Explore - Word of the year 2023
“You must go on adventures to find out where you truly belong.”
Each year I choose a word that I feel will guide me well in the coming 12 months. This year I have chosen the word EXPLORE, or rather the word chose me! Having been through all the usual journalling prompts and exercises at the end of December, I was still struggling to find a word that felt just right for the approaching year. Then ‘bam’, I was wandering around my local W H Smith store and there it was, printed on the front of a notebook, ‘EXPLORE’. Yes! that is what I want for the year ahead; that is what I have been planning for. A lot of exploration of art techniques and media, but also exploration of the countryside, woodland and nature around me, and, as always, further exploration of myself.
“Until you cross the bridge of your insecurities, you can’t begin to explore your possibilities.”
I am ready to explore the art making process without the pressure of making fantastic artwork every time I sit down with my pencil and paper. I will bring an element of play into my work, exploring my own marks and discovering my favourite ways to use paint or thread. I will let go of my own expectations as well as those of others.
“I’m not lost, I’m exploring”
Additional words that will support me include; Freedom, Curiosity, Play and Wildness.
“May you always be the one who notices the little ways light pours through, reminding you within the chaos there’s more to life and more to you.”
I am seeking to explore and express the essential wildness in my soul. The peace, love and connection I feel when I am let loose among the trees and hills and rivers. The belonging I feel to the earth. The way in which I hear myself and Spirit guides me so much more clearly in these places. I collect up my thoughts and then let them go, in order that I may immerse myself completely in the experience of the place.
We are all nature, although the modern world would have us believe that we are separate. What does it really mean to be human? How do I express my own human experience? That is what I want to explore.