I’ve been curious and wondering how I would get back onto the blogging horse after abruptly falling off several months ago. Painful. Not majorly painful…not like many losses in life can be…certainly not life altering…yet perhaps each of us in our own way can relate to the leaving of something and then not being able to pick up the lost momentum. I call it the ‘inertia of trying’…we can’t seem to get any traction. We ‘lose interest’, we ‘get busy’. So it isn’t the loss of writing and posting per se it’s what is represented in the letting something drop and then another and then another and soon we have no fire. No fire equals no passion..it’s summer time and it’s timely to be HOT.
So back in April when 4.5 years of regular blog posts on my topic of creatively ‘Following the Moon’ disappeared I took a pause.
There is enough of a non-attachment gene in me (I’ve been a student of Tibetan Buddhism for decades and some of the practices and teachings have rooted deep into my cellular memory), that I made the decision to let that chapter be done. Finished.
Then June 16 began Alyson Stanfield‘s Creative Content Camp …I signed on! I am lifted up every time I work with Alyson and it felt like the best, the perfect time to get support for the passion of my art/life. Now that I’m engaged with a focused tribe of like-minds I’m feeling like I can climb back onto that blog horse once again! Thanks Alyson and all in CCC!
It was by taking Alyson’s blogging workshop, Blog Triage, with Cynthia Morris in 2010 that I truly took on the discipline of writing and also migrated my content from 5 years on Google Blogger over to Word Press. I’m very grateful to once again be following the artbiz coach guidance regaining a balanced focus that includes regularly writing in this format.
I am one who, once the commitment is made, follows through until the end of time …the time of ‘the end’ …the opportunity for release and then eventually ceremonial closure.
LOOKING BACK
In my renewed commitment to write and to post about living the art/life (richly infused with well being) it seemed timely to let the pendulum swing…so in this blog I will move a bit back in time honoring foundations as I revisit my program: ‘Having Lunch with the Masters’ and my first personal creative coaching sessions from 19 years ago.
LOOKING AHEAD
I’ll also look forward exploring the world of the new small works and writing studio located on 50 regrowth acres in the geographical center of Virginia known as the Piedmont. I spend an average of one week each month ‘on retreat’ and the voluntary simplicity of the the off-the-grid setting provides a very different creative opportunity that I’m learning to appreciate and will share with you …it’s a window into a world of whip-o-wills and tree frogs, bear and burgeoning life-force a 3 hour drive from my main studio in Virginia Beach.
CURRENT EVENTS
I’ll also look forward to posting about current events in the studio… right now I’m gearing up for teaching summer studios at Virginia MOCA.
it feels good to be back in the blogging saddle once again. Oh and about my title for this post…I happen to have recently accomplished a goal…that I’ll be blogging about that actually did take me 30 years and 6 months to bring to fruition and it made me consider how the art/life is like that…falling down and getting back up again and keep on keepin’ on until ‘suddenly’ looking around we see…oh. I’m here. And there is no where I would rather be…30 years and 6 months later.
What in your art/life has given you the opportunity to begin again?
How much commitment has it taken for you to get back in the saddle and stay put?
Are you willing to take a stand on your own behalf and go the distance?
Be the first to leave me a comment…remember I lost every one I ever had… and don’t forget to subscribe…I lost record of all of you who were signed up before…it’s all about beginning again…
let’s trail ride together…
Thisday is Friday and the end of my time away from home. I have been very emotional and teary-eyed the last couple of days and so found myself returning to a bench in a park in front of a tree that has an arched door opening. As synchronicity would have it, I was meditating on these Sufi words…” I wonder in pursuit of my own self. I am the traveller and I am the destination.” One thing led to another and that is how I ended up here on your first blog… ha, no surprise! I’ve been contemplating my inspirations of which there is no shortage. Its the next step, putting the pedal to the metal, that I freeze or get bogged down. Before reading this first blog, I decided upon returning home that I would start fresh with a blank sheet of paper to begin a”new”, to lose all my former art trappings. Like losing your blogs. And to return to that sweetspot, that way of thinking and BE- ing that time where making art flourished. Thank you for showing up yet again in my life, your beauty, your spirit, your heartfelt words. Now it’s up to me to not only commit, but to understand who and what I am committing.
I sit and breathe in the ‘edginess’ of where you say you are and I’m so glad that you plucked out your message to us all…like finding a message in a bottle in the desert. Unexpected and enticing…keep us posted…and we’ll chat soon.
I’m with Cherry. D, thank you for posting and allowing me to be part of the discussion. It’s rejuvenating!
Hey MaryAnn…I’m with Cherry too…and it’s wonderful to see you hear!! Subscribe, discuss and all of us on this trail ride can help to rejuvenate one another… as we’ve been doing for such a good long time.
