Nooks and Crannies

I've been learning a lot from Mark Zwahl at Close in Coaching. Check out Mark's blog with lots of helpful posts every week. This post below is a reprint from my ClothGirl blog from April 16, 2012. It holds a lot of meaning to me just now.

I've been finding little places where I want to hang on to control...in life...in art, there always seems to be a mirror there. Those "hanging on" places, I see them and then say, "Yep there it is, how interesting, now Let go." Giving up control, its ok, you can get it back later if you really need. Giving up sacred cows, its ok, they are a dime a dozen, you can always get another one. (insert laughter) I have been going through, "Life, Paint, Passion," bit by bit, a little every couple days, and I love what Stewart says about control. When you are painting and not trying to control, there is more energy, you feel connected, you feel on fire, you can afford to risk taking a leap. And in the end, it leads you to a bigger space, in art... in life too... The more I think I've gotten good at letting go, the more I find the little nooks and crannies. Oh, there's another one, and oh, there it goes again. We can choose to see control for the trickster it is. We can choose what we're willing to keep and carry around, and what we don't have to hold. Vitality is the reward for letting go of control; a bigger space, a room of one's own. And besides, the parts of the painting where I wasn't trying to control, they hold more delight.