A silent Saturday morning full of nature’s beauty.
Enjoy!
Islands of Calm
11
Category Archives: Art and creativity
Do The Hard. You’re Worth It.
Well, that was fascinating!
There I was feeling frustrated and somewhat miffed, blaming the ‘Techie Witch’ for whisking away all my hard-fought-for edits only to discover… they weren’t missing!
It was user error. When I’d opened the file in my video editing software, I hadn’t condensed the video line enough to see all the components in one view.
Duh.
All I could do was throw my hands up into the air above my head and exclaim as Benjamin Zanders suggests in his wonderful TedTalk, The Transformative Power of Classical Music, “Aren’t I fascinating!”
And get back to editing.
Which is what I did.
Can I take a moment here to pat myself on the back? My friend Jane always tells me I need to acknowledge my accomplishments and not try to pass credit off to others. So… okay. Here I go… I did it and I’m really proud of myself.
I created a 17 minute video of creating one of the paintings for my #ShePersisted Series while filming myself in the act of creating.
I was scared.
I mean, it’s not like I start the process with a clear idea of where I’m going, what the end result will look like.
In fact, I purposefully don’t start that way as I prefer the whole creative process to be more organic, intuitive. An intimate dance with the muse where neither of us leads nor follows. We just flow in and out and all around and up and down ideas pouring out, paint spilling, mistakes becoming integral parts of the whole – where ever the process may lead us.
I do so love that space with the muse. It feels sacred. Honest. Real.
Though I was smiling in my final check-through of the video. I mention at least three times throughout the video how I find it hard to paint faces. And I do. The contours. Shadows. Nuances of painting a face are challenging — but it doesn’t mean I won’t do it.
In fact, just like creating this video was a challenge, painting faces is a challenge I continue to dive into so that I can expand my artistry and confidence.
There are many things in life we think of as ‘hard to do’. Hard to do is not an invitation to not do something. It’s an invitation to dive deeper into ‘the hard’ and find your rhythm, your stride, allowing your courage to open you up to new dimensions you never imagined.
I’m really proud of myself for creating this video. It was hard work. It was fun. It was rewarding.
And it expanded my video-creating abilities as well as my proficiency and confidence with the software and the medium. Big win/wins everywhere in all of that!
And here’s the other thing, last night when I finished, I asked C.C. if he’d watch it. He said yes, even after I told him it was 17 minutes long.
What was interesting was, inside me was this little voice hissing, “Don’t make him sit and watch it Louise. He’ll be so bored…”
I kept watching his face throughout his viewing and he never looked bored – though I did keep having to quiet the ‘don’t make him watch it’ voice.
And I wonder, where else in my life do I diminish my creations by underplaying how important it is to me that I share it with those who are important to me? Where else do I want to play small?
Great questions that make wonderful grist for the mill of deepening my knowing of what it means to live this one precious life with all the colours of the rainbow shimmering in the light of my presence.
And btw, when C.C. reached the end of the video he looked at me with eyes wide-open and said, “I am so proud of you. That is incredible.”
Insert happy heart dance. 🙂
Crash!
For the past two days, I have been working on the process video for No. 72 of my #shepersisted series.
One thing I’m careful to do is… save my work throughout the process.
One thing my computer didn’t actually do was… save all my work.
Not its fault actually… I discovered this after about 6 hours of work yesterday when it crashed and I discovered I’d lost the final hour of edits.
I couldn’t figure out why every clip I downloaded kept coming in garbled. The video file was getting too large for the limited memory available on my computer. Each download would take me about three tries to get it to import successfully. Include the fact that my phone automatically uploads long videos to the cloud to save space, requiring first the downloading of said video and then the editing because I filmed everything upside down (and no that was not intentional) and you can see why it was taking me so long to edit!
Anyway, the gift of ‘the crash’ is it gave me insight into the importance of emptying memory banks to clear up space for fresh ideas.
