Baby steps

I've had this image hanging around for a while. This week it called out to be used.

The woman seems to be making large strides, running along and covering the ground quickly. I don't often feel that I'm moving like that.

More often it's a long, slow slog.

It struck me, though, that it doesn't matter whether I take large strides or small steps; each one in the right direction takes me closer to the goal.

So be encouraged when things are going slowly...

…because even the baby steps will get you there in the end.

Journal Fodder 365 - Prompt #34

Well, this week I was beaten. I just couldn't get going with this prompt - twilight imagery. What are you focusing on and trying to bring into symbolic form? 

There was an exercise that was supposed to help me to 'tap into the symbolic nature of the unconscious' and find symbols for my dreams and fears. 

It didn't help.

After struggling with the prompt for a week, I had to admit defeat. 

Move on.

And realise that not everything works out as expected.

Direction

This page started out with a gelli-print. Then I added some stencilling, trying out the new stencils that I cut last week. The circles are done with water-soluble graphite. A couple of strips of washi tape and then it sat on my desk for a couple of days.

I looked at the chevrons and they were saying 'direction' to me. Which direction?

I started to think about how people decide which direction to go in. Do you ask for advice when you need to make a decision? Who do you ask? Or do you wait to have a destination in mind before you start moving?

I'm all for moving first and being open to course-correction along the way. I start to head out and pray as I go. The first step is the hardest; once you've overcome the inertia the rest just flows. It is easier to change the direction of a ship if it is already moving than trying to haul the prow around to face the right way before moving. So step out!

And here are a couple of close-ups because I love the many layers showing through and the great textures they make.

Have a fun weekend!

Making progress

Does your life ever feel as if you are rowing into the wind? It just feels as if you are working away and not getting anywhere - like the red queen in Alice you have to run to keep still. It's draining. 

I feel a bit like that at the moment. 

I started to think about how sailboats deal with this sort of thing. Instead of heading straight into the wind, they tack back and forth across it. Sometimes the shortest way from A to B is not a straight line but a zigzagging one. Sometimes you have to go sideways to go forwards. 

Are there any places in your life where you feel you aren't making any headway? Perhaps you can find a way to come at them from a different direction. It may take a little longer, but you get to conserve your energy when you work smarter. 

And on the drawing front, a visit to the zoo yesterday yielded these:

A drawing of the sculpture of a chimpanzee's finger that stands near the entrance to the zoo. I had to work fairly quickly as the sun was moving and the shadows kept changing.

A napping koala captured in a ten-minute sketch.

Hope your weekend has been fun!

holy journey

Sometimes you get to journey the furthest by sitting still.

For a while now it felt like I was resting, waiting, sitting still. Now I find that I have actually been on a long journey.

A spiritual journey.

An internal journey.

By sitting still and waiting, not rushing into all sorts of things that I could be doing, an internal fear has been smashed and I have moved forward.

Are you taking time to sit still?

blossoming

Have you ever avoided doing something that you know you should do? I'm not talking about general procrastination, but those things that are a bit scary but that you know will help you move forward, learn, develop, whatever. 

As Anais Nin said:

...and the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom...

Sometimes resisting the thing we know we should do causes more damage than facing the pain or fear of just doing it. It stops us from moving forward; from blossoming.

This is often the case when we need to forgive someone. The more we hold on to the hurt, the more hurt we become. I like to think about it as holding on to barbed wire: if we would just let it go, the pain would stop and the wound would heal.

Where do you need to blossom?