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Grandmother Moon
"Grandmother Moon" - mixed media on 300 lb watercolor paper, 22" x 15". Ready to frame. Available here and at Artfinder.
Another piece from the Freedom in Watermedia workshop with Stan Kurth. This one much more abstracted, yet still a figure. I've been gazing at this one daily since the workshop, and this week, during the full moon, she decided to speak. And given I've been thinking of my grandma recently, the title feels just right.
"To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have: our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive ---the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans." DON MIGUEL RUIZ
Once you reach a certain, ahem, age (shhhhhhhhh - no need for numbers!) thoughts of mortality are more prevalent. Along with the preparing of wills and other documents which we'd much rather postpone until they are really necessary, by which time it will be too late. While watching my thoughts (don't you do that? It's like stalking your own mind...) I recently noticed way too many were about being old, passing away, fleeting time. So I wondered if I might be having a little anxiety or fear about death. Until I read the quote above in Ruiz' The Four Agreements and had a little epiphany. AHA! I am not afraid of dying. I am afraid of being REALLY alive and being EXACTLY who I am. Wow. Now there is a little something to sit in awe about.
I mean, really. How many of us are out there living a bold, fearless, carpe diem kind of life? How many of us spend an inordinate amount of time worried about what others think about how we [insert word here: dress, act, believe, eat, look, drink, decorate, write, drive, walk, think] and less than no time at all about what we'd really, REALLY like?
Maybe, my dear, cherished reader, you already seize the day in a brazen, Pippi Longstocking kind of way. If so, would you comment below with some much needed HOW TO for the rest of us? Though my intern is back at university now, Wonder Mike has volunteered to step in and send a little something sweet to the commenter whose comment is most commendable. Ready? Go!.
Once you reach a certain, ahem, age (shhhhhhhhh - no need for numbers!) thoughts of mortality are more prevalent. Along with the preparing of wills and other documents which we'd much rather postpone until they are really necessary, by which time it will be too late. While watching my thoughts (don't you do that? It's like stalking your own mind...) I recently noticed way too many were about being old, passing away, fleeting time. So I wondered if I might be having a little anxiety or fear about death. Until I read the quote above in Ruiz' The Four Agreements and had a little epiphany. AHA! I am not afraid of dying. I am afraid of being REALLY alive and being EXACTLY who I am. Wow. Now there is a little something to sit in awe about.
I mean, really. How many of us are out there living a bold, fearless, carpe diem kind of life? How many of us spend an inordinate amount of time worried about what others think about how we [insert word here: dress, act, believe, eat, look, drink, decorate, write, drive, walk, think] and less than no time at all about what we'd really, REALLY like?
Maybe, my dear, cherished reader, you already seize the day in a brazen, Pippi Longstocking kind of way. If so, would you comment below with some much needed HOW TO for the rest of us? Though my intern is back at university now, Wonder Mike has volunteered to step in and send a little something sweet to the commenter whose comment is most commendable. Ready? Go!.
11 Comments
Jen! This piece has all the mystery and pull of the moon. I keep getting drawn in. Magnificent!
Hooray! Happy full moon weekend, Dotty!
No how how to here I’m afraid. I think we keep evolving and hopefully accepting the grace required to live in the moment with the people we cherish in the time the fates allow for us. Carpe Diem with a side of gelato!
Carl, that sounds like a little wisdom from the place where you are definitely seizing the day! Jealous of that authentic gelato.....
Carpe Gelato. My new motto!
Love the little shadowy face! It sort of pulls me in... It's good to talk or think or mortality in order to live fuller.. have you heard of "Death Cafe"?
Thank you, Carol! I have not heard of "death cafe". What is that?
http://deathcafe.com/
whoa! Brilliant! There is one near me!
I've been listening to Ram Dass talk about conscious aging, death and dying. Oh, for his wisdom and acceptance! There's a movie coming out him, "Becoming Nobody", and I'll be the first in line for it. As we Boomers age, there will be more attention to aging and death because we need the help. We have a death-phobic culture, and yet, we all die. My quest is to fully live until then. For the first time, I am asking how I really want to spend my time and I have fear when I see that there are things and people I probably need to drop from my schedule. If I have only 30 years left, why spend any of it doing something I don't love? My codependence is getting in my way, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I want my world to be smaller in the sense that I just want a few beloved people taking my time, I don't want to waste time on news that doesn't make me happy, I don't want to do any tedious chores. I want to travel, learn, eat great food, read only the most wonderful books. Make art, help others, watch movies, be in nature. Sleep in. Order out. Go to bed when I'm tired, don't bathe unless I really need to. Personal hygiene is such a waste of time, why bathe every day if you didn't get dirty or stinky? I'm wearing less or no makeup. I don't waste time shopping the same old stores. I have everything I need and I only shop if it's something new and cool. I'm accumulating money, so I can take more fun sculpture workshops! For the first time, I'm creating my perfect life.
Patti! Thank you for sharing all these things you are doing to create and live your perfect life! You are an excellent example for the rest of us. Working on the co-dependent stuff myself. It isn't easy, but WE CAN DO IT!