See, we humans like to hang onto things. A lot.
We harbour grudges. Disappointments. Regrets.
We roll past hurts over and over in our minds, picking off pieces and chewing on them with the verocity of a baby robin grabbing for a worm dangling out of its mother’s beak.
We act like emotional hoarders, stuffing feelings deep down into our psyches, layering more and more on top so that the ones below can’t get out.
Until… one day… we crash.
Oh, maybe it’s not cataclysmic. Maybe it doesn’t even make the Richter scale of emotional disturbance.
But for each of us, there is a breaking point.
I used to see it everyday when I worked in a homeless shelter. People entering with nothing except the emotional baggage they carried as if those angry, hurting thoughts and feelings could protect them from the painful past that led them to the shelter’s doors.
There was a man at the shelter once who was known for his anger. He was in some ways just one of many except I got to know him better than others because he used to come to the art project I’d started and jam with other musicians. When he was being ‘himself’ he was a loving, caring man. And then, a burst of anger would erupt up and out of his body and he turned into a whirling, crashing terror. A guy bent on self-destruction determined to take everything around him down too.
One day, faced with a possible jail term due to his latest outburst, he came into my office and cried, “Help! I don’t want to be an angry man.”
We got him enrolled in a program that helped him face his past and his demons. He took anger management. He learned to meditate. He worked, hard, on being ‘himself.’
When it came time to go to court to face the consequences of his past actions, he asked if I’d go with him. On the day of his appearance, I waited outside the doors while he stood in front of a judge. “I know I gotta face the consequences of my actions,” he said before going in. “But I sure hope the judge sees I’m a changed man.”
In his hands he held tightly to the certificates he’d received from the various courses he’d taken to create the change he wanted, knew he needed, to be the man he was beneath the anger and pain that hid his inner beauty.
When he came out of the courtroom, he was smiling. Almost dancing. His entire being infused with delight, relief, joy. He’d received a suspended sentence. Community service. No jail time.
I haven’t thought of that man in awhile. He moved on. Went back to the province he’d come from when he was running away from his past. Through the occasional email or phone call, I learned he’d reconnected with his kids. Had a good job. His own place. Was living life.
I like this person I’ve become, he told me in one of his calls.
He’d become a champion in his own life.
_______________________
The other day, Goff James shared a video and story on his blog of Ben E. King’s iconic hit, Stand by Me. In my comments, I shared the story of how musicians from the shelter where I used to work along with musicians from the community-at-large came together to create a recording of the song.
I hadn’t thought of that man in awhile. Until there he was, amidst all the other performers, sharing the music of his heart, creating change for all the world to know, when we stand together, anything is possible.
_______________________
This post is also part of Eugi’s Causerie – todays’ prompt is ‘Champion’
Your Weekly Prompt – Champion – February 18, 2021
balance in ventures breathes strength into champions heroes of today Haiku written by Eugi
Go where the prompt leads you and publish a post on your own blog that responds to the prompt. It can be any variation of the prompt and/or image. Please keep it family friendly. Prompts close 7 days from the close of my post.
Anyone can participate — go on… try it… it’s fun!
Unfinished Business
For the past few weeks, a fellow artist and I have been engaged in a collaborative project. It’s undefined, in so far as there’s no overarching ‘piece’ we are creating that we can show as a ‘finished project’.
It’s more in keeping with who we are as artists. Curious. Intuitive. Flowing. Impulsive. Courageous.
We connected through an online art journalling community, Get Messy Art, created by Messian Fairy Artmother, Caylee, whose energy and sparkle permeate every page and activity on the site. My collaborator friend suggested I check it out. I’ve known this friend for awhile through another course we’ve both shared in, but I’ve never spent a lot of time with her one-on-one, but I love her art and energy and gave it a go. I’m loving it.
GetMessyArt, as described on the website is…
an online art journaling school that teaches you to cultivate your creativity. Without perfection. You’ll always be welcome in – messy mind, paint plops, charcoal smudges, ink-stained fingertips and all. Zero expectations. Zero pressure. All the fun.
