Or, when your being turns green…
No. Not that kind of turning green! The paint kind… This is where we were late Thursday night, before the next video adventure planned for Friday.
I was excited! You see, I’d had a huge ah-hah! on Wednesday. Which means you and I need a quick Red Thread circle in this moment! Grab a cuppa please. And a bit of red thread – literal or metaphorical. It all works!
We’ll begin with a quick reflection on the notion of Context. For this purpose, let’s agree that context is all the stuff going on around us while we’re in the midst of doing our version of you do you! (And, yes, you – wise soul – detect the notion of seeing consciously… of Filters in the background.)
You see, I got a bit of new input from my world. Or, rather, I intentionally let a new bit in!
I was wrestling with the ConvertKit elves to send my latest painting demo video to the courageous humans engaged, with me, in the journey known as Oh, I See… Consciously!
And, when I managed to get all the right buttons pushed, I got so excited that I did a new thing. A thing I’d actively – if not entirely consciously – been avoiding.
I watched the video!
Yep… me, the recovering camera-phobe! And, I was thrilled!!! Not thrilled as in expecting an Oscar nomination. Thrilled as in I showed up for something that matters deeply to me. Real. Effective. Empowering. And that, dear heart, is a pretty big prize!
So, Friday, it was time for the next video. My buddy, Natalie, beamed in as chief in charge of moral support, eye contact, and waving of the occasional very helpful sign with cryptic messages like, “Zoom in!”
We got it done! Even the part when a dear neighbor came to the door with these gorgeous flowers!
Then, it was back to my usual world of news and dinner and swearing at more news and a whole lot more painting, despite my grumbling hand. Then it happened. I just couldn’t do any more. Even Madam Secretary wasn’t comforting enough to keep me on the road!
The Muse was on it! I literally heard the words in my head… Princess Diary!!! And, no… this is not a usual strategy for me! Sometimes, though, we get to a point where even not-usual feels worth a try.
And so, with a bit of button pushing help from the Legendary Husband, I watched. And I heard, in the voice of Julie Andrews…
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear!
And, that, dear soul, is a belief I will gladly claim!!!
Then, because sleep was still only an aspiration, I hunted up Princess Diaries 2, which I was surprised to note had been written, in 2004, by Shonda Rhimes, of Grey’s Anatomy fame! And I set down my absolute favorite tiny pouncing/praying paintbrush and watched that, too.
Talk about context in a tiara!!!
The whole story is about choice. And voice. And – in a slightly different way – sovereignty!
Women’s choice and voice and sovereignty!
And, yes, I’d seen it before… somewhere along the line. But I heard it a whole new way in the context of this moment. I heard it with the same ears that heard State Senator Eva Burch (D, AZ) courageously recounting – on MSNBC – her current experience of needing – and receiving – abortion healthcare, now.
And I watched and heard and wept through the filter of my grandmother-heart.
Here’s where I put my brush down…
And, when I picked it up again, on Saturday, I went straight to the roses. My symbolic map of reality. The image of the part of my awareness which “decides” what gets in through my filters and what is left out of my awareness. And I made it, intentionally, clearer and more focal.
It’s way easier to do with the canvas laying flat! And hugely important, however many do-overs it takes for such an image to get created!
Choosing our maps, with consciousness and love, is hope for the future!
What are your hopes? Really! You can leave a comment, below, or email me! suesvoice@gmail.com
ps… for those of you who live, as I do, in a place where this day is known as Palm Sunday, the words in big purple letters, above, might just feel, somehow, even more relevant.