The Zen of Finding your Lost Love Makes Tom Hanks Disappear!

I was going to post Tom Hanks’ caricature today, but a comment on my book made me change my mind. (Updated: March 15, 2010 – Tom Hanks’ Caricature Posted:-))

The gentleman who commented, is an authority in the field of information technology, and he (as he says in his comment,) is only a few years away from retirement. Long time ago when he was younger, he used to draw. It was his hobby. Then many years passed and the hobby was forgotten, until recently, when he rediscovered it. Now he hopes to start again:-)

He made me think about the years we do things that aren’t driven by our passion. He made me think of all that we leave behind, in the race to become “respected citizens” of this world. He made me wonder about the value that we place on life’s precious moments – in a currency chosen by others, and in a manner guided by our social norms.

Do we have to leave and forget what we love…forever?

There’s this one life that we’ve got. It was given to as an empty basket so that we could fill it up with moments that either fell into it or that we chose consciously. We can’t do much about the moments that destiny drops into our basket, but if we relinquish our control over those moments that are ours to choose – we suffocate ourselves, into a slow death. We make ourselves an airtight chamber and we sit in it waiting for random moments to fall into our basket – waiting for the time when our empty gasps would end and the searing, burning pain in our chest would stop!

Pull yourself out of that dark, lonely chamber – stop waiting for the continuous patter of random moments – get a life that you love. Close your eyes for a second and think.

What did you love doing, what did you dream of becoming; before you were blinded by the blazing lights of practical needs?

Here are some choices. Pick yours.

• You loved to draw people, animals, buildings, trees, cartoons, caricatures…
• You danced for hours…you loved swinging to the music…
• You played the piano, the keyboard, or the guitar…
• You liked to write stories, poems, jokes…
• You enjoyed creating puzzles, designing games…
• You loved to make things out of wood, paper…

This list, of course isn’t exhaustive. Take a moment, and a slip of paper. Now write down your “lost” dream. If you are here, there’s a strong possibility that you too are chasing a lost dream.

• You may be here because you aren’t working as an artist, but you loved to draw or sketch, once upon a time.
• You might also be here looking for references or for pictures to alter, you are probably someone who’s straitjacketed into the role of an artist or a graphic designer, but it isn’t your true calling. You dreamed of being someone else, once upon a time.

I don’t recommend that you leave what puts bread on your table – but I strongly advise you to spend at least an hour a day following your true love. One day, it shall become yours – but until then, the sweet memories that you collect in that hour of the day, will fill your basket of life with happiness and satisfaction.

And yes, if your lost dream is drawing people (cartoons, caricatures, or otherwise,) “The Evolution of a Caricaturist”, a book on how to draw caricatures, may help.

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