Every month, Get Messy holds a “Season”. A one month exploration of a specific topic through art journaling prompts, video lessons and conversation.
January’s prompt was collaboration. When my artist friend contacted me to ask if I wanted to join forces, I knew I was ‘all in’. Creating with her was bound to be fun, fascinating and fabulous!
Our collaboration has not disappointed.
Part of the collaborative process is to determine your own project.
For my partner and I, we decided to pose a weekly question. We would each either write to the question or create a journal page to express it. We’d then send the other person whatever we’d created and they would then do the other half of the response using our contribution as the inspiration. For example, this week the writing comes first, art journal page second. Yesterday, we both shared what we’d written in response to the question, “What do I fear letting go of?” During the week, I will create an art journal page in response to what she wrote, and she to what I wrote.
It has been a fascinating journey. (I’m sharing the process as we both love how the guidelines we set up are both expanding our thinking/feeling – generating some wonderful conversations on our weekly zoom call – and our creative expressions. – And who knows! It might inspire you to try it with someone too!)
Last week’s question from my partner in this project (we take turns posing them) seemed relatively simple – “What do you do with the unfinished business.” The unfinished business being those projects you start and never finish. For this one, we painted first. Wrote second.
As I began creating my journal page in response to the question, I was surprised by what came up.
Originally, I was on the negative side of ‘unfinished business’. That place where I bemoan all the projects lying around not yet completed – read… probably never will be….
Yeah. You know. Those projects.
But here’s the thing. While creating my journal spread in response to the question, I discovered the things in my life I do not want to finish. The things I hope I always carry as ‘unfinished business’.
Like Trust. I hope I always grow deeper in trusting my heart. In following its beat. In expressing its rhythms in all the colours of the rainbow.
And Dreams. May I never finish dreaming. May I always have a new dream percolating as I create substance in another. May I always keep embracing the power of dreams to awaken my heart.
And Hope. I hope I never give up on hope. For a cure for cancer. For creating better ways of living our human condition, together. For peace. For justice for all. For unburdening of hearts everywhere. For this Covid world of virtual connection to shift away from isolation into connection in the real world.
And Prayers. May I always keep pushing into my unfinished business around prayers so that I can fall deeper into the power of prayer to connect me to the divine essence of life and its spiritual nature to guide me and others in our darkest moments.
And Love. May I never be finished with exploring what it means to Love fiercely, completely, courageously — all of me and all of you.
Sure, there are projects and ideas that lay around unfinished. My laptop has a score of stories I’ve started only to be left to cool their words in a dusty file somewhere in that mystical land called the C drive.
But beating myself up for those things is where I want to finish… beating myself up.
Loving myself, trusting my heart, never giving up on hope for a better tomorrow. Those things I hope I never, ever finish learning, doing, becoming, being.
Namaste
_______________________________
About the artwork: Originally, this piece was a bunch of arrows pointing in every direction and a few words. I thought it was about challenging myself to leave it looking so unfinished… But, as I sank into the creative process, I allowed myself to simply ‘be present’. To let my intuition/inner knowing/curiosity guide me – and that’s where I started to divine the essence of the power of unfinished business in my life.
And that’s another thing I never want to be finished with — learning how to let go and allow whatever is appearing to appear so that I can be finished with the need for perfection.
See! That’s the magic of the creative process — as I wrote that last line, I thought of another thing I would like to be finished with — doubting myself… so that I’m never finished with deepening believing in myself!
I Dawg You Lots! (An SWB post)
So… this morning I let Beaumont the Sheepadoodle write his own Dawlentine’s Day post! And yes, as always, I seem to bear the brunt of his… attitude.
It includes a poem he wrote just for you, his favourite peeps!
He asks that you puhleaaassse, pretty please with a dawgie bone on top, come and visit him on his blog so he can slobber you with Dawlentine’s Day love!
