What do you see? Let's make meaning together while staring at my painting, "Transcend No. 1"!
Dearest Doodle Soupsters,
Our minds are very useful. Yet, trying to reason our way through every decision, every opinion (everything, everything!), can also get in the way.
When I allow myself to get lost in thought, I go off in a bajillion directions, follow all sorts of tangents. And that can be a source of delight, fascination, exploration, a way to cultivate openness. Often, it is.
Other times, I spin myself in circles, into webs of all sorts of philosophical arguments, and then I get stuck in my own mental roundabouts.
This week, I realized that when I feel tension and fear in my body while thinking, that's precisely when it's time to take a break from thinking ...
The truth is I don't really make decisions or formulate my way of being in the world through thinking and working through philosophical arguments. My decision-making is embodied. When something is right, I just know. I feel my whole being settle ... clarity feels peaceful. Clarity won't be rushed or told when to arrive. And somehow, it seems clarity is never really late?
I created the artwork above "Transcend No. 1" by painting layers of blue, green, white shades, then carving a continuous contour line through the final layer. The work's soothing colors co-exist with this line's rapid twists and turns weaving through the painting.
Sometimes, we find clarity during a time of pause, in moments of stillness. Other times, it helps to just go with the movement, to ride the wave and see where it takes us.
Finding clarity is both a process of rooting myself in the ground beneath me and letting myself experience life, going along for the ride.
It's both because getting in touch with my inner knowing is an ever-shifting, ever-evolving, constantly in flux, balance between rest/stillness and activity/movement/moving outside of my comfort zone. I need both. And all of one or the other forever and ever just isn't it. I can't fully put words to why right now and at the same time, I know this is the truth. I just know. I feel that knowing in my body ...
On Instagram, I've made a habit of sharing just the image of one of my paintings and then including the prompt, "What do you see?"
These are the responses I got to that same reflection question (What do you see?) for "Transcend No. 1":
- "I see a highway for some reason"
- "Series of human[s] and even faces. All of them hugging each other"
- "Twists turns and endless possibilities"
I want to keep cultivating this habit, of asking myself and others, "What do you see?"
It's a simple, direct, open-ended question ... it makes space for all sorts of responses ... it's an encouragement to make meaning, connect with your intuition, your gut, your emotions, your truth, your desires, your way of seeing, who you are, etc. without going on endless thought spirals. And, it's playful! It's fun!
What do you see?
Open,
Nicole Sylvia Javorsky
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