I started this year with an energetic vibe. And when Junaline, or June as we sometimes call her, markets her workshop on activating your 2020 vision board, I tell myself why not? This is something new to me. I only have a faint idea about it and I am eager to let myself be surprised. That's why, on the day I was born, instead of spending it like any other day, I decide to give myself time to rest in the morning before driving to Beirut to attend said event. The previous night, my friends, who were supposedly just visiting for a drink and to catch up, had surprised me with a cake. After they left, I received a message from June letting me know that I needed to bring magazines with me and my favorite photo. Now, even though I love shooting photos, I'm camera shy and I prefer not to appear in pictures. It took me some time to find an image, print it, and feel ready to embrace the upcoming experience.
The concept is to clear one's mind before getting on with cutting out images from magazines and creating a collage that aims at clarifying what one wants and focusing on one's intentions. I browsed several magazines, cut out pictures and sentences that appealed to me, and created what you see at the beginning of this composition. All other participants gave the comment that it exuded power, which was counterbalanced by my smile that looked sweet. It made me wonder whether my friend, who had been recently telling me how he sensed that I had a dominant character from my pictures, wasn't right after all... I explained to my fellow workshop participants that I am a free-spirited adventurer at heart, who misses Africa, and is looking forward to doing some more photography and exploring, being in discovering myself more, or traveling to destinations I haven't visited yet. And since someone asked about the Lalique vase, I explained how thinking of the 2020 Jar of Thoughts, a similar representation had come to my mind and that's how that blue recipient found its way on my vision board. On a side note, I also disclosed that to me the bike and the watch are not "male" gadgets, but gadgets that caught my eye and somehow spoke to me, each with its own purpose.
In the end, I cannot say I expected the outcome of the selected pictures and sayings. What is sure is that I really enjoyed the whole session. I also showed my vision board to close people who did not attend the workshop with me, to find out whether they would also give me the same comments. Here, the comments were a little different. Probably since they were coming from people who know me. Probably because they have different perceptions. What was positively distinctive about my 42nd birthday is that, although I said it is a day like any other and why do we celebrate getting closer to the grave, I had the chance to go to lunch with my friend before joining my family to celebrate my birthday and my sister's. Yup. You read right. We were born on the same day of the week. And the same month. With 11 years of difference. And less than an hour. Which makes us weird twins. Funny coincidence, eh?
