Decisions

When the decision is made for you.

There are times in life where the decision is taken out of your hands. Someone else decides and you have to live with the consequences. It happened to us this week when our bank decided something that we have no say in but has a large effect on us.

Unfortunately this type of decision-making has happened for decades for some groups of people with no reference to them, their opinions, their desires, or how their culture will be affected. Let's not be the kind of people who take away the precious voice of others. Let's speak up for those without a voice.

 

Pushing

What's that thing pushing on your mind and giving you butterflies in your stomach?

As usual, I worked intuitively on this page, putting down whatever felt right until it was done. Then writing the words that it inspired. Hmmm. That's a couple of pages recently that talk of dreams. I need to sit with this for a bit.

Do you find themes coming through in your journal? It's one of the things that I look for to find out what is going on inside of me. It's not always obvious, but when I put colour and shape on the page, it can become clearer.

 

Bright spot

 

Look for the bright spot.

When the world is feeling grey, overcast, stormy, or just plain dark, look for the bright spot. There is always something we can hold on to in the gloom. Practicing gratitude in all things makes life brighter. It changes your outlook, because when you deliberately look for the light, you keep your focus off the darkness.

Dreaming

 

Don't forget to dream.

Dreaming helps us to grow. It is only as we dream, stretching towards that new thing,  that we expand ourselves and move in new directions. What is learning a new skill if not dreaming of being better at something? So don't abandon dreams. Dream new things every day, even if they're only small things. Incremental growth soon adds up. 

Rain and seeds

 

A little rain and the seeds pop up.

Walking locally I've noticed how much green there is after the brown of summer. We've had a fair amount of rain and the seeds that were buried have now sprung up, carpeting the place in green. 

This is the same in our own lives, too. Seeds that were planted may not spring up straight away. It can look barren for quite a while. We need the season of rain - whatever that may mean in our own situation - before the new growth shows up. And then it can show up in spades! Take journalling, for instance. You may consider journalling, may even do it sporadically, but it isn't until you go through a season where you really need to think something through that you make it more of a practice. The seed was there, but the growth comes with the rain.

Doors and windows

Doors close, windows open.

When all the avenues you thought of and pursued close, maybe a window will open somewhere. After receiving 'no' to all my SALA expressions of interest, I was approached by someone to exhibit a piece or two. Opportunities can pop up when we least expect them. But that doesn't mean that the work we put in to those things that don't pan out goes to waste. I now have a better idea of how to put together an artist statement and bio. I've written several expressions of interest so have more knowledge of what is required for those now. 

Stay hopeful - who knows what might happen?

And in other recent projects, here is a crochet blanket that I made from leftovers:

I'm drawn to the contrasts of dark and light in my art adventures at the moment. I picked up a tube of Payne's Grey last week and am loving using it to shade from the black of the paper into a deep blue colour, along with the purple I picked up recently. 

I haven't found any words for this page yet, apart from the ones that went on as the first layer. You can just see them poking through as white squiggles towards the bottom of the page. Maybe that's how this one needs to stay - the hidden words of the first layer rather than the public ones that often go on at the end. 

Do you use words in different layers of your pages? Or maybe you don't use words at all. It's your journal - do what works for you!

 

Close your eyes

 

She closed her eyes to listen more closely.

Sometimes the world is noisy and we have to block out some of the input to listen more closely to the things that need to be heard. When we give someone our whole attention and listen, they feel seen. We may not have any of the answers they need. We may not be able to do anything to change the situation. But we can help carry the burden when we really listen.

Hands, brain, heart

 

"A man who works with his hands is a labourer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist." Louis Nizer

So put your heart into whatever you do and create art in all areas of your life. 

Well

 

"Whatever you think you aren't doing well, someone else would be wildly grateful just to get to do at all." Ann Voskamp.

It puts a different perspective on it, doesn't it? There's no need for perfection, just for gratitude that we are able.