, or flying half way across the globe following a collaborative program, I have long used this time to simply reflect.  Cruising along in my vehicle, I can take some valuable time to consider what I learned from my latest teaching experience.  Hanging out in airports or sitting in cramped airplane seats, I get ample time to replay moments small and large, locking them into memory and extracting useful bits of wisdom, mistakes, discoveries and new understanding.

I’ve missed that.  In the daily uncertainty of isolation and what the future holds, its been so easy to combat the lack of certainty by filling time: computer on, scrolling through the phone, wandering the house for projects and endlessly preparing myself for what I don’t know yet will happen.

After the first month or so, I was reading about hermit crabs and polluted beaches and started imagining a story.  Not unusual, as I imagine stories all of the time. This time, however, I wandered the house picking up little implements on shelves and in closets and thought to play out the story.  And why not film it?  That thought was a surprise.  I’ve never had much interest in making films.  And then I did.  Make one.  My first movie.  It was more of a filmed storytelling, actually, but whatever.  I edited and all that.  And quickly got an idea for a second one.

During that second one, I found myself standing in the middle of my compact living room, reflecting.  Stepping into this ‘where-is-it-going-to-take-me’ creative act encouraged me to once again think about little moments that inspire and challenge me and, honestly, let me learn.  I found it kind of amazing, actually, because I have long stated that creative acts are reflective acts.  Not the doing, particularly, but the building and shaping and experimenting and revising and stumbling and falling and…

I’ve believed it for a long time, but I don’t know that I’ve felt it as purely as when filling the emptiness of this isolation.

I don’t know what will happen with the growing number of short films, but I’ve been glad to get into the reflective mode again.

I welcome you to one of those films.  Click below and enjoy. 

°C Rise: Life can change in the smallest degrees.