Blog: ​ABOUT Being

Richard Wilberg: Creativity Coach and Musician
  • Home
  • Coaching
  • Music
  • Photography
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact

Trust Self-knowledge

2/6/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Waves surfaced in Kodak, Dektol developer each time I plunged my warm hand into the 68 degree fluid to process photographic prints. Prior to digital cameras, photographers could send negatives to labs to make photographs or develop their own. I chose my basement darkroom to produce pictures to find a truth within my images to give meaning to my art. 

Tongs and other darkroom tools were used to place image-exposed Kodak, Polycontrast paper into the cold fluid. Agitation of the paper by shuffling it back and forth was necessary to remove air bubbles from the paper’s surface.  Free of air bubbles, Dektol could uniformly penetrate to Polycontrast’s imbedded silver to create an image I sought. My hand was a perfect tool for this job. In spite of the cold, the tactile sensation from moving the paper forward and backward in the fluid, coaxed the image into view.
 
At first, a ghostly vision appeared as I continued to massage the paper’s surface. Discernment was critical. Remove the paper prematurely and the image would be underexposed, lacking detail, the proof to support my truth. Overexposure was equally disastrous, hiding the photograph’s story in a dark mishmash of excessive detail.
 
Why is discernment critical, you might ask? When the image is ready, why not remove the print from the developer? Unfortunately, photographs continue to develop after the paper is removed from Dektol and placed in the fixer, the second step in the process. Discernment, based on self-knowledge from prior experience was the deciding factor for when I would fix the image.
 
To rely on self-knowledge requires trust that what we know from the past will be useful and appropriate in the present. And, it may be difficult to trust without possessing more information. We may be hesitant to take action so we delay and wait for more information to surface. Sometimes the information we believe we need to confirm self-knowledge may overdevelop our vision and block our truth similar to the overdeveloped print in Dektol.  How do we trust self-knowledge to find the optimal point to stop developing our vision and move forward? Look to the seashore as a way to examine this issue.
 
We trust the ocean to continuously deliver waves to the beach as she has for millennia. Does the sea metaphorically search for information concerning how to produce each new wave? Does her self-knowledge, born of tidal and geologic forces, allow her to create waves without deliberation? Let’s assume the later to examine the potential of self-knowledge.
 
The sea “understands” how to repeat waves that meet the beach before the earlier wave fully retreats. The ocean knows the optimal time to release each new wave without seeing the return of the previous wave. The overlapping, foamy intervals flow forward and backward, just like processing the sea’s truth in Dektol.
 
Each wave is evidence of the ocean’s self-knowledge of how to make waves. The ocean doesn’t seek confirmation of her ability to produce waves. Nor does the ocean need to see the result of each wave prior to releasing the next. No one questions the sea’s ability to create waves or the validity of the ocean’s purpose. We accept the sea’s knowledge and her behavior as the essence of the ocean.
 
Accept self-knowledge as your essence. Have faith in your discernment to cease development of your vision at the optimal time to achieve your truth. Your truth, like the print in Dektol is what’s meaningful for you. You realize you don’t need every fact to fix your image.  Nor do you need confirmation of your ability to know your purpose. Trust the natural rise of self-knowledge like the wave trusts the ocean. You’ll know when it’s time to stop developing your idea and create the vision of your truth.

If this essay is meaningful, please like or tweet below or leave a comment. Thank you for your interest and possible action you may take.
 
Richard Wilberg, MS, PLCC, ACC 
Life Coach for Personal Fulfillment and Career Success

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About the Author

    Picture
    Richard Wilberg writes fiction, creative non-fiction, self-development, and career counseling articles. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All
    Acceptance
    Aging
    Alternatives
    Anomie
    Appreciation
    Assertiveness
    Assumptions
    Avoidance
    Awareness
    Balance
    Baseball
    Behavior
    Being
    Betrayal
    Blame
    Brand
    Careerdevelopment
    Career Development
    Caregiving
    Certainty
    Change
    Choices
    Coexistence
    Commitments
    Communication
    Compacency
    Compassion
    Conflict
    Conversation
    Creativity
    Crowd Behavior
    Customer Experience
    Dating
    Decisiion
    Decision-making
    Desire
    Distraction
    Dreams
    Driverless Cars
    Driverless Trucks
    Emotion
    Empathy
    Escape
    Expectations
    Family
    Fatherhood
    Fear
    Fiction
    Flashfiction
    Flash Fiction
    Friendship
    Future
    Gerontology
    Goals
    Grieving
    Habits
    Harmony
    Healing
    Healthcare
    Humor
    Imagination
    Innocence
    Innovation
    Instinct
    Intentions
    Intuition
    Jobs
    Land
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Lies
    Listening
    Loneliness
    Loss
    Love
    Management
    Marketing
    Meaning
    Mentoring
    Music
    Mystery
    Nostalgia
    Opportunity
    Ownership
    Parents
    Passions
    Patience
    Perception
    Perfection
    Perseverance
    Personality
    Perspective
    Photography
    Positivity
    Presence
    Reason
    Redemption
    Relationships
    Reputation
    Resilience
    Respect
    Romance
    Secrets
    Selfawareness
    Self-care
    Selfconfidence
    Selfdevelopment
    Self Development
    Self-knowledge
    Self-worth
    Shame
    Song Lyrics
    Sons
    Stillbirths
    Success
    Technology
    Transformational Learning
    Transition
    Trust
    Truth
    Unknown
    Values
    Vision
    Well Being
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Home | Coaching | Music | Photography | About | Blog | Contact
© Wilberg, LLC. All rights reserved. Login.
  • Home
  • Coaching
  • Music
  • Photography
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact