The Color of Memory Mixed Media
You will either step forward into growth, or you will step backward into safety.” Abraham Maslow
Happy New Year! I wish you all a healthy, peaceful, and creative 2023.
The words “New Year” seem to evoke reflection on the year that has passed and some anticipation for the year that is to begin. We reflect on those things which touched our lives in both positive and negative ways. We view ourselves both as a product of those past experiences and we look to our future potential and what we can do with it.
Our last year was yet another year of unexpected and expected challenges. We dealt with ever-changing variants of COVID, recently combined with RSV, the flu, and other seasonal illnesses. Dramatic weather and geologic events created global misery with floods, earthquakes, eruptions, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and blizzards. Authoritarians and autocrats worldwide continued to erode fragile democracies, while elsewhere incredible resolve and sacrifice held those forces at bay. Each of these events was a personal journey for someone in our “One Human Family.”
We all have a personal story from the past year, but what we must do at this time of reflection is take our learned experiences and look at our personal potential. What have we learned from our personal journey? How can we use it to move forward? Can we map out what comes next? Experience has taught me to expect the unexpected.
I have always been pretty good about back up plans. I have also learned that the most creative people are the ones who handle the unexpected the best. There is never just one way to do something or handle a situation. This is not only true in our everyday living, but in our art life. Sometimes you just must “go with the flow”. When you find a good place to stand up move forward with purpose.
I have no definitive resolution this year. But I do intend to live in the present and enjoy the moment; to pour my heart into what I love, the act of creating, whether it be in the garden, kitchen, studio, classroom, or my family and do it to the best of my ability.
I can’t solve the problems of the world, although I wish I could. But there are many potential solutions to most of the problems if we could work as “One Human Family”.
I guess life is sort of like a painting. Sometimes it can get very messy, but when all the parts work together, its balanced, with an interesting rhythm, and all the colors harmonize, it is a masterpiece.
My hope is that we each of us go into the “New Year” living up to our potential, facing our challenges one step at a time. Living each day in the present, working toward harmony, joy, peace, and love. Carolyn