When Whimsy Takes the Lead

True to its nature, the origin of the word “whimsy” is vague and undefined. It probably came from “whim wham,” which designated a play on words or a pun, and this is believed to be a derivative of an old Norse word meaning “to let the eyes wander.” I love this idea of whimsy as letting the eyes wander to whatever strikes your fancy and to play with words, which describes the way I write poetry perfectly! If we follow the whimsy, it will reveal our interests or proclivities in the moment and, with practice, we can learn to distinguish the stirrings in our soul from which our whimsy rises.

The modern method of manifestation is to define a goal and then focus solely on the goal. You stay the course no matter what and deny or ignore all else. This is the racehorse method with blinders on designed to prevent distraction from anything in the periphery and keep the focus on the road ahead. But there is another way of being in which we let the eyes wander gaining clues from the world around us that inform and guide our next step. The center point is not a distant goal but a question or yearning that comes from the core of us.

We have mostly abandoned this way, devaluing our whimsy as a weakness and the pathway of lost souls, without realizing that goals sometimes require us to forfeit our lives to the clock and live according to the plans we have made based on yesterday's vision. I strive for a balance, a way of being that serves a direction without narrowing the view and that gives room for whimsy. 

Photo, Prose, and Recital © Nick LeForce
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Today, I will let my whimsy take the lead at certain times and see where it leads me. Where might your whimsy lead you today?

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