Art/Music/Edmonton/Ideas

Just the other day, I was introduced, or possibly reintroduced, to the word synchronicity by someone who has been influential to me in the past year. (I suspect that I have known of this concept by Carl Jung from my time in college when my concentration was in psychology, but it has never been in my lexicon until now.)

When I initially contemplated about traveling to Edmonton to see Hadestown in late 2017, there was no way of knowing then the extent of possibility and inspiration and confirmation that would be found in every moment of that one full day spent wandering about the city. Factoring two long travel days bookending this extended weekend, I knew going in that my time would be extremely limited in this city that was nowhere on my radar before that point. (Truth be told, I had thought Edmonton was near Toronto before my research clarified my geographical ignorance.)

Inspiration and influence do not always enter our lives in conventional ways. Had I known the extent of just how impactful Edmonton would be on my life, I would have likely planned on staying an additional night or two. Perhaps that extra time, however, would not have forced me to feel the sense of urgency to maximize every moment that was on my mind during that day.

As I continue to prepare myself for the upcoming year of leaving my sense of normalcy behind me, I have been thinking of the impact of this singular day in a city in the Canadian tundra on the verge of winter more regularly. (Technically speaking, I don’t think Edmonton is officially considered to be in the tundra. I thoroughly enjoy the sound of the word tundra, and am fully taking advantage of the possibility of using this otherwise rarely used word.)

As I prepare for my ride into New York City with my parents to see Hadestown again in its “locked” form today, it seems fitting to share my thoughts about this important and impactful day from not long ago. Originally, this post was going to be focused on what I have referred to in my mind as the “Edmonton Art Wall” that I stumbled upon during my visit that was seemingly created by either middle school or high school children. The idea of sharing those photographs in a blog post was decided on during the plane ride home the day after spending nearly thirty minutes in the bitter cold reading and thinking about what was shared by those young people. For some reason, the post never happened. It was only after looking through the photographs today from that weekend for the first time in a very long time that I realized just how many of the experiences were essentially the universe winking at me. For some additional context, the main reason I justified a trip like this was to use the time on the plane and other quiet times to write. Essentially, I viewed this as paying myself to write for at least fifteen hours in such a short span of time. Some of the photographs taken of what I encountered that weekend only begin to hint at what seemed to be signs that I should trust my gut.

As I recently shared in a separate blog post, my hope is to embrace the effects that will arise from the uncertainty that this time in my life may generate. The projects I am working on are often a cacophony of competing noises in my head, sometimes preventing me from making sense of them and which thoughts go with which project. Every so often, though, I get glimpses of clarity and am able to succinctly record these ideas where they belong. There is great peace in these moments. A year of carving out the time to hopefully facilitate these moments on a more regular basis without the distractions of the daily nonsense is what I am anticipating the most.

Everything within me is telling me to trust this process, despite how unsettling and illogical it may seem at times. Sometimes a risk is worth pursuing.

I leave those reading this post with a quote, a definition, and a photo essay.

“Overall, I am excited to share out some of the ideas that have been brewing. I have decided that next year and beyond is the perfect time to invest in me, as well as my dreams.”

-Me, typed on my phone on December 3, 2017 on a bus with wifi heading to the Edmonton International Airport and published immediately on this blog.

syn·chro·nic·i·ty

the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.