How is your heart today, dear friends? My heart has been feeling tender and open. It seems almost everyone is going through something. And it would be easy to tumble down into a rabbit hole of worry and anxiety.
To help my heart stay tender, open, and full of joy despite everything that’s going on I’ve been spending a lot of time
Playing Around
with painting, with photographs, with noticing the wonder of life.
You could also say I’ve been
Praying Around
Sometimes I think playing and praying may be the same thing. Anything which brings us closer to the source, whether it be playing or praying seems appropriate in these times. For me creating is a form of prayer and gratitude. Noticing what is true and beautiful and appreciating the wonder of life helps me stay strong and clear.
Sometimes it’s time to surrender and sometimes it’s time to act. I have to remind myself frequently that there is grace in life along with action and intention. The trick is figuring out when to surrender to grace and when to act. My intention is to hold space for grace, light, and love, listening for my next big full-body “YES,” and then to act on that yes.
“Destiny, I feel is also a relationship-a play between grace and willful self-effort. Half of it you have no control over, half of it is absolutely in your hands and your actions will show measurable consequences. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, nor is he entirely the captain of his own destiny; he’s a little of both. We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses-one foot is on the horse called “fate” the other on the horse called “free will”. And the question you have to ask everyday is, Which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it’s not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?”
— Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love
Yesterday, in a conversation with a dear photographer friend, she wondered if I had tried combining my pear painting with some of my yellow flower photos. I hadn’t even imagined combining a painting of a pear with flower photos. What a great idea! This morning I began playing around with white cosmos that I photographed at Noerenberg Garden yesterday and created this:
It was very satisfying playing around to create this.
But what I want to know today is how are you doing, really? Are you able to feel joy in spite of everything that is broken and sad in our world? Do you notice the grace notes that accent your days and find a reason to laugh several times a day?
Perhaps you need to take some time for playing around and praying around?
May you walk in beauty.
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