Decision making and the last flapjack
Staring down at 2 solitary flapjacks (the runts of the batch), I notice that they’re slightly soggy, but still pretty tempting. Immediately my right and left brain engage in a head-lock. I wait to see what will happen next.
“Just finish them off. What’s the point in leaving them another day. You know you want to”, says my emotional, limbic brain, desperate for an instant sugar-rush.
“Really”, replies my exasperated cerebral upper brain. “Come on…do you really need them…. you had some earlier with your coffee?”
In recent years there has been a massive interest and resurgence in the use of collage. People from all walks of life are diving into the daily practice and benefiting enormously – architects and fashion designers, philosophers, writers, gardeners, therapists, entrepreneurs and teachers, can all be found on Social Media using collage. They have all discovered it helps them to…
Think more freely
Ignite their creativity
Make way for experimentation
Learn to take greater risks
Strengthen their intuition
Drop into a more focussed state
…………and sharpen their decision-making.
Making good, strong decisions throughout life is a fulltime business, minute by minute, day in, day out. Some decisions seem utterly inconsequential and some decisions can bring about massive change in our lives, for better or for worse. As I think about it right now, it feels a little scary when I ruminate on how enormously important decision-making skills really are.
My ability to make good decisions, that will shape my life, depends on my ability to have robust inner conversations. Yes, I really mean that…we can learn to notice and take a grip on the dialogues that happen in our grey matter and then hold back long enough to work out what will work best for us.
A few weeks ago, after running a family group collage session on-line, I spent time reflecting on what an art practice, like collage, can offer our decision-making equipment. I fell into the practice of collaging about 5 years ago. I wasn’t really aware I was making some kind of transition to a different medium, I just wanted ‘more’. It was an intuitive ‘knowing’ that adding random, yet carefully chosen papers, would be exciting and provide the challenge I was looking for.
Using magazine pictures, scraps of coloured papers and additions such as cardboard, brought a whole new dynamic to my work. Unlike any other creative process I’d tried, I found collage the most enjoyable. It forced me into a state of ‘not knowing’ immediately and took away any notion of control I might have thought I could achieve.
As I work, I can observe how I submit myself to a constant decision-making process…. Which involves a conversation about problem solving, to create a composition that holds together and gives me joy. I’ve noticed that boredom or frustration comes when my decision making around the creation of the picture gets lost. Staying focussed and asking again and again “Do I like that, yes or no?” “What’s working and what’s not?”, keeps me on the pitch.
Collage is inherently free and playful and play reduces stress and heals our cortisol drenched brains (cortisol is a stress hormone). Collage invites randomness and allows for glorious unexpected occurrences, chance meetings and magical unions, which reminds me that that’s what I’m looking for in my life every day.
Love Jane
Ps I ate them by the way!! Lol
*If this blog resonates with you and you’d like to give it a try (with a little support and guidance), then watch out for news of the next collage session coming soon.