Inspiration: Meraki

Meraki. (Verb)

(Pronounced May-Rah-Kee)

You: Hey, I noticed the name of your site is Pursuing Meraki. What's Meraki?

Glad you asked.

It means to do something with soul, creativity, or love; to put something of yourself into your work.

How can we do something with soul?

I share the opinion of an unknown author that "We don't have souls. We ARE souls. What we HAVE is a body." Emphasis added.

We are not our outer shell, we are our beautiful, chaotic, messy, loving, unique, human souls.

So in order to do something WITH soul, we must simply put ourselves, our whole unique being into whatever we do.

Wow...

That brings us to an important question...How can we put our whole being into our art, our work, or our life? How can we do things with meraki?

First of all, listen to your impulses, the little guiding voice inside that points you toward what you love. Listen, listen, listen.

Secondly, don't hesitate. Respond to the impulses. If something seems right to you, go with it. If it makes sense to you, then do it. Be as creative as you want to be. After all, why worry what people will think? If it stirs your wonder, challenges your mind, touches your heart, or gives you pause, put aside your what if's and choose to act, even when it seems uncomfortable, and a step outside of your comfort zone. The right thing for you is not always in your comfort zone. Challenges to be overcome don't happen where it's safe and warm. Without challenges there can be no Growth. Growth happens when you take opportunities, and step into places where you aren't sure of the outcome.

So how do I hope to create with Meraki?

Each of these photos happened because something caught my eye and made me pause. Take a second look.

A flicker of pure unadulterated happiness. A flash of a throat, a clenched jawline, the sun flickering in and out of view trying to catch my attention as I watched the ocean play with the shoreline. A moment of uninhibited laughter.

There is beauty everywhere.

I aim to capture those moments that make me take pause. I strive to put my whole self into my photography. I hope you can see different facets of me, see my meraki in my work.

I hope to have nothing left of myself when i'm taking my last breaths. I want it to have been given away, through my life, passions, what i've created, and who, how, and what i've loved.

I want to breathe new air, traverse the mountains, oceans, rivers, canyons, forests, anywhere and everywhere I can, leaving little pieces of myself scattered like whispers of sand.

Let it be said that I lived.

Let it be said that I spent my life pursuing the art of Meraki.

Thank you for reading my first blog post! Leave me a comment below, and let me know what you think!