Release and Bind

"Release and Bind" - mixed media on aquabord, 18" x 24".  Ready to frame, or can be leaned agains a wall upon a shelf.  Available here and at Artfinder.

Let's dive back into Mark Nepo's The One Life We're Given.  Because Nepo has been slapping me upside the head.  The chapter Wanting to Go Back tackles our inner chicken...you know, the one who is all gung-ho about crossing the road until there are cars, potholes and buses to contend with.  Then the chicken is all "oooooh life was just fine on this side of the road" and stops moving forward.  Yep.  I have an inner chicken.

Nepo describes our inner revelations, our aha moments, our lightbulbs of insight that catapult us forward to try new things, make changes, grasp brass rings...and then the chicken that drags us backwards once the work of change begins.  "We feel refreshed and then enervated," says Nepo.  "Every day has its release and bind."

Ouch.  Stop slapping me, Mark Nepo!

There are forces in my life pushing me forward right now.  Daring me to do this or try that, abandon one thing and pick up another.  And then my fowl feathers sprout and I am all flapping arms and BAGAAAAAAWK.  Nepo has no room for chickens: "Since there will always be voices calling us back, a central part of the work of awakening is the need to stand firm in our newfound wakefulness."  Logic tells me standing firm requires strength, like a super hero chicken or something.  But Nepo says no, standing firm requires honoring the gift of our sensitivity, our tender heart, and allowing that to become the source of our strength.

Our human nature turns us back from change because there is comfort in the familiar. "The only way is forward, a step at a time, becoming ever more sensitive and resilient," says Nepo.  My sensitive inner chicken is going to need a cape and a mask.

Thank you, dear readers, for your many comments and shared stories about the art in your personal spaces this week!  My underpaid assistant (um, husband, I mean) drew a name at random from a bowl this morning.  Congratulations, Mary C!!!!  A piece of art is on its way from me to you.