Quest for Zen and Peace of Mind

I love an empty pool

Dear Gentle Reader,
Who is it that used to start letters that way? Was it Ann Landers? Ms. Manners? Dear Heloise? I don't remember. Anyway, Dear Gentle reader,
I'm not usually one for New Year's Resolutions. It seems to me that changes that I want to make (the successful ones at least) are the ones that I just DO...no beg fuss about it...no announcement. But this year I do have one resolution. I resolve to try to notice little moments about each day and appreciate life more. Remember when you were little how summer seemed to last forever? And now that you're an adult everyone always talks about how time just seems to move faster and faster the older you get? I have a theory about that. I think that we notice more when we're little...it's not that time moves faster now- WE do. So, everyday I resolve to try to stop now and then and be IN the moment. Good or bad, I want to be all there.
I practiced yesterday while I swam laps. I tried to put grocery lists and other thoughts out of my mind and I concentrated on how my muscles worked, the way the light reflected on the bottom of the pool, the overwhelming sense of breathlessness I had after just a few laps (hey, I said good or bad), and I left the pool feeling refreshed...calm...unhurried. I'm tired of multi-tasking. Aren't you?

Love is in the air

It's gorgeous here lately. The past week or so doesn't feel like a typical January in Alabama. The skies are blue, it's cold but bright outside... it makes me feel so good! I've felt really good artistically, too. I don't know if it's the new year, the pretty weather, or just a new mindset, but in a lot of ways I feel like my art career is really just getting starting. I think it's taken me almost 2 years to really truly see myself as an artist and to believe that I'll succeed.

Lately painting feels like magic- how is it that I'm allowed to mix colors together and make new colors? How is it possible that paint can recreate objects so that other people can see them the way I see them? I feel in love with my oil paints all over again and find myself trying to steal a few extra minutes with them here and there. I think I'll go steal a few now.