By |

To work with creative people is a tremendous gift.  Days filled with questions, searching for explanation and understanding. Social commentary, expressing the human condition, taking what’s inside and churning it out, exploring, defining, soothing, infuriating… nothing is off limits for the artist’s probing perspective. To be a creative thinker is to be at once an artist, sociologist, listener, observer, explorer, imaginative and brave.  Oh yes, brave.  Whether you are the most celebrated recognized artist or create without audience or support, the personal dilemma can be the same; ‘who am I to write, or compose, or draw, sculpt, paint… why is my story unique or worth telling’.

The colleagues I have been working with have faced this inner struggle and  have found their voices. It’s a challenge to believe in your unique perspective. Being a red tulip in a garden of yellow can be, well, uncomfortable. Or absolutely stunning. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. My inspiration for the next phase of work will be from the creative minds that challenge me to look beyond the obvious, think of possibilities and believe in the sound of my own voice.

By |

This hot hot hot July weather has insisted a slowing down of the pace of the past busy months. Leaps of Faith require rejuvenation! And I have found it with some dear old friends – namely  Emerson, Whitman and, today’s favourite, Thoreau. Truly, there is something quite meaningful about sitting in the cool shade of a tree, pondering ‘what the heck does it all mean’ and reading this excerpt, almost as if for the first time:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.

This is the point, isn’t it? This is what keeps us searching, looking, testing, trying, because to leave it un-turned or untried, means that we didn’t rout all that was not life. Digging deep to find the truth, the core, ‘its’ and therefore, ‘our’ reason for living. The idea of ‘sucking out all the marrow of life’ resonates with me – I’m the kind of girl that gnaws on the bone of a particularly delicious steak or pork chop, to be sure to get every last bit of yummyness. Don’t be offended, I do the same with a salad. I love my salad. See what I mean? It’s all delicious!

From these marrow-sucking experiences we learn what we like, what we don’t, where we succeed best and what makes us the happiest. We learn to live sturdily, and  Spartan-like as Thoreau states. This resonates with my love of beautiful things – both in nature and man-made, like art in all its forms. I no longer have a lot of ‘stuff’ but what I do have seems excessive in its abundance because of its meaningfulness to me! ‘Less is truly more’ if there is meaning in the ‘less’.

Hot summer days spent in the shade of a tree or with my feet in the cooling edge of the beach seem like the most sublime way to enjoy the marrow. Especially when shared with a sturdy stalwart friend. Thanks Thoreau for once again being there. You’re the best!

By |

Much has been written about the power of intentions, what you put out in the world you get back, how our personal intentions have a huge impact on our lives.  The Rolling Stones said it best:

“You can’t always get what you want 
But if you try sometimes well you might find 
You get what you need”

What you ask for comes back not in the form you expect, but likely, in the way that you need! 

You don’t have to agree with this, yet if we look to the Universe the example is there. We cannot exist in this world without some sort of engagement with it. Our very being, our living, is in co-existence with the Universe. We breathe, we eat, we build, we take, we give…this exchange is mandatory. The Universe demands it. So if this is the reality, then our  choices lie in how we engage. I don’t have a lot of time nor patience for another list of things I have to do to be ‘good’ or to get what I want or even to think about justifying why I make the choices I do. Yet understanding that resisting the energy of this world is adding to my fatigue, then I have some changes to make.

This photo by the renowned Yann Arthus-Bertrand illustrates how the desire to be pink in an all-green world is possible!
This photo by the renowned Yann Arthus-Bertrand illustrates how the desire to be pink in an all-green world is possible!

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote”Once you make a decision, the Universe conspires to make it happen’. (This is just one reason why he is one of my all time favourite authors!) Physical, spiritual, personal, communal, the energies we expend are received and returned. It is up to each of us to decide how we want participate. I try to choose  joy, generousity, humour, love, knowing that grumpiness, anger, fear at times creep in. My spring and summer intentions are going to be mindful of this.

The Universe demands our participation – so heck, why not be brave enough to see how far this welcoming partnership can take us? After all, it is a big wide world of possibilities out there and I kinda like the thought of knowing the Universe has my back…