In my books I write about bold, brave, fearless men and women who are willing to do anything to save their family, the people they love and their land. As much as we women might wish otherwise, romance stories are more fiction than truth and we long wistfully for the fantasy to be real. Amazingly enough, reality can sometimes be even better than fiction and I was shown that yesterday morning.
I have a very dear long distance friend who has proven to me over and over that good men do exist and that they're not a dream any woman should give up on. How many of us have ever seen a person or animal in need and actually stopped to help? In today's world it is sad how so many people don't seem to care about the plights of others. Too often people continue with their lives thinking "oh the next person who goes by will help that poor creature." How about stepping up and being that "next person" for once? Being the person who cared is exactly what my friend did and I am so very proud of him! He was driving home from a class the other night, saw a mother duck and her babies on a busy highway and actually stopped to try and save them. It was too late to save the mother duck, but he still tried, and he managed to wrangle up a couple of the babies and get them to safety. Who knows how many people drove by him while he was trying to save those ducks and either didn't notice him, were annoyed he was disrupting traffic, thought he was crazy or envied his bravery. All that matters is that he has a big enough heart to even try and that he did it solely to help a creature in need. It was a truly selfless, loving and incredible feat and though he was heartbroken he couldn't save all the ducks, in my eyes he is a true hero. I have stopped to rescue butterflies, birds and turtles from the middle of a country road, tamed feral cats, placed wounded bats somewhere safely away from predators and helped corral runaway horses and dogs on more than one occasion, but I don't consider myself a hero. It is in my nature to try and help, it should be in all of our natures. Helping our fellow man and the other animals we share this world with shouldn't be seen as a choice, it should be seen as our obligation. After all, if you were the person in need, wouldn't you want someone to stop and help you? We all need rescuing at some point, we all need heroes and we can all be heroes. Open your eyes and heart and be brave, bold, loving and selfless. When you put positive energy out into the world it will return even stronger and in unexpected ways and prove that life is truly the most amazing adventure of all.
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I apparently hit snooze twice this morning because by the time I was awake enough to realize the time, it was 5:20. I felt like I could sleep for another 3 to 4 hours without any problem but alas, that isn't an option for me at this point in my life. Sleeping through what I now see is a beautiful morning would have been a waste anyway, but the temptation was still there.
The weather this past weekend was absolutely amazing and a true taste of the hot summer days ahead. As much as I might complain about sweating and burning in the sun (even with SPF 45 sunblock on) I much prefer those "problems" over shoveling and driving in snow and freezing during the winter. Heat can be dealt with by turning on the air conditioner and/or fans, drinking tons of water, staying in the shade and wearing as little clothing as possible. After a full day out in the sun and light breezes, I feel wonderfully tired and I smell like fresh air and sunshine. I could have spent the nice weather weed whacking, pulling the grass out of my potential flower garden, trimming my front bushes or other outdoor chores, but instead I chose to take a break and a breather by traveling to the bigger hills of southern New York State. It was a great drive full of sights I forgot existed in this state, open roads with little traffic and minimal construction, and a destination that was both familiar and yet still new to me. I met new people, I walked new streets, I took in new sights and all of that to me is a coveted gift. It felt so good to talk, laugh, share my thoughts and experiences with others and listen to their's. As isolated as I am where I live, I miss that real human interaction that I believe we all need. As I never truly know when such interaction will happen again, and I strive to not take anything for granted, I made the most of every moment and tried to memorize it all. I always hope that I leave behind a good impression and enjoyable memories of me when I leave a person and a place so that every now and then the people I've met say "remember that girl..." as I cross their minds in one of life's endless stories. I truly enjoy when someone tells me how much they like my paintings or reads something I wrote and expresses their enjoyment and desire for more. I suppose I could be alone in my belief that having people who believe in you is a true gift. Artists of any kind understand how hard it is to get their writing, painting, photography, music, sculptures, spoken word...whatever it may be, out there for the world to experience. The term "struggling artist" exists for a very good reason. We are all blessed with different gifts and not everyone possesses an artistic talent, but I believe there's a longing within each of us to express ourselves.
I will admit that I'm guilty of needing some encouragement in order to feel inspired enough to paint or write. The thought that everything I do is all for naught is discouraging to say the least. I love to share my writing and painting, and if the people I share it with are truly appreciative, the artistic spark inside me regains its strength and starts to burn back into a real fire. Do not misunderstand me and believe that everything I do, I do for attention; far from it. I have tons of manuscripts that may never be read, and stacks of paintings that may never be seen, but that never stops me from creating more. Tell me "I like the colors in this painting" or "I really enjoyed this story and want to read more" and wow, I am over the moon with happiness! I create to share, isn't that what all artists do? What good is self expression if no one else ever sees or hears what it is you're trying so creatively to say? So to all my fellow artists out there, I offer you my encouragement and support. It isn't an easy road or life for any of us right-brainers and from time to time, I think we all need to lean on someone for a bit. The right people will push us off with a gentle shove or hard kick in the rear when we lean and we'll be right back on the trail, artistic machete in hand, blazing a new creative and inspired trail into the future. Every weekday the alarm on my Droid phone goes off at 5am, inevitably bringing to an end whatever peculiar dreams I was having. The sun rises earlier and earlier as summer approaches but I'm still up and at it before its done yawning and stretching its way up over the hills. I love getting up early in the summer and watching the sky lighten with the dawn of a new day. Life is too precious to waste it lying in bed when nature is putting on such a glorious display. As the days get warmer (hopefully) I'm going to start walking my loyal pooch in these early hours and it will be interesting to see what examples of country creatures are out and about before the sun rises. Every day is an adventure here in the country and I do my best to take in and appreciate every new moment.
