Creative Inspiration from a Sentence

Ornamental plum blossoms in spring.

This past week, I spent some time reading Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. It’s a lovely book and I do recommend reading it. It’s kind of nice reading a book about seasonal tendencies as spring is beginning to emerge and make its presence felt. It’s good to say good bye to the short, dark days and grey, cold, wet weather of winter.

I was in a section of the book where there was a lot of talk about life in Finland with its sauna culture. I came across a sentence that struck and diverted me:

“And yet hard-core users of the global hammam seem to admire the sauna over all else, as the mother of all hot rooms.”

The words of the sentence were not deep nor was it something that solved something for me. The choice of one word, however, hammam (a type steam bath or a place of public bathing) made all the difference. It’s a word I haven’t heard or used in over 25 years, but which sparked so many memories and connections. I stopped reading the story while my mind went in a variety of different directions.

I thought about a hammam I went to in Morocco, a sauna in Finland, hot springs in Japan. How public baths and bathing are so not part of American culture. How the new-to-Japan teachers and I were really puzzled that there would be a company-wide event at a bath house in Japan. How is this fun or even considered a thing? (I was younger and new to life in Japan).

I thought about traveling again, post-Covid-19 vaccine. Where do I want to go? And I thought about travel journals and wanting to keep more of them.

I though about the fun and exploration in traveling. It reminded me of cultural differences and new things to learn about. All from one sentence that held one particular word.

This is the second time in a few weeks that I ever remember being inspired and fully entranced by a random sentence in a book. I’ve decided to keep a small notebook and write down when I come across other sentences like this.

Where’s a place you’ve had unexpected inspiration from?

Enjoying Fragments of Learning

Detail of a bookshelf of embroidered books, appliqué quilt

One of the best parts of my week requires me to wake up much earlier than I would on my own, but it’s something I wouldn’t change. It’s to join in with an online Reading Retreat. The idea is to show up, say hello, mention what book you’ll be reading, and then for all participants to then read in silence from their books of choice. Five minutes before the session is done, we regroup and if so inclined, say something about what we’ve just read. I find it a lovely way to get a bit of reading and connection with community in. I have been exposed to so many other books and authors over this past year of meeting weekly.

A passage was brought up a couple of weeks ago by one of the members as she was reading, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May:

“Mostly I read at this hour, perusing the pile of books that live by my favorite chair, waiting to offer up fragments of learning, rather than inviting cover-to-cover pursuits. I browse, a chapter here, a segment there, or hunt through an index for a matter that’s on my mind. I love such loose, exploratory reading. For once, I am not reading to escape; instead, having already made my getaway, I am able to roam through the extra space I’ve found, as restless and impatient as I like, revealing in the play of my own absorption. They say we should dance like no one is watching. I think that applies to reading, too.”

I find that paragraph delightful and enjoy the permission given to dabble and explore. To take what’s needed, find what’s interesting and leave other bits behind to read later or perhaps never. I like being off the hook to read a book from cover to cover. It feels much like being at a really good bookstore where every pile or bookshelf has more interesting looking books to spend sometime with, except more comfortable because of being at home.

This perusing and roaming can also be applied to so many other creative areas to learn from exploration and play. It’s good to remember that dipping in and out of things is also a perfectly valid way of learning.

Do you ever let yourself take time to browse through your books or projects this way? When was the last time?