The past, neatly folded into the pages of our memory books, is often held onto ever so dearly. We re-read the dried ink of the past, memorizing its lines in the present. We defy time and will it to live on, flooding the present moment with the burdens of the past. In filling our hands with these pages coupled with the uncertainty of the pages still unwritten (the future), we fatigue our muscles long before we can exhale into the present moment. We live somewhere between the past and the future yet never quite in the now.

Enter the realm of cliched phrases with the crowning glory residing with the phrase "listen to your heart". If my heart had the ability to grow wings, extricate itself from the chest cavity and allow itself to become fluent in English, that might have been a possibility. Despite our ability to rationalize every facet of our lives, why is it that we give and receive the advice "follow to your heart" with utmost conviction?

We have the ability to access the world at our fingertips yet we’re baffled when tasked with identifying countries on the world map. We can recite Newton’s third law of motion verbatim yet we fail to remember the birthday of a loved one without the telltale Facebook reminder. We simmer up at the slightest nudge of external stimuli yet we successfully ignore those who go above and beyond to facilitate our wants and needs. In our quest for time, we have more trouble slowing down than we do speeding up. 

When was the last time you encountered an “aha moment”, one that invoked an inexplicable drive to follow your dreams? The likes of those you experience as the aftermath of watching an inspirational Ted Talks or reading a motivational quote. Only, you discover days later, that the catalyst which invoked the bout of inspiration and creativity was short lived in bringing about a tangible, lasting change. Perhaps because creativity begins like a spark of light, one that is unstable and intermittent at its inception. It is only with streamlined efforts that this proverbial spark morphs into a warm glow of steady light.