reimagining

Jun 1

Questions as gifts and living into the worlds of our words

I was asked two questions in the past month that have nudged me to reflect on their overlap. One from a dear, long-time friend: Is it beneficial to have something that you can describe but may not be able to define? And another from a new friend: What is the ‘reimagining project’?

The first question I jumped into eagerly… to wonder and explore inside description is one of my favorite things to do and one of the most profound spaces I’ve ever found for children, caregivers, educators, leaders, and organizations to deeply engage in process.

The second question I hadn’t been asked in a while and I found myself fumbling with it, feeling like I needed to be “clear” or “concise” or something other than what I was experiencing.

What a lovely gift a question is. And what a lovely gift when a question wants to stay for a while and play.

The name reimagining project has been with me for a while. I remember when I first wrote the words in a notebook. It was 2008. I was living in Cape Town. I was partially writing a poem at my kitchen table and partially inside a moment of daydream about why I’m here, what I long to create. As often happens, I’m shown glimpses that appear again later (before) in surprising ways. I’ve learned to trust glimpses—spend time with them, sense into them, listen, and allow myself to hold them as something I know deep inside myself.

So, when I set up an LLC for my work in 2017, I don’t remember thinking at all about the name. I already knew it. Yet I did notice myself give explanations (when I thought I needed to “prove” what I was doing) for why the name was a good one, why it represented my work, etc. But as I reflect back on my explanations, only one feels true: It’s a name to live into.

Even when I was very young, I had an attention for process. I loved and lingered in the raking of leaves into a leaf house more than actually sitting in it when it was done. And ever since I read Letters to a Young Poet in my early twenties, I’ve resonated deeply with this piece of wisdom from Rainer Maria Rilke: “And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”

One of the beautiful things about life is how it unfolds for you if you let it. How it shows you edges, between spaces, and overlaps that invite you to revise (re-see) what is here and what you think is possible. Because what’s possible is always far beyond anything we can imagine ourselves right now.

Here’s something new I can see (that I found in the overlap of description and definition) about why reimagining is a beautiful place to play and create with others:

What a lovely gift when a question wants to stay for a while and play.

re-

look back to see anew and look anew to see again; past-future plays in the present now; invitation to hold knowing and unknowing in a dance

imagine

multi-dimensional creation; inspired by, because of, connected to, commitment to, responsibility for; finding something new inside something known; lift, rejoice, delight, open

-ing

in process; unfinished; evolving; alive; of trust, connection, love; ever better, ever more

And the word project is ever evolving. It’s inherently unknown and potentiates itself through relational learning with others. It’s friendly, too. It’s here to invite you in to sit down for a while, share your stories, let yourself be seen, lean in to listen, play and rejoice in the moment, feel into the connection of our collective reimagining.

Did I define “reimaging project” or describe it? Or does the space in the overlap invite something else? And why does this matter to you? How does wondering in the nuance of words offer anything that matters?

The frequencies of our thoughts-feelings-words-sounds all matter. When we wonder, play, rejoice, laugh, listen, and re-see, we live and express ourselves at frequencies of joy and love. When we attune to the words we use, the thoughts we hold, the feelings we process, we expand our awareness and can decide more carefully (and lovingly) which questions we want to live into and what we want to create.

A word like reimagining is an infinite world; the prefix re- alone opens space for boundless connections and the suffex -ing invites endless layers of learning around what it might mean to imagine. And this is only one word.

Each piece of a word (every word, thought, feeling) is a button. A button is everything. Everything is always where you are.

Can you see what we’re creating? What can grow from a beautiful question, bird in a nest, conversation with a friend, the call of geese, twist of breeze, piece of petal, glimpse?

love+light, Melissa