Desire

Nearly every morning as I get myself ready to face my day I do two things: 1) I listen to some sort of recording—my areas of interest range anywhere from talks on yoga, meditation, Buddhist thought, and most recently, art--as I apply my makeup and 2) I jot down notes on a pad of paper. My notes range anywhere from a simple list of things I need to do to some gem that peeks my interest as I listen to that day’s talk. By the way, whoever invented the podcast has my full gratitude and appreciation! At any rate, the morning before I started to read chapter 3 of “The Joy Diet” I jotted this down, “what do you want your day to be?” and “protect your time.” In other words, I really wanted to get to the heart of what a meaningful day in my life would look like and how to treat it as sacred. A few hours later I began to read Martha Beck’s chapter on desire. Interesting, as I actually had not looked ahead to this week’s chapter.

So far I have been working on getting quiet, learning how to rework the stories I tell myself, and now examining what it is I really, really want--what sparks a “quickening” in my belly and a longing in my heart. I know I want to make things with my hands. I want to blend colors and shapes into something beautiful and for that to happen I think a bit of my soul must be embedded in the paint, gel medium, charcoal, or paper. I’m only just beginning, but I long from somewhere deep, deep within to translate that longing, that emotion, into something tangible. It is my deepest desire.

My thanks to Kelly Rae Roberts for her book, "Taking Flight" where I am learning techniques such as the one which I have posted. I smile every time I look at her work and then mine...what a long way I have to go--and that's OK!