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Writer's picturecarolyn land

Getting Back in Rhythm

I think these difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes around worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.”  Isak Dinesen

There is a rhythm to everyone’s life, that keeps us grounded and anchored in our being.   Then along comes an event, which upsets that rhythm, and life becomes an emotional “free fall” sending us into arrhythmic crippling. It can stem from death, financial loss, health issues, or natural disasters.  It can be catastrophic or mild, but no matter where on the continuum it falls, it seems to sap us of our energy.  How do we get that energy and rhythm back?

Unfortunately, we are culturally trained to worry.  Just pick up a newspaper or tune into the news.  Our imaginations are skilled at allowing negative energy to reside there.  Here I am trying to write a blog about finding the beauty and positives in your life after a tragic event, to get the creative rhythm going again, and Norton has popped up 5 time in the last 30 minutes, to tell me about identity theft.  The irony of it!

Aternate surface painting by FL artist Carolyn Land

What Lies Beneath


But, finding the positive and the beauty, is the skill we need to develop, to get back in rhythm.  Concentrate on that element that motivates your art.   The one in your “Artist Statement”, that says I paint because…

For me it is the intricate designs I find in nature.  I found so many during the cleanup process.  I am just sorry my camera was not in my pocket to record some of them.

We were making debris piles on Monday afternoon, and I vividly remember a piece of bark from a Queen Palm. The insects that had lived behind it, had tunneled lines and left marks that were so beautiful on the dark mahogany colored surface. I thought about it several times that evening. I wanted to go back the next morning and pull it out.  But before I could, it was moved to the curb and lost in the pile. I am still thinking about it 6 days later: the lines, the marks, the integral patterns.  I wish I could have put some ink on top, and made at least a print.

Yes, we all have the: “need to do list”, following an event that causes us to lose our stride.  We have to get that list done. Then, concentrate on the reason we made art in the first place, and go back to that place mentally. If we put that in the forefront of our mind and concentrate on it, our rhythm will come back, and we will find that our “Creative Spirit” is alive and well.

The moment we indulge our affections, the earth is metamorphosed; there is no winter and no night; all tragedies, all ennui’s, vanish, all duties even.”                                                                          Ralph Waldo Emerson

We were most fortunate during this storm.  I know that some of you were not as fortunate.  I send positive thoughts your way, that this experience will leave you stronger in mind, body, and spirit.

“Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life.  What a privilege!”

Joseph Campbell

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