Expect nothing. It cannot be stressed too strongly or expressed too often. Expect nothing. If you can simply contemplate these two words and practice them day and night, there’s no need to say or do more. Expect nothing. Morning on the Hudson Something as simple and innocuous as waiting for a promised [...]
"Do not require of your work the finish that anyone may demand of you, but insist on the finish which you demand. It will not do to have your fine thought yesterday, and paint your picture today. Good painting is a result of effort to obtain order, and the order must go to all the [...]
... continued from More Art Spirit I was searching for inspiration today to work on some drawing or painting – as a newbie art student – and I was resisting working on my blog. All I had to do was pick up this book and I got inspired to do both. First this, to [...]
I’ve been reading this wonderful book by Robert Henri – an artist and teacher of art almost a century ago. It not only has great advice and suggestions for artists, but it strikes me that everything in this book can be applied to all aspects of life. To me it’s all about paying attention, being [...]
Seeing the Big Picture 2:4 …continued from Reaching Out When I was a child I happily went to church and Sunday School every week, said my prayers nightly, and had many conversations with my friends about God as we tried to grasp the idea that God was not born, He just was; a concept I [...]
The effort that many of us put into not doing something or the time we spend thinking about doing something can be extremely stressful and anxiety producing. If you procrastinate, you probably worry about all the time you’re wasting as you think about getting started. You probably don’t waste as much time as you think [...]
I’ve been doing some drawing and painting lately for the first time ever, and really trying to bring my Beginner’s Mind to all of it. The quotes this month are all from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which has been sitting on my bookshelf unread since it was published in 1989. Until [...]
“The proper response to a work of art is joy, even hilarity.” When I read this on page thirteen of Ted Kooser’s The Poetry Home Repair Manual, and saw that there was a chapter called Don’t Worry About the Rules, I knew I could not only read this book, I could write a poem or [...]
There is a grave misconception that serenity can only be had while meditating and that meditation can only be done in a quiet room with no distractions. Many people think that meditation is a break from life, a mind vacation, a time-out from the usual, and that if we do this, if we take these [...]
No matter how quickly we want things to change or how much we want things, people, or situations to be different than they are or how much we want, period, the wisest choice is usually to do nothing. This is the ultimate being-still practice. Doing nothing seems like just that: nothing. Perhaps on the surface [...]
