The Light of Everything Not Broken

"The Light of Everything Not Broken" - mixed media on paper,  14 x 10.  Available on Artfinder.

It was a blustery weekend...the kind where winds seem to whisper change gonna come and you maybe grab a sweater, even though it isn't cold.

Over the weekend, a member of our local art tribe lost her husband after a long battle with illness.  A dear friend lost her furry companion of many years.  And my long departed mother had another birthday without enjoying any cake.  There is sadness and change in these things, all entangled.

My usual modus operandi with weekends like this it to pour on the productivity and muscle my way through with a herculean task list.  But Pongo reminded me there are good smells in the wind and leisurely walks to be taken, so instead I scaled down everything to just painting and walking and raising my nose to sniff the breeze.

This week's chapter in Nepo's The One Life We're Given is about grace.  ​"Effort is keeping the break in our heart open, while grace is the light of everything not broken washing the break clean."   There is a stream of life we all return to, in the end.  A stream of unbrokenness, an unseeable river connecting all living things.  As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (say his name ten times fast!) points out in his book, Finding Flow, we can join that stream when our efforts are wholeheartedly pursued, whether we are working in our gardens, washing dishes or painting.   Effort prepares us for grace.  We can't plan it or control when it happens.  We can only dive in.

As January draws to a close with a super blood blue moon, it is time to dive in to the next thirty paintings in thirty days challenge.  Let's wholeheartedly pursue some magical painting together under the blue moon.   Howling is optional. :)