Welcome back! Missed your blogging. So, do you like WordPress better? I dwindled away on the usefulgardens.com blog when we decided to leave the farm and I began dispersing chickens, peacocks and plants to others. It was just too emotional to write about – but look what you have found the strength and clarity to share. Beautiful!
Hope you’re doing some teaching this fall/winter. Your class(es) = inspirational fun!
Sybil!
You ought not be writing about packing up and leaving(by now you have left the farm)…the time is/was for being with the dispersing chickens, peacocks, plants and others saying ‘fare thee well in all ways for always’…it’s so dang hard to say good bye.
And by now you’ve begun the new hello…the trail head is fresh and the path is open up ahead. Welcome to your new h’OM’e.
Syb, “How lucky you are to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” PoohBear
Welcome back D! My life is a series of falling offs and climbings back on. Nothing wrong with that, I say. I have a feeling that each time we do it, we come back qualitively stronger 🙂
I’m glad to be back WC and it’s Alyson Stanfield who spurred me on once again.
Your perspective is wise…makes me consider one of my favorite words: resilience…fall. Get back up. Fall. Get back up.
Repeat…
Repeat…
Repeat. Celebrate 😉
Hi Donna- What a fantastic and alluring title! Congratulations on being brave and unstoppable. I’m looking forward to reading your observations on art and life. The word “studio” has such a pull for me. Can’t wait to see what you have to offer. Blessings on your new venture.
Thanks Elizabeth…I’m buoyed by your message and also very happy to hear that studio is a magnet for you…I look forward to hearing more from you as we head onward on our trail ride 😉
Love it and live YOU Donna. While I see that the Piedmont is your sanctuary, I’m hoping there is space in or around your visits there to make room for me! I would so love to come and meet you there–even just for lunch! My dear friend and business partner in our waterfront cottage was part of a big effort to block Disney from putting a theme park in that pristine and historic area. It’s sacred. Happy for you to be able to retreat there. (Not far from me either if you want to extend it into a personal waterfront retreat Light Landing and hang with me a bit!
Dearest Shawn…we shall sit and visit here or there…thank your business partner for me!! I so value the beauty of the Piedmont.
So glad that you’re back! I’ve told you before but I’ll say it again- your posts are truly inspiring, thought provoking and transformative. I have wondered in the past how you get the energy for it -as a long time blogger I know how much effort it can take-but was always grateful that you shared yourself and your experiences. Thank you. Your once s month retreat sounds divine
Hello Bridgette…and congratulations on your truly lovely exhibition of ‘earth works’ sensuous and inviting as always.
Thanks so much for the welcome return to blog-land…it’s funny to hear you question my energy when it’s you and so many other women who are juggling the wee ones along with the making and sharing of their art. I have the gift of focus given to me as a reward for choosing to make my life the master peace. i am one pointed and like a dog with a bone…a delectable and ‘leave me to it’ kind of metaphoric bone…there are many of us with this level of confidence in being here for a purpose divine…isn’t it delightful when we sit together and support one another as we ride the beauty trail.
Hi Iona, Congratulations on riding your horse! I know how you feel after blogging faithfully for 6 years now I think it is. That first blogging course with Alyson, was where I met you! There’s been times I’ve felt like abandoning my horse too. – Nice metaphor by the way. #artbizcontent camp has been so awesome for me also. I was really struggling with keeping up the content flow – and now thanks to Alyson I have an abundance of ideas and more keep popping up. The challenge is to find the time to write them all down!
~Hi Kadira~
Thanks so much for the congrats! I’ll turn them right around and send them back your way for your very cool and, dare I say M A R K E T A B L E paintings tote invention…brilliant.
So here we are…getting up, getting down and getting back onto that faithful horse…I have to smile at the sheer gumption of our stick-to-it-tive-ness…yours, mine and all of our colleagues in the studios round the world. I tell my kids at the museum that artists are the explorers, detectives, magicians and discoverers…we need to keep our artist eyes open and curious…
Alyson does have the knack doesn’t she…ideas coming from outer space…diving down into the earth’s gravitational field…here we go a gathering 😉
Feeling very inspired after exploring your beautiful site and reading this post, Donna — thank you for your creativity, transparency and integrity. “Blissings” on this wonderful journey you’ve invited us to travel with you!
Thanks so much Zuzu…I truly appreciate your reflection and breathe in the bliss that you bring to the trail.
Congratulations. Your back on the saddle and riding the trail to a circle of friends.
Thanks Georgie!!
…you of all people know what it’s like to be thrown to the ground….and of course to get up again…on we go..riding the beautiful trail 😉
Congratulations, Iona, fellow CC Camper! Loved the title and the bronco photos. Now I’m wondering is that you on horseback?
I know the metaphorical answer. Kudos again on all levels.
