Thought for The Day - Peering into the Void

The Portal (working title...in process) 12 x 18 pastels

Many things can be said and when words are few...

I spent sometime yesterday working on the latest piece; a working title "the portal." As challenging as it is to define, designate a title, it's as difficult or rewarding to stare at the work and be flooded with a hundred variables. Typically, I don't get hours on end to sit and work, never mind actually sit and stare, but whatever I'm permitted, I feel multiple approaches flooding my mind.

That might explain the variable colors and textures...to best capsulize the process, there are colors and shapes and textures, layered upon one another. In my head, it's like a well written story, with plots and sub-plots, twists one never expects and even after the climax, there are subtle side stories continuing to run.

Sitting, staring, looking down a path and watching life unfold...sometimes one concentrates on one spot; other times, the mind tries to process every detail simultaneously.

Thought for The Day - The Centerpoint

That place of focus, the place where everything else revolves, begins and returns to. The center, the place of strength and highest acclaim. That place emotionally, logically, behaviorally and spiritually, where, when we operate, we exude our highest being.

I've read several quotes recently stating we don't live or appreciate "The Moment." Given my nature, I was ready to point the finger at myself, certain I was guilty. But at the moment, music is playing, my all-time favorite group Incognito; the song "Good Love" - look it up! That's at this moment. The music dictates appreciating the moment. I worked on a pastel piece this morning and whenever I work in this medium, "preconceived notions" are tossed out the window! Even when I stare at a work in progress and imagine colors and movement, when pastel stick hits paper, in that minute, at that time, it's only that moment and I'm guided by one hundred variables all at the same time. I could be troubled by the conflicting possibilities, but in that moment, I am at my center.

I have reasoned many times, my "work" remains small; I don't have a large audience for writing, painting, sharing a good word and especially counseling. But I have concluded "I've reached one." Did you hear me? Are you listening? If you have heard me, if an image rendered, gave you pause for reflection, then you found me at my center (and I reached at your core!). If my listening to your struggle and subsequent advice or just a nod of understanding eased difficulties for you, I heard you, I responded in the moment. I don't claim to have special powers, but as I learned from my father so many years ago, pray, seek and receive the answer in the instance. The best is given in the moment, with or without forethought.

Thought for The Day - Really? What is it?

It's a tremor, a quiver felt from shoulder to shoulder.

It's a picture, hiding just behind the stark white of the paper or the canvas

It's a color or pattern or texture, built by layer upon layer, pleading for expression in this realm

It's a theme, a subject, a title yet revealed...

The creative process; when intention takes me to the border of this world and the unseen,

My hand is the tool, carving out colors from that other place.

When I allow my mind to cross that line, to sit, to stand in front of those flat surfaces and scratch that paper, energy and light coming through, it is my pleasure to be the delivery man of this beautiful message.

Do you understand it? Is the message clear? Or do you need a name, a title or designation to handle the simple words your soul clearly understands?

Open Clarity and Clearer Channels

Clear Channel ~ in process...

What I want and what I need. From a Christian or ‘religious’ perspective, we are often taught to ignore our wants and focus on our needs. We are taught  that we should ensure we focus on our needs and somehow, our wants will either go away or maybe, someday, we’ll get our wants met. “What do you want?” Has that question ever been asked of you? Especially where it’s asked with such emphasis, you have to search your soul and respond with that. Years ago, my previous pastor said he would visit people in the hospital and he would ask the same question of those lying in bed. They would start out: “well, I won’t God to bless me; make me a good person.” And he would stop them, mid-sentence and ask them more emphatically: “WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Of course, now he has their attention and they would say, “I want to get out of this hospital! I want to get well!”

At the moment it doesn’t matter the “whys” and “wherefores” of our misdirected wants; there are times one needs to cry out from the soul “Rescue me!” without worrying about if you’re saying it right or if help might come. Clarity says, in that moment THERE IS AN ANSWER – AND I NEED IT NOW!

The flip side of our extreme moments of clarity is that there is a response. So often, it seems we aren’t heard – I know I’m not the only one who has asked for a SOMETHING and no genie appeared granting my wish. But I also know I’m not the only one, who having cried out from that secret place in one’s soul and received a response of peace and brevity ~ a gentle and quick response that defies the mind to define. A clear channel makes moments into hours and hours into days. Give it thought as you go on your way. Your journey isn’t wasted; take each step and allow the peace to be your companion. Amen.