The sun rose here in Truchas, New Mexico…
… to frigid temperatures–it was minus three at my house–brrrrrrrrr…
… and fresh snow! So beautiful…
… which called for a fire in the wood heater immediately (since I heat entirely with wood it’s always my first task), starting with fabulous “pitch sticks” I buy from Jessie. This is kindling harvested from inside of a tree that is still saturated with sap. Some of the sticks absolutely drip with it, so it really only takes one to start a fire, but I always use a few more because I love the smell. It’s like having 100 Christmas trees in my studio.
Bubsy is still waking up and hasn’t made his way to the fire yet…
… while Skye is on the move and and will be there in seconds…
… we all KNOW where this guy is!
But Kelee isn’t much for wood heaters. In fact he’s more of a snow kind of guy. So he’s lounging on the bed furthest from the fire, cuddling his new stuffed bear I bought him for 50 cents at the recycle store. He slept with it last night (but don’t tell him I told you so).
The snow outside my studio window is alive with bluebirds, feasting on the seeds I sowed for them just before the sun came up. I don’t know how they survive in this kind of weather and feel they certainly deserve a little support. They provide Raven with hours of entertainment. Look at him, lost in his dreams. We all have to dream, right?
And I am here writing to you, thinking of something I read recently. I think it was on Danielle LaPorte’s blog (daniellelaporte.com). It is a simple and obvious thought really, but it bears repeating: DO WHAT IS EASY FOR YOU. Our culture tells us the opposite, that our work shouldn’t be easy that, in fact, it should be hard. “It’s WORK, after all,” they say. We’ve all heard versions of that, haven’t we? But I don’t think it’s true. I think when we honor our aptitudes, when we work within our areas of interest, when we follow our hearts, work is easy. And I think it’s meant to be that way. We have been hard-wired for the things that come easily to us so THAT’S what we’re supposed to be doing.
While living this artist’s life, filled with its many unknowns, is not always easy, it is still in my soul to do, so I always find my way through and back to it being “easy” or more clearly “right.”
Wishing you all a wonderful day.
Love to you all,
Jeane
I think you can have easy and hard at the same time. The context is what makes a difference. When you are “forced” to work at something that doesn’t suit you the result is that you work hard and at the end of the job you go,”THANK GOD that’s done”. When you work hard ( or struggle sometimes, as you do with your art) at a thing that makes you feel alive, the end result is usually more like”WOW, look at that!!” I suppose you might describe it as “sweet equity” as opposed to sweat equity.
I published this post before I’d really finished fleshing out my thoughts because, I hate to admit it, I really was wanting and needing a cup of coffee. Then my day got pulled in other directions. But I’ve deleted the old ending and written a new sentence in its place that I feel more accurately says what I was meaning to say. I believe you were commenting on the tenor of the original post.
I’m meaning to speak more to our life’s work, and in more general terms–a sort of umbrella over the whole. It’s not at all that I don’t struggle as a painter or a writer, as you say. It’s that I am doing work that resonates with my soul so the overall is “easy,” meaning to say sort of clearly RIGHT for you.
I knew what you meant. I think maybe I was just trying to broaden the concept. I write ( I think you do as well) as often as not in an attempt to clarify things in my own mind rather than to make any particular point. Sometimes I write just so that I can really see what it is I think about something. Somehow I believe it is more spontaneous. And it helps to have a sounding board. I think that you would probably agree that part of blogging that is so important, from either side of the blog, is having someone there to hear you rather than just pouring yourself out in to an unresponsive void.
Yes, I agree absolutely, that a conversation between all of us is what’s important. I’ve worked for 2 years in hopes the blog would become that and not a monologue. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.