Howdy Linda…thank ya…never used stock photos before…it was fun…and I may just do it again…feels very fresh after having always used my own art…and yes…that is truly metaphorical me on the steeds…ride em!
I found you through your Luna posts and art. Then again on Facebook. Your posts are compelling, be it art, photo, or words.
Now I am retired and we travel eight months of the year. Probably for about another 2 years. The hope to settle in South or North Carolina!
Life is simpler and more of what I want.
My first blog disappeared from blogger and I lost interest. No one from the infamous Google could be contacted and I tried.
Happy for your new adventure here.
Sandra
Hi Sandra…how wonderful to find you here…I love that you are ‘on the road’ for a time all of the places that you post are so compelling…you’ve got the artist eye.
I personally wish that your blogger blog had not disappeared since there could have been a true lovely travelogue happening as you ‘ride your trail’…maybe you’ll get inspired over the next two years to start again 😉 As Alyson reminds us…a blog and a newsletter are your own real estate and you can invest in their content and share your adventure with all of us.
Every day, when we arise, there is a new opportunity to begin again, start “fresh.” However, life is full of demands tugging at one’s shirt sleeves “take care of ME,” “Over here, I need your attention NOW!,” etc. My mother-in-law had a great saying; “beat the snakes closest to the door.” Sometimes that’s all that can be done. Yet, amidst all the madness, the decision to pay attention and fully commit to ones creative work can be made — in spite of the plethora of “need to do.” It’s the choice between a fulfilling, expansive life and the mundane. I say let the chaos be and create with intensity like there’s no tomorrow.
When I fell on my pony she wandered into greener pastures. I’m practicing “horse whispering” daily to bring her back. It is taking persistence and deep focus as well as support. Sometimes we need to reach out and grasp someone’s hand to regain the courage to preserver and give us a boost up into the saddle.
One of the biggest ways for me to gain laser focus on my work is to have a deadline for a show. Now I’m working towards “the show” being my work on it’s own to hone my focus and commitment. That is truly the “really big show.”
Thanks Joanne…I am oriented toward horse whispering too (though I hadn’t plugged that concept into my little brain until you brought it!) and like you…give me a deadline and the laser beam lights up…
I have great respect for having worked with Alyson…I took all of her courses in 2010 and am back with her now for summer camp…she has helped me hone my natural tendency to be zen about what matters.
Your mother-in-laws adage is a winner!! Definitely a short recipe for paying attention. Good stuff.
Hi Iona,
I understand you so well! And yes, it is such a powerful sensation to feel once again this strong energy pulsating through the body and the thrill of being able to shout at the Universe :YES ! I’M BACK ! I’m just feeling it myself for my painting (which disappeared from my life the whole time it took for my mother to die, with me at her side. More than a year actually) and also for my blog, thanks to Alyson like you. I could add : not only blogging but the discovery that in fact social media can be fun also. So a whole new cycle in communication is opening for us. This is really fantastic and I wish you all the best !
I send condolences on the loss of your mother Annick…I can only imagine the good fortune that she must have felt and valued in having you by her side until she was ready to say her ‘fare thee well’ to life in the third dimension.
Regarding our creative connection to the vast territory of the art/life…it is grand isn’t it to know that we’re exploring and expanding our territory together. Trail riders! each with our artist eyes wide open to the wonder.
What a great, thought provoking-post! Well done.
Oh thanks Betsy…it means so much to have my art/life buddies gathering around the fire…I can see our faithful steeds grazing off under the trees over there…waiting for us to mount and move along the path.
Oh, Donna! Those accompanying photos of the horse tossing the rider and then the rider on a horse in full-gallop, while hanging upside down but hanging on………well, those were PERFECT and made me laugh as I realized that a shining sense of humor is just one more of your many wonderful gifts! It is wonderful seeing your new blog take off and read the heartening story of your life as it is today by way of your philosophies and happenstances that unfailingly accompany you as you build your new path simply by walking it! Now I’m off to explore other parts of your site…………….
WOO HOO Marianne…leave it to you to bring the enthusiasm level up to meet us all where we are…I’m glad you commented on the horse images. This is actually the first time I’ve ever used stock images for a post…Alyson has stressed always use your own work…and I thought of taking the photos and turning them into my own drawings then thought NO…these are excellent as they are…and they signal another new experience so I’m goin’ for it…
may we each break away and leave what feels like the same old path…I know that’s what you’re up to BIG TIME!! Happy New Home to you.
Why THANK you, grand human being and friend!! : ) Just finished my fourth painting here in my new-home-of-7-weeks so my horsie has arrived …. with me hanging, like you, upside down BUT IN FULL CONTROL (heh, heh!) on its side! I’ll be contacting you about a few more things, later……if this danged steed ever slows down just a tad! (Trade you my horse for your new little studio!?)
