your vision is born from discontent & desire

🗺️ a continuation of writings on world-building.
🌸 this a new series on growing a vision.

all of my visions begin as entries in my journal. I usually write them late at night, or in the early morning darkness, before sunrise, or while seated on a plane, or a boat, or scribbled as four words into a notebook, while on a long, meandering walk. more often than not, they come to me in the liminal spaces; as if they, themselves, belong to another world.

they can arrive in different shapes and forms — sometimes, as an electric pulse, like a sudden flash of clarity. sometimes, they arrive as a fully formed entity; like a well-composed sentence. they know what they’re here to do, and create, and be. but more often than not, they arrive as fragments, and “what if” questions. it feels almost like remembering a dream.

visions & dreams are sisters

visions and dreams are sisters — in that they were born in a mixing of deep, inner desires — with the sublimated and unconscious.

the difference is: that while dreams can dwell in that nether-world, a vision requires your commitment. to keep a vision alive, you make a promise (to yourself, to life, to those around you) that you’ll do everything in your power to make it real. dreams can live in the unborn, but visions take infinite possibility and empowers it with a torch of manifesting fire.

…but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, just yet. today, I want to write about how a vision begins.

the beginnings of birthing a vision

when I feel the beginning of a vision, it usually comes in the form of vague longings, half-knowings, a deep urge, or an itch in my soul. more often than not, it’s shrouded in confusion and mystery, and layered with other things (needs, wants, urges, fears).

you can have a vision relating to ANY aspect of your life (or your life as a whole). but usually, I start by thinking of one theme or area in my life where I want a vision: a sense of mission, purpose, and plan — to organize my creative energy, and guide my path forwards.

Which area or aspect of your life wants to be guided by a vision?

as I wrote in a previous post, having a vision is like having a magic fire in a jar — and so, it is a source of alchemy and transformative power.

for me, it keeps me from falling into days of amnesic forgetfulness, or sinking into a hole of existential meaninglessness. if I’m feeling lacking in purpose, meaning, or prone to boredom — it’s usually because I lack a vision.

The forces of discontent & desire

in how to grow a vision, I wrote about the origin of visions as a dreamy psychic space that requires deep spaciousness, listening, and attunment — before something new can emerge forth.

my visions do come from that open, dreamy space — but they also often come from a deep sense of discontentment, disenchantment, and discomfort — and with it, a longing for something better.

That is, it comes from the two forces of Discontent and Desire:

Discontent (Repelling Force) — takes the shape of feeling boredom, stagnant, unfulfilled, purposeless, disgust, repulsion, force, depletion, and inauthenticity. something about the status quo (and what it’s doing to me, where it’s leading me) is extremely uncomfortable, and before I can create a vision for an alternative future, I must understand and unravel what, exactly, is that discomfort telling me.

Journaling Questions: What am I discontent with? What am I feeling? What does it trigger in me? How is it misaligned with how I want to be, in the world, or how I want to feel?
Desire (Attracting Force) — is the alternative reality that doesn’t yet exist, but which feels expansive and exciting, and maybe a little scary. first and foremost, it paints a map of how you want to feel, and how you want to be. To claim a desire can feel really daunting; if only because it can stir up resistance of “do I deserve this / need this / can I even have this?” Those thoughts will always come — but the desire itself is pure, and will always lead the way forwards.

Journaling Questions: What do I desire? What would fulfill me? What resistance do I have against it? What am I afraid of? What would it feel like if this desire came to be true? How would my life be different? How would I be different? Who is the me on the other side of this desire?

Your discontent and desire are like two ends of a magnet: one repels, the other attracts. Both are powerful forces, because they speak so much about what matters, what we value, what we hold as sacred, and how we want to be — as humans, in the world. To look at what we’re against gives so much insight as to what we want to turn towards, and take a stand for.

And visions, as portals to your future — is the chariot that can transport you from your discontent to your desire. It is a tunnel, an unfolding path, lit just 5 meters in front of you. If you take care of it, tend to it, nurture it — you can trust that over time, it’ll take you to exactly where you need to go.

💌 I write a weekly newsletter on creative process & digital ecosystems called guide.notes. I also have a weekly podcast, botanical studies.

growing a businessKening ZhuFebruary 21, 2024visions, deep journaling, world-building