Art is Spiritual Food

 

THE GREAT WATERS -  by MARK NEPO

 In the beginning, I thought

 I was going somewhere. I thought we all were. 

But falling in while trying to cross, 

I finally understood, the journey is to follow the river. 

All the rivers, especially the ones no one can see. 

The soul is a fish whose home is in those rivers. 

So I can take you across, if you want.

 But the secret is to go everywhere by going nowhere.

 And I will be here when you fall in. 

Which is not a failure but an awakening.

I am not a homebody. I am a roamer, a dreamer, and as I learned recently an escape artist.  By having to sleep in my own bed for more nights in a row than I ever imagined, it really magnified the areas that needed attention in my life.  Things I would let slide by taking a trip some where and forget about those things and return home and repeat. I am still working on wounds that one never really heals from, and with help I am learning to make peace with them. Every week I feel more content and at ease in my own skin. 

Yesterday, I was listening to a book by Clarissa Pinkola Estes called Warming the Stone Child - Myths and Stories about Abandonment and the Unmothered Child. 

http://www.clarissapinkolaestes.com/bio.htm . 

In it she wrote this one profound thing: 

ART IS SPIRITUAL FOOD

This is so true for me and for many creative people, not just artists but writers, poets, musicians, cooks, photographers,  craftsmen and women etc. I believe that this need to create is integrated into our existence.  That we all have the ability to create something and that it is the act of creating that feeds the soul.  That is why I do what I do, help people tap into the creative self to feed their spirit so they can live life more fully.

This pandemic, this eddy in the river of life, has been good for me in more ways than I ever imagined.  In starting the free or by donation Tangle Tuesday online classes and sharing the class recordings on my YouTube channel, I have been able to reach out to a number of people scattered all over the globe and their participation has enriched my  life.

I plan to continue them as long as possible and am so grateful to the other Zentangle Teachers who have stepped up to guest teach on occasion and to those who have donated.  The Zoom link to the Tangle Tuesday classes are in the workshop/classes tab on this blog.  You don't have to register, just join in before 10 AM on Tuesdays and we'll all be there, waiting for you to learn how to create your unique spiritual food. 

Things are opening up again here slowly and steadily.  Serindipity is happening again for me and river of life is beginning to flow again.

One of those things is an online Zentangle Class that I will be teaching through the Naramata Centre on Saturday, July 24th from 10:00 to Noon.  Details can be seen on the workshop tab of this blog, and I will let you know when the registration begins for this offering. 

We could all go back to things as they were. Maybe like me, this pause has made you think twice before you dip your paddle in the same current of your river life.  Perhaps you will be floated to a new stream? A deeper one with new experiences that you never imagined possible. This I wish for you my friends.