Go With The Flow

Are you efforting? Are you stuck in the suck? Up against a wall? Under the weight of resistance? I’ve been there, in the struggle. Sometimes all that’s needed to shift that energy is to stop what we are doing and walk away for a wee bit. Sit down, have a cup of tea, and love on your dog (you can borrow Charlie if you don’t have a dog and we have a diabetic cat now who is super snuggly). Just breathe. Many times this is all it takes to dial down the effort and invite more ease into your life… an awareness that things seem hard and a willingness to try something different.

 These two paintings below were born from that practice. I was gearing up to paint a pet portrait and just wasn’t feeling it. I was experiencing lots of resistance, and something else inside of me (an abstract painting) wanted to be born instead. In the past, I would have ignored the resistance and powered through. Most of the times this would have resulted in more struggle. I would have stubbornly wrestled the pet portrait into submission while the inspiration for the abstract withered and died. But not this time.

 Instead I took a deep breath, had a cup of tea, loved on Charlie, and let the abstracts above be born. And do you know what? I LOVE THEM. To date, they are my favorite abstracts I have ever made. Taking the time to create them also helped me work out the color palette for the pet portrait, which then flowed with ease once the abstracts were complete.

 If we want to go with the flow, it helps to know if we are in it or not. With awareness and practice, we can shift from resistance to flow state swiftly and with ease. I am so glad I listened to myself, stepped out of resistance, and got back into the flow of creativity!

My Favorite Colors 1 & 2