{ MANIFESTING YOUR TRUE PURPOSE } “Without pain, there can be no personal growth or peace. Without failure, there can be no true relishing in our successes.”
would l like to apply it? Once I get the base color on the sub straight, that’s where large detail starts to take form. One day, circles are my jam. Others, it’s mountains and cloud shapes or vertical and horizontal lines. Then comes decision time. What detail stays and which goes? Who is essential to the feel of the piece? It’s like trying to pick out a puppy or kitten from the cutest litter on the planet. You always have a favorite. There’s just something in the detail that let’s you navigate the next layers and shapes, adding and eliminating as you move along. What is truly impactful and purposeful gets to stay in its new permanent home.
clear. When I release the need to know, to be perfect, to be right or achieve a desired result the stress and strain subside. I see then what I was causing for myself and ultimately, others through that rigid ripple; the need to be right or knowing the answer
The details for those paintings that come in the final layers are all about what jewels in my life have had an influence on my heart and mind. What is meaningful today that needs to be seen and heard? Each shape has its own signature that evokes emotions from our memories that the subconscious was hoping you’d put on that canvas to investigate and interpret. Today, it may say one thing to your head and tomorrow your heart leads the way instead. What is it trying to tell us that we need to hear? It’s usually the thing that follows you like your own shadow quietly nudging you to acknowledge its lesson it’s trying to impart. Slowly but surely, I am learning that when I force the answer to come to me, the detail shuts down. In a large watercolor I recently painted, I couldn’t figure out how to draw beams in the ceiling to make them appear 3D. When I finally let go of “needing to know,” it suddenly hit me upside the head. In the letting go, the detail had space to yack away loud and 418
can then give way to happiness. It’s okay not to know everything, including who we are. The spirit of releasing and trusting that something larger than our human brain or being has us covered lets us breath again. It’s like the best nap or night’s sleep you’ve
ROCHESTER WOMAN ONLINE :: SEPTEMBER FASHION EDITION 2019
ever experienced. We just have to be willing to flow with what lies directly in front of us without looking behind us or too far ahead. What a beautiful exercise of trust. Trust the details will unfold for you in their own beautiful way. The answers lie there waiting for you to allow their manifestation. Although we each struggle to gain sense of our existence or even the present task we’ve been charged with, it’s what we’re here to learn. Life is a large canvas begging for color from our failures and what we garner from them so that we finally paint our focal point of meaning. There’s an ebb and flow to that focus just like a raging river opening into a quiet, tranquil space where the water gently laps over us. How we choose to weather the rough patches will determine how often we get to experience contentment and notice the pretty pieces. We understand what matters because we weathered the storm or life’s challenges. Having no expectations about how life will be for us while just allowing reduces suffering and increases our resilience. Without pain, there can be no personal growth or peace. Without failure, there can be no true relishing in our successes. Without a willingness to muddle through the pain, we can’t experience healing. It’s the devil in those details when we choose not to see them. Turning him on his head is a sweet little victory that all of us can share in. Being the change we wish to see in the world was and still is one of the greatest truths that can free us from human suffering. Then, the details are shining like new pennies everywhere you look.