Challenges Can Bring Forward a Deeper Understanding

Photo by Pineapple Supply Co. on Unsplash

I am not afraid to start this post with the word “I.”  A friend of mine turned me on to the idea that it is so common to start writings with the word “I,” that it is a challenge to write a different beginning word.  I get that and I see the value in it, but I also see a precious quality to the concept and lived employment of self-affirmation.  

We each have a story and it is incredibly powerful.  We are each experts in our own way about the things that we each have gone through and we stand for that, with each assertion of the word “I,” we make.  There is a value in each of our stories and I see a great purpose in sharing those stories.  

Don’t be afraid of yourself!

My story has ups and downs just like anyone else’s.  I had challenges arise in my life and of course, continue to have them, such is life.  As many have said, it is all about attitude and how we respond to challenges that make all the difference in the world.  

In my own story, I faced a serious and debilitating depression that left me with many emotional and psychic scars but at the same time that depression was in a way my salvation.  Ashley Turner (http://ashleyturner.org), who is one of my mentors, likes to say that our wounds are our wisdom and how very true that feels.  I wish to extend that notion to you in this writing.  I have come out the other side of a terrible calamity but I still encounter and face challenges. 

Life makes up the difference.

For me, using art as a catalyst for positive change in my life has meant all the world.  Mingyur Rinpoche, talks about positivity being that which serves you and me, together.  I strive for that in my work here, my art.  I consider this artwork.  I have my degree in art.  It is life experience that has brought me to my understanding of personal transformation.  This is part of what I draw on to bring good energy and knowledge into your life through my story and ideas.  

I hope you get something powerfully positive from this writing and that you see it unfolding on a regular basis as a practice.  I am inspired as I write this by the thought of Pablo Picasso who is as I write this being featured on the television show Genius.  Picasso painted pictures.  I work with personhood.  We, ourselves can be art.  Art can be the craft of life.  This is the message I wish to share with you.  Be well.  Follow your truth and you will be a happier and more satisfied person for it.