Painting in the Moment

I'm starting a portrait series to advocate for mental health awareness. It's one of those bursts of inspiration that comes from inside and out, a strong conviction that this is what I need to work on right now. I've always been most strongly inclined to address issues of social justice and human rights, and yet the paintings always end up kind of more beautiful than they are tragic. There is something so beautiful and powerful in how our weaknesses develop into our greatest strengths, how over and over again the message is that all things can become new that grow toward the light, beauty from ashes.

I've been a little sad and fearful tonight of all the things I think I'll never possibly get done, or may never again do, but as I've been trying to focus on the things that I can, and am, doing right now, I feel lighter and more at peace. This is what's made a writer of me: It's the only and the best way that I have ever been able to think. My thoughts and feelings get out into the light of day, and from there I see the fear is clearly just a shadow falling back behind them underneath the rays. Have you ever noticed how fears are like that? They seem HUGE and Insurmountable as we dwell on the past and worry about our future, but in my experience less than 90% of them turn out to ever be true.

I am re-learning daily to live in the moment.