My musings this week have led me to some new insights, which may seem fairly to you, which they no doubt are, but which have provided an important subtle shift in the way I move through the day. It sounds almost cliche to say that "time is like a river" and yet, I realized that living through that understanding was not what I had been doing. I spent a very relaxing, nicely paced day on New Year's....it was a lovely balance of work in the studio, reading, reflecting, and simple joy in the good things my husband and I have in our lives. The day flowed....yes, like the river outside my window, without hitting a snag. I felt as if I was moving with time, immersed in it and not struggling or fighting against the current. There was a moment during that day when I understood that the difference in the way I was feeling had to do with the fact that I'd been thinking and behaving as if time was a commodity....a thing to be clutched close to the heart, lest it be frittered away or taken from me without my permission and spent often like a miser. So much effort required to keep time from flowing as it will....somehow on New Year's Day I had gotten into the river and was at one with the flow. Such a relief!
Now that I've posted a couple of the newer pieces shown above, I see that the title of that top piece,
Book of Lost Time, which was done at the end of 2013, certainly echoes my earlier view. This piece is about more than that however...buried history, the loss of ancient knowlege and the limits of our collective memory. The second piece is a simple book page reflecting the quiet of a winter landscape.
Any new insights in the first few days of January? I do hope you are having a nice start to the year. While it's colder than I'd like, the winter landscape is beautiful here in South Dakota, and I am plenty warm inside....about to head back into the studio. Best wishes!
'...behaving as if time was a commodity'. The expression stays with me, it startled me for the truth it contains. I wonder if we should consider time as something that runs parallel to us and to which we must adapt. Maybe time is us? We flow with it but don't we really flow with what time intimately means to each one of us? It's not a commodity and probably not an objective quantity either. It's what each of us makes of it.
ReplyDeleteInsights for the new year? Mine is so simple and basic that I'm almost ashamed to talk about it. My life is mine and I need to live it in a way that makes sense to me, come hell or high water, so to speak.
A happy and fulfilling new year to you.
Ersi....that's very interesting, the notion that "time is us"....which means perhaps that it is like a moving energy. Yes, you are right....we do flow with what time intimately means to each one of us....so we must be merging with it when there is a sense of flow. I think is your insight for the new year is a very fine one....and yes, you must live your life as it makes sense for you! All the best wishes for making each day your own! Thanks so much for your insights!
DeleteI love your description about the day flowing like a river. I love such days. The best kind. A natural ease about them. That's what I'm always hoping for.
ReplyDeleteYes....the best days are those when we are in the flow! Hope you are having many of those days...great to hear from you!
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