You are a riot Marianne…I’m thrilled to know that you’re settled and painting…YAY!
Thanks…however I’ll pass on the offer to trade horse for studio right now…I’m much more excited about what’s going to come to meet me in my small works/writing studio…I’ll share the news here wit’ya!
What’s coming to meet you in your new studio? Why, my guess is a multitude of miracles dressed up as your words and paintings!
Marianne…the studio is a buzz with mono print experiments for the weeks ahead at MOCA…PLUS …learning to return to the rhythm of posting here each week…ideas are percolating 😉
Beautiful, beautiful Drozda. So happy you’re back and more bedazzling than ever. Lovely makeover. We’ve been connected now for decades and I wouldn’t be where I am today ( a truly blissful state) without your wisdom, encouragement, insight, intuition, and wonderful peaceful rhythm you share with the world. Every step we’ve ever taken, whether it’s backwards, sideways, or forward has created the people we are today, perfectly imperfect. I am so grateful to know you.
Hey Bruce
Lovely to see you here and also very lovely to hear your share…your words make shade to rest in…like a gorgeous tree…like a place to stop and rest on the trail…taking a moment to breathe it in.
Thank you!
Yuppers…forward, backward, upward, downward…as Jung reminds us…all roads lead to the truth provided we dig deeply enough.
AH HO!!
Congratulations on your new blog, Iona! I am so happy you’re back. 🙂
Thanks so much Alyson! Now if I could get that dang Gravatar to show up!!
Always something to learn 😉
Thanks Kelly for bringing back my lost Gravatar…YAY!!
There have been many things that I’ve started that have fallen away. Some were just a passing, a ‘try’ of sorts and I have always been grateful for their connection. Others, well, those are the ones that sort of haunt me by calling to me. Calling to me to take a second/third look (try).
Do It!!
One step atta time…your designs are lovely and deserve to be brought forth…now you have your studio WOO HOO!!
Think of working with your glass as midwifing your ‘new babies’…or whatever language makes it feels like a process unfolding.
Good reminder for us all:
Strike the word TRYING…it goes nowhere…we either get ‘back on the horse’ or we don’t…no in between…the in between is where we languish.
Greetings, Donna, and welcome back! Or just welcome. I’m thrilled that you’ll be posting and look forward to your thoughtful and thought provoking posts. We have many projects that take a year and 20 minutes, or five years and an hour, so I totally understand your framing here. And so great that you are gathering momentum. The spirit of the horse has figured largely for me these past couple of years as I gear up to bring my own writing to a wider audience. Sending air to left your wings….
Oh I see Pegasus on lift-off!!
…soaring up and over the trail …
you would surely be one to know about fluctuating time-lines…I urge anyone peeking into this zone to read your courageous memoir Topic of Cancer
Howdy Pawdnah!
Even with a deep understanding of impermanence, it must have been somewhat discombobulating to have all that work and insight go POOF!
So glad to see you back in the saddle. I join you on this journey…after 38 years of longing for my own space to write and create, I am committed to claiming and nesting in a space in our home. Mine! Allllll MINE!!! This month I will take some pieces I have written to a writers’ conference and entrust them to peer review and take classes in writing and publishing…can you hear my teeth chattering?? This along with applying to a school of spiritual direction in Richmond… Yeeee Haaaaw!!! The time…., they are a-changin’!
Love and blessing,
Kristy
YES!! What a great update Ms. Kristy…a room of your own…great things will come of this…AND Richmond.
Cha-cha-cha-changing of the best kind is afoot.
In a nutshell, my answer to the three questions above can be summed up by one single short quote from A Course In Miracles. It was, for me, over 30 years ago that I read this quote, having pulled it out of a box of particularly juicy tidbits from aforementioned ACIM, and secretly hoping that the one that I chose would somehow justify the feelings of doubt, dismay, or despair, that I am very sure I must have been feeling. I can still clearly recall that, the moment I read the words, wanting to throw the entire box and its contents out the window, onto the train tracks in front of the apartment building I lived in at the time. But I didn’t. I was already flying on wings of Grace, although I wasn’t fully conscious of the fact at the time, and giving up was not an option. Drum roll please: the message read
YOU CANNOT BE TOTALLY COMMITTED SOMETIMES.
I got it. It only takes fully imbibing, embracing, and saying a whole hearted YES to Truth one time, for everything to shift and never again be the same. And as, over the decades, I have remembered that I cannot be totally committed sometimes, all times have become God’s time and I have come to see that God’s time is Eternity…
Great respect and love,
Beth
Hi Beth…OH YES! The many times of wanting and actually throwing ACIM across the room…thanks for the memory 😉
and the quote.
drum roll indeed…
it’s great to be ‘trail riding’ with you.