COURAGE to CREATE
This weekend 3 brave women came to my studio session.
Why do I say they were BRAVE?
They really took a risk in so many ways…they came to a class that they didn’t know much about, they didn’t know what would be asked of them, they had to be willing to be with other people they didn’t know and be VULNERABLE.
Creating from the heart is sooooo vulnerable because it’s the way that we orient ourselves to our own inner world and extend it out into the world. We don’t always know what will want to be revealed in those moments. Sometimes just going inward is scary…it can give way to tiny little inner “GRHEMLINS” having there way with you and trying to talk you out of your truth…”what will ________ think if I do this thing?” or anything that starts with “I SHOULD”…little programed DETOURS on your path back to your heart…sometimes those detours take you so far off course. I have and still do encounter these gremlins with every new creation I dream up. I fail a lot.I am a resilient one if nothing else…I get back up. BECAUSE MY SOUL BEGS IT OF ME. There is a place inside of me that urges me to keep facing the front.” KEEP BEING COURAGEOUS”, she cries….”keep going”, she whispers…
I did a whole series of work on this very concept called CONCEAL/REVEAL. Where I made a painting, covered it up…buried it under layers of newsprint paper and white paint, as if the white paint was a purification and not a shield…and then I’d rip and tear back the layers to reveal the original painting. I did a series of hearts in that fashion. Tattered and torn hearts….that’s what it’s like to live with your heart broken and wide open at the same time.
So, I am very cognizant of other tender hearts that walk into my studio. I understand that creating from your heart is a big ask and I take really good care to create a space that can contain and hold it.
The class experience is so special. It is women together, hearts open…even if it’s a small opening…creating and developing a language that is unique to their own heart and guts.It’s magic every time.
One of the coolest things that I’ve noticed is how deeply nourished, peaceful, content, satisfied, calm and relaxed I am after. ALL OF THE WOMEN ( asked separately) how they felt after…number one word….RELAXED. It really caught me by surprise. I was expecting inspired or something along those lines…it’s different every time.
I was listening to a podcast today and it was talking about research on what keeps people from being able to find capacity in their hearts for more love and intimacy…they thought the feed back would be along the lines of grief, anger, resentment, fear…..it was actually…..OVERWHELM….they were at capacity because of all the media and ways to get information these days. We are wired to know about our neighborhood, not the world. When we see war going on and the devastation of it all we feel helpless and hopeless. I think this is why today more and more people stay isolated at home. They’re overwhelmed and it’s them trying to regulate. They spoke about the solution being …doing what you can to better the ones around you. Your neighbors. it’s that slogan, “If you want to change GLOBAL start LOCAL.”
This is why I have the courage to begin “Studio Sessions”. I am not clear on exactly what it is and will be. But I know I want to BE WITH more women in circles talking about our hearts and how we can begin to create a better world by way of TENDING TO OUR HEARTS and doing it together.
I could do an online class…but I won’t. I want be in COMMUNITY. MY COMMUNITY. I want to heal this world in the very small way that I can.
I know and deeply believe in the power of our HEARTS.
I hope that you read this and place your own hands on your VERY OWN ONE OF A KIND HEART and bow your head to it. EXTEND YOUR ARMS OUT WIDE AND know that your hands both extend OUTFROM YOUR HEART. Just BE with that and return again and again if you can.
ONE HEART, TWO HANDS
L E S L I E