LolaJovan.com
  • Home
  • ART
  • BLOG
  • Exhibits
    • The Wild God
    • NUDGE - SHOVE
  • BOOKS

Waiting in Silence

8/23/2018

10 Comments

 
"Waiting in Silence" - mixed media on paper, 10" x 14".  Available here and at Artfinder.
​

There are plans I need to make.  Realities to face.  Losses to mourn and big girl pants to put on.  Am I doing that?  No, I am waiting in silence.

Like telephone poles, billboards, lifeguard chairs and roadside stands, I wait.  My structure has a purpose when adorned or inhabited.  But it can also be empty and waiting.
Picture
Mind you, this is a new approach for me, this waiting.  I've always been racing toward the next thing, good and bad.  It was uncomfortable at first.  Slowing down, sitting with it, letting things be.  Action makes me feel in control.  Waiting feels like surrender.

And it is.  But SO WHAT?  Surrender is the right response when we aren't in control (which we rarely are, it appears).   Surrender gives us time to build our strength for the next thing.  Which will will surrender to.  But it is a cycle we are called to participate in over and over again.  A maypole of dancing in circles.

"​Like musicians who wait in silence for music to come out of the forest of their hearts..."  -  Mark Nepo.

I am waiting in the woods for the music.  If I am very, very quiet, I might catch the first opening notes.
10 Comments
THAMER AZULE-WRIGHT
8/24/2018 07:47:02 am

This is so true. It's in these "forced" moments that the universe presents us that we make and have the time to do what we should do all the time. I'm also experiencing something similar and reading your words cleared up the clouds in my sky this morning! Thank you and hope you feel more comfortable in your uncomfortable moments!

Reply
jen
8/24/2018 08:00:15 am

Thamer! We are in sync! I am so happy to have brought a little clear skies to your morning. :) But I am sorry to hear you have a similar forced moment taking place. Maybe when this season has passed, we can meet and compare wisdom notes?

Reply
Judy
8/24/2018 08:00:15 am

You sound like “Penelope and the Magical Forest”
She too is waiting in silence.
I know how you feel and my heart hurts for you

Reply
jen
8/24/2018 09:54:49 am

Judy!! I love Penelope. The waiting is good for me. I think that's the point. So much learning and transforming going on because I am forced to sit and wait. Although my "normal" self is hollering at the inactivity, there is a part of me that must have really need this. xo

Reply
Dorothy Seiter link
8/24/2018 09:50:10 am

Jen, I remember the first time I realized that not only was I not in control, but also … I never HAD been!

Your painting and your post: magical together. "Waiting in Silence" invites me to look and look and look, to let my eyes explore every nook and cranny in silent wonder. I love its combined wordlessness and storytelling.

Reply
jen
8/24/2018 09:56:53 am

Dotty! I am a very slow learner...those realizations hit me hard, and then months or years later I convince myself I am in charge again! Ha! And then WHAM, the 2 x 4 against the noggin and I am saying "duh". Maybe this time it will stick? :)

Thank you for exploring this piece. Many, many layers and following the paint. This is where it led me. xo

Reply
Carol Edan link
8/25/2018 06:27:45 am

Giving some thought to the "waiting" game. Found this quote: “What we are waiting for is not as important as what happens to us while we are waiting. Trust the process.” Mandy Hale
Surrender to this waiting time....for sure you'll hear the notes!

Reply
jen
8/25/2018 08:13:35 am

Carol! That is EXACTLY what is going on here! Waiting is transformative...I'm not very good at it, but it is good for me. :)

Reply
Patti Bryan
8/26/2018 06:09:04 pm

I, too, have recently been forced to surrender. To someone's dying, to my own frailty as I age. I had the magical thinking that I could control life with my beliefs and positive thoughts. Boy, was I in for a fall from this lofty perch! It has been a painful few months, lying around in tears, mostly. But it is a spiritual transformation that was long overdue. This dark night of the soul has brought me peace on the other side, an acceptance that I've never had before. I raged against the idea that life included suffering and thought I'd done enough, so no more. Futile idea. With this grieving, I see that I can grieve and survive to laugh again, to know joy. I will be okay. And I know you will be, also, my brave sister.

Reply
jen
8/26/2018 06:20:14 pm

Patti....dear heart, thank you for your words of empathy and encouragement. You have surely been through this and MORE! Every day I am seeing more and more of the wisdom, message, meaning, acceptance and surrender necessary at this point in my life. There is beauty in this...even on days I don't want to see it.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Lola Jovan

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    RSS Feed

contact lola
Picture
Here's the blue wild, where
tiny dreamers ride beasts, speak
​ birdsong, hold the moon.

(by poet Mary W. Cox)
​


​Art prints available on request
  • Home
  • ART
  • BLOG
  • Exhibits
    • The Wild God
    • NUDGE - SHOVE
  • BOOKS