Journey

"A tree that reaches past your embrace grows from one small seed.
A structure over nine stories high begins with a handful of earth.
A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step."
Tao 64

Life happens. And these days I'm not quite as obsessed with my digital art as I was for the previous 5 years. I've decided to blog about bits of wisdom I've gathered along life's journey, and art will find its way in there, too, because that's also very much a part of who I am; but I've had as much counselor education and practice as art training and painting, so it feels right to share this here. Anyway, Deb said if I would write, she would read it. Deb, you're only obliged to read once.

I've been in sort of a meditative, waiting place lately, waiting for whatever inspiration life might send my way to get started on my next adventure (i.e. obsession). It has been said that in order to be happy, we need someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for (a goal to work toward). When I've achieved one goal or simply let go of it, I start looking around for the next goal; without it, I'm as directionless as the 2 opposing fish that symbolize my Zodiac sign. I find peace in striving for my goals.

The Tao of Inner Peace offers a self-assessment tool that asks am I
At peace in my body?
At peace in my career?
At peace in my relationships?
At peace in my family?
At peace with my finances?
At peace with myself?
At peace with my world?

According to the Tao, what matters is not the situation but the way in which we perceive it, * and finding peace within ourselves first, casts a whole new light on the other facets of our lives, but most of us are working at it in reverse, struggling to get all our ducks in a row in order to gain peace. It ain't gonna happen. When we're at peace, we become creative and resourceful and flow with life and change in order to see beyond problems to their solutions. Sometime today, I will take 15 minutes to sit in a quiet room, close my eyes, and be open to hearing what the Universe or my God or my inner Tao wants me to know about finding my own inner peace, about my next goal, and about priorities........and this is the first step in my new journey. Maybe you would like to walk along with me for a ways.............feel free to comment, to share your own thoughts and revelations.

* The idea that nothing's good or bad but thinking makes it so, I can accept for the most part, but there are exceptions where I would argue the point. Maybe we'll get to some of those; maybe not.