Art Heals day 27 :: Let it Move You

nov26aj2

I used to gaze upon my patients' faces when they rested. Somewhere along the line, I had vowed to look closer whenever I felt tired, irritated, stressed, or even recoiling - until I sensed the spirit beneath their weary lines, painful grimaces, sad eyes and changing flesh.

This practice changed my relationship - the one I share with Life itself. It made me more curious, more open to connection.

Because there is always spirit to be found. A life to be honored in the seeing and being with.

There are mountains forming and rivers flowing within the body of our soul. Cells and ideas being born because others have spent their time and life. We cycle as intimately within as the world does outside...

layers and layers of being and becoming and shape-shifting.

The lines, pock marks and disbursement of fat in our bodies tell secret stories rich with the evidence of real-time passing, within and without, in this human way.

We are strange creatures to take in - full-bellied on conditioned notions of preference - stuck within that framework if we don't consciously flirt with fresher perspective and mystery and what it means to be hungry.

And still, there is an even deeper current pulsing through us. A timeless beat that calls to be released.

A current that if we dare submit to, will embody its life force right before our eyes, from our very hands, pouring from us the sweet reflection of a Life that forgets to choose at all because Life is imperfectly perfect, as it is.

Whole, as it is. And never complete or completely understood.

In the flesh, of the spirit, even the mind...

perhaps we are not meant to understand so completely, but to remain curious.

Subtle Heart. acrylic + prayer on 8x10 inch canvas board.

So many times in my life as an artist I've wanted the art that pours forth from me to be different somehow.

More this, more that. Happier, simpler, less layer, more 'beauty' (to who), these colors not those, more balance, less mess... In faces and bodies, why aren't my honest expressions bright eyes and smiles and ideal proportions? What will people think?

As I deepen my intuition in the way I practice now, there's still a part of my mind that spins in those circles - but it doesn't matter anymore. I let it spin and I smile and I honor the rhythm my body wants to take as I create.

When I submit to it, it often looks like a frenetic energy that surges and rests, surges and assesses, a dance of inward and outward expression.

As the deeper current moves me, there are often faces that come forth like the one above. They come with expressions all their own, it seems - expressions that transform in time and perspective like you and I do --- and I am interested in this mystery.

There is a pulsing spirit in our inner workings.

It infuses our subtle hearts with curiosity and love.

If you're like me, you just feel better when you let it move you.