For £5 You Can Watch Me Dream (The Public Therapy Sessions) ©

Everyday at 6 in the evening they begin to stir. At a time when most others leave their desks to go home and rest, they prepare to entertain. They may have already put in a full day of work. Don’t mind that. They were in deep slumber the whole way through.

Earn by day and dream by night.

You will find them in clubs playing music, doing stand up, performing plays, reading poetry, exhibiting photographs or screening short films.They gather their creativity and display it to any audience who will pay for the right to be silent or applaud. All the privileges a five-pound entry fee affords.

Later, on the way home, if all goes well the artist will post a status update on Facebook to describe the moment she shared with the audience. What she’s expressing is an instant of connection. A moment in which others recognise that which she values in herself.

A fragment of time through which she escaped from her daytime persona and saw people finally acknowledge who she is or at least who she thinks she is. I say think because I’m not sure if we can ever really know the extent of our full potential. Maybe some of us can see it clearly but most of us are probably walking through time selling ourselves short.

Why is she doing it? What does she want? 

She wishes the moment will expand and take up her whole life. She’s hoping that one day the recognition will carry through into the morning and that her life will no longer be divided into that which she can tolerate and that which she loves.

She tells me all this of an evening and I hug her and say:
"At least you know what you love, keep dreaming.
And if you really want it to work, add structure.”

Born Perfect Vs the Great Hall of “THEY” (The Public Therapy Sessions)©

We sat in a café in Oxford reminiscing whilst baby Emma, my friend’s daughter, rolled serenely around the floor. Emma didn’t seem the least bit interested in what anyone thought of her behaviour; she didn’t cast her eye around the café even once to check for people’s reactions. Contentment and calmness seemed to be the only two things on the menu for her.

I remember being like that. I used to know what all the objects in our house looked like from the floor’s point of view. I’d stare at the imperfect patches under the dining room table and the little bits of dust that grab hold of the legs of chairs.The world underneath the furniture was my domain. There was tranquillity to be found in those little places.

“She’s Perfect”, I said to my friend about her daughter.
“I know”, replied the two year old’s proud mother.
“Please keep telling her that, will you?”, I said trying to imagine the possibilities.

What if we could safely deliver one human that is totally accepting of herself, realises her innate perfection and is able to remind others of theirs. It’s the state we all come from. Why do we forget?

Over the course of a lifetime most of us accumulate a multitude of whispers and looks that have scrutinised our actions and recorded our “imperfections” (As society perceives them. It’s an illusion there is no such thing) only to play them back to us.

We store them in the Great Hall of “They”. A place we start decorating from a very early age with portraits of the disapproving moments we meet on our journey.

Who are “They” and  why do we care so much about “Them”?

According to the film Black Swan, “They” are in our head. We put them there because we think “They” are pushing us to achieve our goals but in reality “They” are just driving us crazy…sometimes literally!

So who would we be if we completely accepted and. …Mmmm…sorry to bring it up but I feel I must…. LOVED ourselves?

There you go, I said it and now it’s out there. Deal with it!

Are any of you still there?

I know that most of us, just like baby Emma, used to roll around the floor, content in our own perfection. I think it’s time we reminded ourselves that we were BORN PERFECT and still are.

Right, that’s it; I’m going into the Hall to smash some portraits. You can come but you need to bring your own bat. I will be smashing things and it will get loud!!!

No, there is no way of doing this quietly.