You know what to do… just click the link and c’mon over!
And below is my Valentine’s Day Love contribution!
The Story of Love
I lay in bed this morning, in that space between drifting and awake, my mind rootless, unfocussed.
Images floated through like the chunks of ice that keep floating past on the river’s surface, eventually drifting out of sight, disappearing into an unseen future, perhaps melting or getting stuck in an ice block somewhere upriver.
Like my thoughts. Drifting aimlessly until one comes into view and gets stuck in mental gymnastics.
“You can never begin at the beginning again.”
My mind jumped into alertness. “Of course you can,” it insisted.
The thought had other ideas. “Every beginning drifts into the ending becoming a new beginning. The beginning is gone, changed, morphed into something else. To begin at the beginning again, you must wind back all of time, all of what has transpired between the beginning and the moment you decide to begin again. And you cannot wind back time to make everything exactly as it was when you began. You have changed. The air around you has changed. Life has changed. That’s what life does.”
Seriously? Sometimes the thoughts in my mind are a bit too heady for my heart.
At that moment, Beaumont the Sheepadoodle decided he needed to go out and came and stuck his wet nose in my face.
I got up and left the heady thoughts on my pillow.
At least, that’s what I imagined I did.
Until I sat down at my computer and started to type and the thoughts from when I first began to awaken came hurtling back into my mind.
I can’t quite grasp them the way they appeared earlier. I tried. To go back to the beginning of the thought. But time, and awakening, going outside into the cold winter air while the sky was still dark and the air was filled with sounds of the river passing by changed the beginning, making it impossible to rewind my thinking back to the precise space where the thoughts began.
It’s a grey on grey kind of morning. Dark river flowing between white earth. Withered trunks of winter bare trees standing against a bleak tone-on-tone landscape, their leafless limbs extended up into a bleached sky. The delicate fronds of their outer limbs interlace with one another like the filigree of a necklace my mother gave me long ago. It was from India. A gold slipper of exquisitely interwoven strands of gold.
I no longer have that slipper. It was lost to a time when my world crashed into chaos I feared would never end.
The chaos ended but I could never go back to the beginning to unwind the devastation and pain of those years of terror and abuse.
I could only go forward, gently weaving the many strands of that story into The Story of My Life – one where I live fearlessly and authentically in the beauty of my heart beating fiercely in Love with all of me, my life and everyone and everything in it.
Yesterday, I saw a meme on Instagram that asked, “What’s one thing from your past you wish you’d never done?”
My answer is, ‘Nothing.’
I can’t change the things I’ve done. Nor do I want to. Everything in my life has served its purpose of bringing me here, to this place. I am not powerful enouh to unwind time back to a given point where I can weave a different story of my life. This story. This one I live today was created through all the strands, all the darkness and light, the pain and joy, the hardship and ease I’ve experienced.
I love the story of my life today. It’s the only one I’ve got. It is a story of Love.
And so, I do what I can do, must do, to keep Love flowing freely throughout my world and my being present, in this moment right now, connected through and in Love with all the world around and within me. I weave beauty out of what was and what is, letting Love be the warp and weave of all I create, all I do, all I am.
Namaste.
About the Zine - Created with one sheet of 9 x 12 mixed media paper, the backgrounds were monoprinted with acrylic paint. I used acrylic inks and gold pen along with gold foil to create the hearts. The story grew out of the paintings. The video was a 'just for fun' way to stretch my creative muscles.
When the blues get you down – Create your own sunshine
As Covid restrictions stretch into February and vaccination timelines stretch even further out, I find myself drifting between feeling weary and resigned and wanting it all to just go away so I can ‘get on with life’.
“Life is what happens to you while you‘re busy making other plans”.
That line, used by John Lennon in his 1980’s hit, Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) originally appeared in 1957 in Reader’s Digest as a quote written by Allen Saunders.