Today is my closest and longest friend's birthday and I wish we could get together and go dancing tonight. She and I both deserve a night of fun for everything we've gone through and the battles we continue to fight. I do believe in soul mates and she is mine. We understand each other so well and I hope she knows that I will always have her back! I am the kind of person who will be the most loyal friend you've ever known if you earn a place in my heart. Friendship goes both ways though and I'm not a doormat and I will not allow myself to be mistreated and used. I am pretty darn easygoing so losing my friendship takes some serious effort. I have walked away from few friendships in my life but my collection of friends is very small. I have a small loyal group of comrades who understand and love all my quirks. If you can't accept me for who I am and see that I shine with my own unique light then it is truly your loss. I do no say that out of conceit because I consider myself a fairly humble person. I am an unforgettable force and my memory will endure long after people mistakenly let me slip from their lives. Taio Cruz's song "Make It Last Forever" just came on from my playlist....so fitting. Hard work is just that: hard. Waiting for what you want to just fall into your lap is a waste of time. Uncovering the true treasures in life involves serious effort and that makes possessing them that much more precious. Sometimes in order to get what you want you have to reevaluate and redesign your entire life and perspective. This does not mean changing who you are essentially as a person, doing that is NEVER a good idea. Changing who you are to please someone else will just turn you into someone you don’t even recognize. Don’t compromise your entire identity for a relationship or for a career, make your relationship and your career fit you, not the other way around.
One of the keys to finding success and happiness in any and every part of your life is being right with yourself first. Be confident in your own talents and abilities, be comfortable in your own skin, walk tall and strong through every challenge life sets before you. If you fall, pick yourself back up and know that the scars you’ve received are badges of honor, not marks of disgrace. Don’t let negative things people say about you define how you think about yourself. Know that you are a good person and that there’s no such thing as being perfect. Perfect is boring and stale, be exciting and original and the people around you will be drawn to that. Concentrate on honing and intensifying your positive energy until it flows outward into the world and amazing things will begin to happen. Believe in yourself and know that you are capable of attaining any goal you desire. If you’re tired of your current job, don’t just stew about it, make a plan for change and set things in motion. Grumbling about the same old routine will not alter its course at all, but knowing what you want and going after it, will! If it is love and a meaningful relationship you seek, then you first need to love yourself and be a complete person before you even try to share yourself with someone else. Missing pieces and emptiness within yourself will make it all too easy for you to lose yourself in someone else and allow them to manipulate you if their intentions are less than noble. You want to be with someone who loves you for you and who knows the right way to give you a gentle encouraging shove when you stumble on the oftentimes challenging road of life. Know that you deserve someone who can “roll” with all your unique quirks and who won’t ever try to change you, life is too short to settle for anything else. There is a poem by Richard Bach that says: “If you love something, set it free; if it comes backs it's yours, if it doesn't, it never was.” Set yourself free, let your inhibitions and fears go and you’ll discover that what returns to you is exactly what you’ve been trying so hard to find. Strive for a life of fulfillment, be good with and to yourself, and know that you deserve every happiness that comes to you. My work, whether it be painting or writing, has always been driven by my emotions. I have to feel passionately about something, or even someone, in order to find my creative muse. Alas there have been far too many times in my life when my experiences have left me so numb and empty that I couldn't put brush to canvas or fingers to keyboard. I have done some paintings when I was angry and it was therapeutic because anger is a passionate emotion, full of fire and easy to feed off of. The blah of discontent and depression holds no fire, only cold emptiness and I am not someone who can create anything from that.
My friend has told me that I'm someone who loves too hard, and she knows because she is one too. I believe all my female friends are like this and that's why we understand each other so well. We put so much of ourselves out there, whether it be through painting, writing, speaking or just living and we think everyone who knows us and cares about us should understand that part of us and not abandon us because of it. It's hard for us to accept that there really are people out there who don't need other people, who are content alone and who don't want to share the deepest parts of themselves, including their hearts, with anyone else. I will never be that kind of person. How I love makes me vulnerable and gets me hurt but it can also create beautiful pieces of artwork and writing that capture the most important essence of myself. I never know where the inspiration for my paintings is going to come from. Most of the time it just sort of comes out of me as I paint but sometimes it comes from unexpected places. It could be from a dream I had or a story I read or something I saw outside or a picture a friend took on their phone and sent me. I've been taking pictures of beautiful skies for as long as I've been able to figure out how to work a camera. I've used entire rolls of film taking photos of sunsets and sunrises and only ever painted a few pictures based on them. Lately I've been looking at photos of even mundane things differently and it's not because of the subject matter but because of where the photos came from. I will be visually explaining in new paintings in the very near future ;)
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AuthorMy words are like my brush strokes, I'm never quite sure where they'll flow to and when they'll stop. Categories
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