My Comfort zone has vanished — AGAIN!

Beware! Once you pass your comfort zone, keep going!
There is no turning back!

No worries, you will reach a new comfort zone — although it might be a while before you arrive.

Take heart; expansion, growth and change are what you wanted.

You wanted to go beyond the places you’ve been before, to "Feel the Force”, the pull of new adventures.

Feeling the excitement of new adventures is not the same
as going on those great adventures.

There are always ups and downs on the great adventures we read about in books or watch in movies.

In life, these ups and downs take longer to experience.

Momentum is a powerful neutral force — yet a force nonetheless.

Inertia is an opposing and equally powerful force.

I think of inertia as more of a negative force, but maybe it’s just HEAVY. It takes powerful lifting to get moving once inertia has set in.

Fear is often the force behind my inertia.

When I’m afraid to take action — which often means I’m afraid to start a new project, inertia digs in its heels.

Dread is one of Inertia’s best friends.

The emotional space that Dread occupies is immense.

Dread and fear dance maniacally round and round, eating up precious moments and consuming vast amounts of time and energy.

Awareness is key, and is the first step to conquering Dread, Fear, and Inertia.

Once we realize the crazy “do-si-do” going on in our brain (and stomach), we can devise tools to “stop the music”.

Changing our focus helps us to change our thoughts. Once we’re looking at something different (a new novel or movie), or we’re exercising, our focus softens and relaxes.

With relaxation and a calm breath, comes the power
to change our thoughts.

Changing thoughts, whether or not they’re related to the cause of our dread/fear/inertia (“D/F/I”), helps move us into a neutral zone.

From a neutral zone, we can reach for better feeling thoughts in general and eventually to thoughts about the cause of our “D/F/I”.

From here we take action, even the tiniest action will help.

Before you know it, momentum takes over and you’re back in business.

This painting was started in front of my Hide-N-Seek watercolor class at Hawaiian Graphics. I wanted my students to see what it feels like to create a painting that's asking to be painted. It's a very different energy to paint something that's calling you rather than painting something just for the sake of painting.

A better question is what don’t they have in common!

Math immediately came to mind, but that’s not true. Artists do use math, just not in the same way scientists use math.

Both scientists and artists use the scientific method of experimentation regularly.

Every time we begin a painting, a sculpture, a story, a dance, or a piece of music, we are experimenting.

We continually change our variables: color, tone, volume, temperature, meter, structure, etc. and we eagerly watch while creating to see what more we need to add, subtract, or change.

Artists are the constant variable in the equation of art.

Curiosity is a driver, a motivator of both science and art … What will happen if … How does X affect Y? (Math!)

I took my first art class in college (Art for Non-art Majors, while in the Nursing program) as a Pass/Fail course.

I had NO, I mean ZERO confidence in my abilities.

The real problem with the idea of pass/fail is that I no longer believe in failure.

The common, oft-repeated phrase is that Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times before discovering the tungsten light bulb.

Thomas Edison didn’t see it that way. He knew that he had discovered 10,000 things that didn’t work before discovering the thing that did work.

Imagination is not an option; it can’t be turned off. We all have one and we all use it daily.

Imagination is a tool we can use to help us or to hinder us.

We decide how we’re using our imagination with every option we weigh and with every decision we make.

Are you looking at your painting/sculpture/music/dance/life through the lens of possibilities or through the lens of pass/fail? You decide, every time!

Since we have the ability to learn from everything, failure isn’t really an option either.

There were myriad small changes made to this painting during the month that I painted it. Subtle yet important changes. My intention for this painting was to paint the energy of the ever-expanding universe.

Make peace with where you are.

The midst of a battlefield is no place to find peace

If you don’t have something nice to say — you already know the rest.

We are all connected — collectively (in our groups, tribes, countries, and throughout the world) and individually (the foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone, etc.).

When one part of us is in pain, either physical or psychic, it’s hard to keep the rest of us on an even keel.

We know we’re supposed to focus on what we want and ignore the pain associated with what we don’t want.

That’s hard — that’s why it’s called work.

Most things worthwhile require focus, time, and effort (mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual).

Start right where you are. What will help you feel better right now?

Venting might feel good in the short term, but it won’t take you very far.

Truth, when it’s a truth we don’t want or like, doesn’t take us down the path of feeling good either.

Both collectively and individually, we must find ways to distract ourselves from the pain long enough to find our good and our common ground.

Demonizing or Deifying does us no favors.

Ostrich-like behavior won’t last forever, but if "sticking your head in the sand" helps to you find a calm center, go find a beach and chill out!

Take care of YOU. Do what it takes (speaking to myself too) to feel better.

The paths to happiness, peace, and love all begin with one step and require millions more to follow.

A few steps may stray off the path from time to time; course correction will get us where we want to go.

Be vigilant. Stay focused on what you want. Trust that you are on your way and take one more step.

The pendulum always swings — sometimes it’s got a long arc.

I paint the negative spaces to enhance the positive. Even when I’m focused on the positive, I am aware of the impact the negative spaces have.

We can’t paint one thing without impacting another.

Darker darks create lighter lights.

Go paint! Even if you don’t feel like it or don’t know what to paint, go paint! Go enhance the light.

Attitude follows Action.

What are you waiting for?

Go paint!

Often we think that if we "felt better”, or if we "felt like painting", that our painting time would be more fun, or more interesting, or our painting “turn out" better.

Actually, we will feel better about painting (and the resulting painting) after we paint!

Rather than waiting to feel better before taking action (starting to paint), it’s important to know that our attitudes follow our actions. This means that we often feel better about doing something AFTER we’ve done it.

Whether it's painting or going to the gym or some other task, it helps to have a habit or practice in place so the decisions to act are made ahead of time. That way our resistance (fear) doesn't stand a chance of stopping us from taking action. 

When you hear the phrase “stand up straight”, whether it’s said to you or to another, do you “stand up straight”?

Did you just sit up straighter when you read, “stand up straight”?

How’d that feel?

Aside from the annoyance factor, did you feel a tiny bit better for having straightened your spine from the “I-didn’t-realize-I-was-slouching” position you’d been in?

When we don't use our creativity muscle regularly, it slouches. It goes slack. It goes limp, and gradually we “lose the juice”, the “fire in our belly” that fuels our creativity.

Nike’s famous slogan “Just Do It!” is a great start for any new action we want to cultivate.

“Just Do It Again!” is an even a better mantra to recite.

Doing something once is a start. Doing something regularly is the way in which we create a habit or a practice.

If you want a habit of feeling good or happy with yourself, figure out which of your actions produce those feelings, and then Do Those Actions Again and Again!