It is true today as much as it was back then.
No one on this planet planned for a global panedmic to disrupt our daily lives for a year, and more. Okay. Well maybe some scientists and world health folk and disaster planners did. But for the majority of us, we planned on life as normal.
And then… this all happened and now, I’m planning on not planning as I wait….
In the waiting, there are moments when all I want to do is stay in the weary. To simply sink beneath the weight of this winter cold snap by curling up under a blanket and not coming out again until ‘it’s all over.’
Beaumont the Sheepadoodle. Daily necessities. Living with my beloved. Family and friends. They all play a role in helping me find grace in the wearies and hope in the possibilities of this moment right now leading to one day, soon…
And when none of that works, when I still struggle to lift my head off the pillow and greet the morning with a smile and a grateful, ‘Good Morning World!’ I know it’s time to ‘create my own sunshine.’
Now, I know that sounds trite. And I know there’s a space inside that wants to yell “No Way! It’s not that easy! And that won’t work anyway. Look at the world. It’s a mess and I’m just going to be a mess with it and nothing and no one can tell me otherwise and I know I should do something about this dark space but seriously this dark space is comforting and what can I do it’s all such a mess and I’m so confused and I have no idea what to do and I’m so tired of having to pick myself up again and again and I just want to keep falling down but I don’t know where the bottom is and what if I fall and can’t get up and what if I get up and just fall back down and what if the blues are the only place I’m safe and what if….”
The mind can be a busy place when the weight of this weary world settles in for a nice, long winter’s nap.
Except, there’s not much that’s nice nor ‘nap-like’ when the weight of the world is settled in.
Which is when I head to my studio, or my journal page or outdoors for a walk (yes. even in the frigid, seriously cold temps we’re experiencing right now).
Doing something that gets my blood flowing, my energy moving and my creative juices going is good for whatever ails me – including the blues. (and especially in those times when I tell myself it just won’t work or it’s too much bother!)
Yesterday, in that space where missing those I love felt like a clingy, wet blanket of doom, I knew I had to create my own sunshine within my heart so that ‘the missing’ didn’t become the reason why I didn’t have to do anything other than let my moodiness carry me to the sofa as I drifted through a day of mindless social media scanning and Netflix binging.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think the occasional day of doing little other than curling up on the sofa is a lovely antidote to these times in which we find ourselves.
I also know, that for me, one day can slip into two, then three and on and on until I believe doing the sofa curl-up under a dark blanket of gloom is the best thing for me.
Which is why yesterday, I challenged myself to doing something creative to create my own sunshine — like making a video to go with the Morning Dance Haiku I wrote earlier in the day. Creating and posting the poster for my Vision Board Workshop. Creating a new piece for the art show I’m in this June. Turning up on a Zoom call with my writing circle (that little voice inside was niggling at me to not turn up!). Taking an extra-long afternoon walk with Beaumont.
This morning, I feel lighter again. No. The pandemic hasn’t disappeared and the world hasn’t suddenly righted itself, but I feel the hope. I feel the light. I feel the possibilities.
And yes, I still miss seeing and being with the one’s I love. I still miss inviting people into our home and going for dinners in restaurants with friends.
But the missing isn’t a heavy cloud of gloom. It is a reality of what I need to do to create a safe space for my beloved and I and all those I love to weather this storm so that one day… soon… we can all gather around a table and not miss faces of those we love because the darkness that consumed them is eternal.
The question is: What will you do to create sunshine in your world today?
I hope you share. Let’s inspire each other and shine a big light for all the world to see in the dark!
Vision Board Workshop
I want to say it’s ‘back by popular demand’ but the fact is, I’ve never advertised the Vision Board Workshops I’ve been holding on Zoom, so it’s not ‘back’… but it is here because a couple of people asked if I’d do another.
So I am.
