Sometimes all the medicine in the world won’t heal us. Miracles that we pray for do not appear. We suffer and struggle. We lose people we love and we must go on even though each step feels impossible. There will be joy again and this is where we set our sights.
Snow topped with ice. Freezing temperatures. But thankfully, no tree branches heavy with ice.
Power still on. Food and water and heat in good supply.
We are grateful.
Awaiting snow plow.
“Art is the gateway to knowing yourself. So let the creative process reveal all your intrinsic, bizarre, beautiful, varied, and idiosyncratic ways. Enjoy this process of honing your style and playing with expression. Finding your voice and experimenting with the way you create is a form of play. So get messy, and have fun. ”
I have found there are unexpected benefits from knowing myself through creative work. The big surprise is that by really knowing myself, I began to feel grounded, as though I’d finally found my feet and felt the earth beneath them in some solid way. Another sweet surprise: the more completely I became myself, without pretense or apology, the more everyone around me felt safe to be themselves. I still have moments of self-consciousness, periods of anxiety, patterns of avoidance . . . but more and more, I am comfortable being completely myself, and I credit this creative work, the simple and regular practice of making something, for that shift.
