Embracing Intuition

I am incredibly happy with this weaving. On this scale, it’s the most complex weaving I’ve done - there’s solid core spun yarn, velvet, roving, mixed medium core spun yarn with sequins, metallic roving… There’s a lot happening!

With such a wide workspace and so many different kinds of yarn, it was hard to see the final vision for this piece in advance. I changed it even as I worked on it. I'd remove a row or add one in, or adjust the flow from one side to another.

At first, redoing my work this way felt like failure. Failure to plan, failure of vision, failure of creative craftsmanship. If I were good enough, I would just... make the weaving and it would be perfect. Right?

Actually - no.

My primary job is in software engineering, where I'm a manager. And some of the skillsets that I appreciate the most - both in my own career and for people I manage - are flexibility, adaptability, being able to understand both high-level and more granular perspectives and make decisions.

Hmmm. That actually sounds a lot like what I was doing with my weaving! As I added more rows of yarn, brought in more colors and textures, I'd step back every so often so I could take in the weaving as a whole instead of just the area I was focused on for the moment. With the "whole forest" view, I could see where the ratio of colors felt uneven, or the flow from left to right didn't feel natural, or where the combination of colors felt too dark or too light.

In other words, I wasn't failing. I was allowing myself the flexibility of adapting the weaving as it progressed. And in doing so, I was able to lead with my intuition and make decisions about the structure and form based on how it felt to look at the weaving in the moment.

Instead of feeling bad about the way I was working, I accepted it. I embraced it. And that meant I enjoyed the entire process of weaving and creating, rather than dreading it or feeling like I just wanted to get through it. 

I think there are so many areas of life and work where changing perspective this way can make a meaningful difference. Things where we can recognize the benefits or positive impacts of the way we do something, instead of only seeing it as something negative.

In work or life or art, what's something you've changed your perspective on for the better?

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