The beauty of a Zoom Vision Board session is you still get the energy that comes with being in a circle of people focussed on creating a visual map of their possibilities for the next year (and beyond) as well as guidance on how to find the elements/landmarks on your map and the process of putting it onto the page. The difference is, you’re in the comfort of your own home. Own space. And… given the weather here right now (like sub-arctic cold) you don’t have to weather the weather to attend! Bonus!
On Monday, I shared with a group of 7 women my love of creating a Vision Board. When a friend heard about, she said, “I want to play too!”
And thus… this workshop came into being.
If you’ve ever wondered, “Why a Vision Board?” or thought… “I’d like to but I don’t know how.” Or, wanted to create one but love the energy of creating it with others well…. read on!
Saturday, February 20th I’ll be hosting an online Vision Board workshop.
No creative ‘talent’ necessary. No special tools. No special place.
Just you. Some old magazines. A large piece of paper. Pair of scissors and glue — those are the bare necessities. Of course, you can get all fancy and I will provide a supplies list with loads of ideas, but seriously — all a Vision Board requires is for you to turn up, spend some time divining ‘what do I want more of in my life’ and then a willingness to explore what that map could look like!
I keep the group small (max 7 attendees). It helps create an intimate environment that is both safe and courageous.
What: Vision Board Workshop
WHERE: Online via Zoom
WHEN: Saturday, February 20th
10am - 1pm
COST: $50.00
Space is limited so if you’re interested, sign up now! Upon receipt of your e-transfer (I can also do Paypal) I’ll send you a confirmation and a full supplies list.
I hope to see you there!
The one thing I can promise… If you’re like others who’ve attended in the past, the workshop will be full of surprises, revelations and a lot of fun!
What’s Best? You could win a prize!
There was a time when it was easy (read unconsciously acceptable) for me to
believe others knew what was best for me.
I didn’t know my own heart.
With time, patience, deep, deep inner listening, I have come to recognize
what my heart knows.
The challenge is always, will I listen? Will I heed its calling? Or, will I
succumb to the pressures of the world ‘out there’ and listen to someone else’s
heartbeat telling me how to dance?
The original quote for No. 70 in this #ShePersisted Series painting was,
They said, You need to
back off and give us a break.
We’re doing our best.
She said, doing what you think
is best for me breaks my heart. You need
to back off so I can do what is
best for me.
When I showed C.C. the original version his comment was, “Oh. That seems a little aggressive.”
“Which part?” I asked. “What they said or her response?”
“What she said,” he replied.
“Isn’t that interesting,” I replied. “She’s just repeating his words back yet you think her words are aggressive.”
C.C. is a wise man. When he recognizes I’m going in for ‘the kill’ he knows it’s time to hear me. Deeply. He smiled. Nodded his head and said, “Hmmm… Interesting observation.”
Fact is. I don’t believe C.C. would be alone in his observations. I think many of us might think what she said was aggressive without realizing our biases. Even when I first wrote the quote I felt a tingle of discomfort as my critter-mind whispered, “She’s coming on a bit strong Louise.”
And here’s the thing. The #ShePersisted Series isn’t about ‘hitting people over the head with a bludgeon of truth’. It’s about cracking open minds and hearts, even just a little bit, with the obvious clarity of #ShePersisted truths so that new ways, new norms can blossom.
Just because ‘a body of power’ has always dictated someone/some cultural group/some body of colour behave in a certain way, does not mean it’s right or that it works. And, just because a body of power declares they know best how to fix it doesn’t mean that’s what needs to happen.
A body of power only holds power because historically, they’ve claimed it, owned it, preached it, ruled over it.
Shifting that body of power, or expanding it to include everyone, as the case may be, isn’t an easy task. It’s hard to give up what you’ve always had.
But, to create real and lasting change, to accede self-efficacy to the disadvantaged and disenfranchised requires a realization that ‘we’ don’t know what is best for others. Only they know what is on their heart, what they need, what they can do to create better in their world. For change to happen, an existing body of power must let go of believing they know best and let those whose lives have been limited by the rules of prevailing bodies of power for generation after generation find their own paths.
