Jen, Thanks for the surrender story. I too remember taking a drawing class and having a hard time giving into “the process.” It isn’t so embarrassing though, if you remind yourself that everyone in the class is in the same boat and that we all have to show what we’ve accomplished. What gets me are those folks who wind up doing an incredible job, yet continue to think what they’ve done isn’t worth looking at. But in the end, it really wasn’t how “good” or “needs work” the result presented; it was just that Impeccable Zen quality of being in the moment when all the stresses of life take a back seat, even if it’s only for a while. Thanks again
You've hit it! I feel so cliché about just being in the process but it's so true that it takes so much reminders because I am a product of such a results oriented system that it's not in my first nature to be open and show up without knowing what I'm hoping to get out of it as an ROI. That's the beauty about doing activities like that with others because my fear feel disempowered for doing something like surrendering that feels so foreign. It's almost like I think that skill equates to accurately knowing how something will come out as. When it feels random or unpredictable it's like I don't feel worthy of celebrating it because I "winged it".
I sat in a Zen center last night and decided that I need to merge that practice into more of my life. To remind myself hat I can surrender and accept where I am at right now.
"Yes, learn to look in the right places. The gift is always closer than we thought, and often used or discarded and appreciated only as a memory. My gift is in the work and in the relationships with those I have loved so much in the work I have loved so much. The gift is there; it is here. There is no payoff or reward or result: There is only the work and the bonding of the players. This is the greatest gift, and it has sustained me all of my life. Look right in front of you, always, and love what you have, always, and return the love, always."--Julie Harris/Interview with James Grissom/1991/Photograph of Harris in "The Lark," from 1956/
Art IS about surrendering. To let one's mind wander into the depth of one's mind. To let emotions inside grow a hand and paint whatever it is it wants to pour.
I remember one time I was just like you. I was trying to copy an image from an animated movie through memory instead of having the original image in front of my eyes. But the outcome was not the image I tried to copy but rather an art that I'd never seen before. An art that is original. An art that came out of me.
This letter was a beautiful reminder of what art is supposed to be and how there are just things with an outcome that we can't control.
Maybe all of art is an exercise in surrendering to life--or at least cataloging our fight with it. Thanks for sharing!
Ahh maybe that is why there are so many artists out there, because it helps us learn this muscle. I'm so glad you found this helpful Dekera :)
Jen, Thanks for the surrender story. I too remember taking a drawing class and having a hard time giving into “the process.” It isn’t so embarrassing though, if you remind yourself that everyone in the class is in the same boat and that we all have to show what we’ve accomplished. What gets me are those folks who wind up doing an incredible job, yet continue to think what they’ve done isn’t worth looking at. But in the end, it really wasn’t how “good” or “needs work” the result presented; it was just that Impeccable Zen quality of being in the moment when all the stresses of life take a back seat, even if it’s only for a while. Thanks again
You've hit it! I feel so cliché about just being in the process but it's so true that it takes so much reminders because I am a product of such a results oriented system that it's not in my first nature to be open and show up without knowing what I'm hoping to get out of it as an ROI. That's the beauty about doing activities like that with others because my fear feel disempowered for doing something like surrendering that feels so foreign. It's almost like I think that skill equates to accurately knowing how something will come out as. When it feels random or unpredictable it's like I don't feel worthy of celebrating it because I "winged it".
I sat in a Zen center last night and decided that I need to merge that practice into more of my life. To remind myself hat I can surrender and accept where I am at right now.
"Yes, learn to look in the right places. The gift is always closer than we thought, and often used or discarded and appreciated only as a memory. My gift is in the work and in the relationships with those I have loved so much in the work I have loved so much. The gift is there; it is here. There is no payoff or reward or result: There is only the work and the bonding of the players. This is the greatest gift, and it has sustained me all of my life. Look right in front of you, always, and love what you have, always, and return the love, always."--Julie Harris/Interview with James Grissom/1991/Photograph of Harris in "The Lark," from 1956/
Art IS about surrendering. To let one's mind wander into the depth of one's mind. To let emotions inside grow a hand and paint whatever it is it wants to pour.
I remember one time I was just like you. I was trying to copy an image from an animated movie through memory instead of having the original image in front of my eyes. But the outcome was not the image I tried to copy but rather an art that I'd never seen before. An art that is original. An art that came out of me.
This letter was a beautiful reminder of what art is supposed to be and how there are just things with an outcome that we can't control.