Just Feel The LOVE

                                                    "Home Schooled" Oil on Canvas 24 x 24

We all are having different experiences with the Covid-19 pandemic. We are all at different

levels of fear and anxiety. Wearing masks is not comfortable. Social distancing makes us 

feel alienated. Fear keeps us from living our lives. Going out creates anxiety in some. What

do we do? Where do we go? How do we live?

Parents with young children have been put in the position to home school their children. 

This must be tremendously stressful. It is new for the parents as well as the kids trying to sit 

through a Zoom class.

There is no magic pill to take, no answer that fits all. We can only do what is best for us

and our own families.  Holding on to the hope that there will be a vaccine that we can

have faith in. One that will work and keep us from harm.

Holding on to hope. Keeping our faith, whatever that may be. Not letting fear rule over us. 

Allowing others to deal with all of this in their own fashion without being critical of them. 

Loving your neighbor. Helping someone in need. Just feeling LOVE each and every day.

We are at our best when things seem to be at the worst. (I think I heard that in the movie 

 "Starman"). 

“Ignorance is the parent of fear.”
— Herman Melville

 “I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.”
— William Allen White

A DAY FOR SELF CARE

Mountain View, Oil, Canvas

I am taking it easy today. I made my bed first thing. I like starting it out tidy. The rest of the day is dedicated to my own primping and caring for my art side. A 45 minute art video doesn’t fit into my normal routine. But, today, I am designating the time for it. I want inspiration and motivation. I am interested in nurturing my right brain today. Meditation and mindfulness will play a big role in my self care. It helps to center me and stay on the self care track I have intended for myself today. Planning to eat healthy is also part of my self care plan. Planning ahead of time helps to keep it simple. I can easily get off course. Stuff comes along that gets my problem solving juices flowing and next thing you know, I am down a different road. We all find ourselves getting sucked into stuff so easily. Staying focused on self care today may be a challenge. But, today, I am worth it! 

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” Buddha

 “Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” Christopher Germer 

“It is so important to take time for yourself and find clarity. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself.” Diane Von Furstenberg

Now We Have The Time

I just finished Austin Kleon's book, 'Keep Going: 10 Ways To Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad'
And I read this paragraph he wrote.

  "A little imprisonment - if it's of your own making - can set you free. Rather than restricting your freedom, a routine gives you freedom by protecting you from the ups and downs of life and helping you take advantage of your limited time, energy, and talent. A routine establishes good habits that can lead to your best work."

So, our having to stay at home, some may feel imprisoned, can give us the opportunity to get to know ourselves a bit better. And create routines that we may not have the chance to create. We are usually pushed through our lives by having to get up really early, catch a bus, a cab, a train, any way to get to work. Now many of us have time. Precious time that we didn't have before. Create a new routine while you can. It will not last forever. Before long we will be back to getting up early and off to work.

I must say, I am holding all of those in such high regard that are out there every day putting themselves in harms way. They are exposing themselves in many ways. And I have a new respect for the medical staff, grocery store workers, pharmacy workers, and all of the others that are in the public. Please stay safe and healthy.

What do we need?

    

       What do we need?

Being a minimalist always sounded like living in a commune, on a farm, and living off the earth.  It is those things, and yet, it is something that we can incorporate into our lives on a daily basis. And that is without selling all of our worldly possessions and moving into a commune.

So, I am making it a point in 2020 to begin to minimize several areas of my own life. In small ways to begin this journey, I am reducing a lot of clutter. I hate clutter anyway, so that’s not going to be that difficult.

See the pictures of my studio? It’s a mess. And I cannot believe that I am putting up a picture of the MESS. There is so much stuff in here that I don’t use, don’t need, and don’t even know I have. I need to call on St. Anthony every time I need something. How can a person create in such an environment?

So, here it is. My first real project in minimizing is to tackle my studio. I do not plan to do this all in one day. Yet, I am going to make it a daily effort to get rid of all the crap I really don’t need.  This is going to be a trial, All artists think they need a lot of art supplies. It probably makes us think it will make us a better painter. In some things, maybe.  We all know that practicing makes us all better painters.

So, in a couple of weeks, I will take the pictures again. And will see how far I have come.

Wish me luck!

Deb

 “You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.” —Vernon Howard

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