Which brings me to why I change the original version of this painting.
Firstly, I was very unhappy with her face. Faces are hard to paint — for me. I originally created this painting on Friday. I let it sit all weekend until late yesterday when I finally decided I needed to go back in and ‘fix’ it.
In the fixing, I reflected back on C.C.’s comments and decided he had a point. Being aggressive isn’t my style, nor the purpose of the Series. Being assertive. Making my point without name calling or naming names is also part of my vision for the Series.
So… I reworked her face (I’m much happier now). And, I reworked the quote.
And that’s where you come in. I am torn between the two quotes. I’d love your help in figuring out which one works best — sometimes my heart needs a little help to find its right beat.
So… please. Give me your feedback. What do you think? Anyone who comments (either here or on the thread on Facebook) will have their name put in a draw for… The prize… an 11 x 14″ print of No. 11 of the Series OR – 2 cards from available cards on my Etsy Shop – DareBoldlyArt (Winner’s preference.)
Thanks everyone for your help!
Dive In. Fill Up. Repeat
The muse and I have been dancing in the field of possibility, creating more quotes and paintings for my #ShePersisted Series.
I love the dance. I love how the muse flows with such ease and grace, encouraging me to cast caution to the wind and let my whole body immerse itself in the songs of my heart. it is a dance of love and joy.
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been focused on ‘getting things done’. In particular, the uploading of the last 20 paintings and quotes onto my website.
It didn’t leave much time for dancing (it was a big job!) but it did deliver a lot of satisfaction.
It also gave me the current final painting in the series, No. 69 –
They said, we've always done it this way. It works. She said, your way has never worked for me.
I say ‘current’ because the muse and I love to dance together, and she loves to whisper sweet somethings into my ears. Often, those sweet somethings are new quote ideas for the series.
As well, in looking through the entire body of work, I think I may go back and update some of the visuals. If, and the if is actually an ‘I do’, want to get the series out into the bigger world out there, I need to ensure that each painting reflects my work appropriately in both the message and the art.
And, some of the earlier paintings, especially as I was first stepping into this creative field, are done in a style different than the later works. It makes sense. Given that this series now spans four years, my voice and artistry have evolved as I’ve grown more confident and courageous in its expressions.
Which also makes sense. Do something often enough, with consistency and heart, and your talent/expertise/expression will expand.
It’s like any activity. Shooting hoops. Javelin throwing. Skiing. Writing. Singing.
Do it with consistency and heart, your expertise naturally grows as well as your heart’s capacity to breathe deeper and infuse your physical and emotional efforts with more grace, energy and love.
Ultimately, one of the most vital and exciting things creating the #ShePersisted Series has taught me is… it’s all about heart.
When we put ourselves ‘out there’, when we give our heartfelt and heartful attention to something, our heart grows in its delight of our efforts to dance with wild abandon in the field of our creative expression.
And here’s the thing about ‘heart’. When those who witness whatever it is you’re putting your heart into applaud, cheer you on, encourage you, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of the dance living on and on and on. With every swoop of your body, wave of your paintbrush, throwing of a ball, swoosh down a mountainside, the encouragement of others helps to continuously draw you out of the fear ‘you can’t do it’ into that courageous space where you know deep within your heart, not doing it is the greatest risk of all.
It’s an eternal gift of reciprocity. Dive into what pleases your heart and fill your heart up with what brings you alive. In that space joy flows freely between the giver and the receiver.
And that’s a beautiful thing.
Which is at the core of my mantra today… Dive in. Fill up. Dive in. Fill up. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
______________________
I have been exceptionally blessed by the encouragement and support of everyone as this Series has evolved. Thank you. Your comments, high-fives, shares make a world of difference and keep my well of joy overflowing. I am grateful.
To take a look at the entire body of work of the #ShePersisted Series – click HERE.
Dare Boldly 