Let It Simmer

Years ago, when I was living in Colorado, I taught one of my early Intuitive Painting workshops.

Afterward, I offered participants the opportunity to have a coaching session with me at a reduced rate.

One woman took me up on it.

She was highly intelligent and had worked for years in telecommunications. She even had algorithms to her name. But change was coming. She was facing a layoff, retirement wasn’t far away, and she was wondering what came next.

She wanted to find something meaningful. Something that would give her a sense of purpose.

And, like many of us when we find ourselves at a transition point, she wanted to figure it out.

Preferably now.

I remember telling her not to rush into the next thing.

Instead, I gave her the image of making soup.

You don’t throw everything into a pot and immediately expect it to taste right. You take your time.

You start with a few ingredients.

You let it simmer.

You taste.

Mmhh … it needs a little more salt or pepper. 

You add it to the soup and let it simmer some more.

Maybe what you thought it needed wasn’t what it needs at all.

And then you let it simmer some more.

I think transitions can be like that.

We’re often uncomfortable with the space between what was and what comes next. We want an answer. A plan. A new purpose. We’re on a track. But this could be the time to take another direction.

Especially when we’ve spent much of our lives being productive.

But what if that space isn’t something you need to get through as quickly as possible?

What if it’s actually where something new could take place?

Looking back, I think the intuitive painting workshop laid the ground for a deeper conversation about her future.

Because painting intuitively asks much the same thing of us.

You make a mark.

You respond to it.

You add something.

You cover something up.

You stand back.

You notice.

You open your mind and  let your brush take the lead. Let the unexpected happen. That’s where the beauty is.

You don’t have to know what the painting will look like before you begin.

In fact, trying to know can get in the way.

Life isn’t all that different.

At a transition point, we don’t need to immediately decide what the next chapter is going to be.

We can add an ingredient.

Try something.

Pay attention to what gives us energy.

Notice what we’re curious about.

Leave something out that no longer tastes quite right.

And give ourselves permission to let it simmer.

I couldn’t have known then where all of my own ingredients would eventually lead either.

Painting. Coaching. Teaching. Intuitive painting. Bringing things together that at one time may have seemed completely separate.

One thing led to another.

Not because I had mapped it all out, but because I kept paying attention to what came next.

Maybe purpose isn’t always something we have to go out and find.

Maybe sometimes we have to give it enough time and space to reveal itself.

So if you find yourself somewhere between what was and whatever comes next, perhaps you don’t need the answer quite yet.

Put a few ingredients in the pot.

Taste.

Adjust.

And let it simmer.

Until it’s just right!