The World of Kindness and Inner Health Walks Hand-in-Hand With The World of Creation

“The Universal view melts things into a blur.” ~Emile Cioran

When you are on the carnival ride of life and the view seems a blur and even scary, it is time to take a breath and look within for what you want to see.  Being kind to yourself is what gives you the power to create a kind world for those around you.  Give yourself that gift and blur the lines so that your fears disappear.

Art by Amy Sperry Faldet

Staying healthy by understanding what we manifest...

Art by Amy Sperry Faldet
What does that mean?
When I draw or paint it is expression.
I pick up a charcoal pencil and wonder.
There is wonder.
What do I want to express?
The days I do not find a means of expression, are part of me, as well.
We all have days that feel like we authentically participated, that feel like we have brought into the world a better way of looking, thinking.
The days that this doesn't happen, though, can accumulate.
What does that mean?
That is entirely up to me.
Because I teach and because I am a mother of four, as well as, being an artist, I can feel tapped out of energy to express myself. 
I sometimes have to remind myself in the depths of exhaustion to be articulate.  Yes, it can get that bad.
I can go a week without knowing what to say.  I can be so tired I worry I won't ever want to write or create or just be around other humans!
What I have to remember is that is ok.
I do not need to stress that I can't express myself, that I won't be heard.
Maybe sometimes it is exactly what I need. 
It is just that, a quiet stretch.  It is time to wonder. 
It is time to rest and form ideas and see joys.
We can manifest what things mean to us.
When we remember that we are strongest.

Love stories...

"The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers do not finally meet some where.  They are in each other's hearts all along." ~Rumi
I did this painting this week in the depths of a winter blues episode. 
It probably doesn't look blue, or full of despair.
That is the point.
What I must do when I feel unwell, physically, emotionally, wholly, is find, again, what I love.
Love doesn't necessarily have to be from someone else.  If you have love in your heart you see the world as a warm, fresh, spring day.
This is a moment of wellness.
My heart wells up with these colors, with the subject, the words,  just the word story, because of my love of books, is sometimes enough to get me through a very rough spot.
It is not perfect.
It is not fool proof.
But, I have this, I love...
I have a 100% track record, as the saying goes, of getting over this sadness.  That is good and it is enough.
So, tonight...
Fall in love with what you love, again.
I love sleep with good dreams.
I love coffee in the morning.
I love the sound of my children breathing softly at night, warm and sound.
I love chocolate on pretzels.
I love caprese salads.
I love the palette I tend to choose in my art.
I love blossoms and new grass and hope in a blue sky turning pink at sunset.

Looking inside means understanding dark corners...

It is the depth of winter.   I have just spent the last week tending to ill children while still trying to do all that must be done.  We all do this.  It is just how it is. 
I know that part of a balanced life is allowing for quiet.  Allowing for dark.  Allowing for cozy.
 It is just how it is.
I am not sure why I fight it each winter. 
I should know by now it is coming.
I think the world we have created does not allow for this darkness, this hibernation-state.
We are creators, teachers, care-givers.
The part of us inside that sparks this is never extinguished.
What we must remember, though, is that all flame requires fuel.
What we must remember, though, is that the best light from within shows when it is darkest around us.
Embrace what is.
This painting is something I challenged myself to do this New Year.
The Nature Spirit, here, is named Vrai.  This is the word for true in French. 

She has manifested in many ways throughout my life.

She is always there.

When I ignore my truth.

She shows up to remind me to be kinder to myself.

I am glad that she does.

"Her beauty shone in places bright or dark,

her voice made the very birds listen."

Go, allow yourself some quiet, some dark.

Embrace the corners that are deep and mysterious.

Bring light to them

with

a single

small flame.