What's in a Box of Crayons

I recently was asked to be part of a panel to speak about what inspires creativity and renewing creative energy. As part of my props I brought along my box of "64" Crayola crayons. I bought them a long time ago to spark imagination using inner child qualities that are often forgotten, and sometimes I even play with them.

Today I was wondering why there were 64 crayons in the box. The number 64, it's just a cardinal number, right? Nothing special. Still wondering, I came across a pack of affirmation cards called Har-Money and there it was again - 64 cards in that deck. Well that was it, now I have to consult with my guru wizard - Google.

In almost no time at all, I found the number 64 referenced in everything from the 64 Hexagrams of the I-Ching, 64 Runes, 64 Codons of DNA in humans, 64 sexual positions of the Kama Sutra to 64 squares on a chess board. And yet this was not enough for my curiosity.

Back to the cardinal number. In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalized kind of number used to denote the size of a set. For example a set of 64 crayons. A "set" (and here comes the spiritual kicker for me) is a collection of distinct objects that are considered as part of a whole.

So what's in a box of crayons? A black crayon, a white crayon and 62 other wonderfully brilliant, non-toxic crayons. And they are all a part of the whole. Metaphorically speaking, I have the entire universe residing in my box of 64 crayons. I now see in my box of crayons a correlation between it and our world, the wide spectrum of individual differences in people and yet - like the crayon "set" we are all part of the whole. And until we get that – really get it, we will continue to operate with our separatist actions and egoic attitudes on a course toward creating more needless and senseless destruction of the whole of life.

Bearing Witness to Another's Life

As some of you may know by now, I am off on another venture. This time it involves writing a book. The premise of the book is to capture the stories of women 50+ who are embracing their age and their common 'strand' is gray hair, or going gray naturally.

Originally I had thought that this would be more of a photo journal with a little bit of text, however, after I interviewed my first woman I knew that it would be far more important than that, in fact the deeper purpose and meaning would be coming from the act of listening. Listening deeply.

The morning before my first interview, I was a bit nervous and felt a little unsettled and a dear friend had inquired, "What are you up to today?". To which I responded, "Oh, I have my first interview with one of my women today". To this he said, and I am paraphrasing "This is a great thing you are doing. You will be entering a sacred space....and through your listening, bearing witness to another's life".

Up until this point, I had only thought about how blessed I was to be listening to the stories of other people. I have always been fascinated by it and was pretty good at it in the context of creating both personal and corporate brands for people over the last 4 years. But I had never really thought about the other end of that experience, where someone is getting to tell their story - uninterrupted, without judgement and what a gift that was too.

So here is the point of this entry today - because there always has to be a point, right? As I was transcribing the two interviews I had under my belt, I had this thought that I don't really even know the story of my own parents. And now that I have this great new digital recording device, it is time for me to interview them before that opportunity passes. And the second point of this entry is to encourage everyone else to do the same thing. And so I pass it on to you.

My thought was confirmed while having a conversation with one of my 50+ women, who loaned me a book called "Listening is an Act of Love", and speaks about capturing the stories of your family, friends or someone you just met.

I always love when I get those messages of encouragement from outside of myself just when I need it.