Start Where You Are

"Along The Way" (detail) ©Ayn Hanna 45"x18", Textile painting (discharged whole cloth cotton, cotton batting, cotton thread)

It’s been over a month since my last post, a rather long unplanned blog break.  Huge changes taking place, and I’ve been thinking a lot – about cycles and circles and changes, completion and initiation, deadlines and milestones, and resistance.  So much happening and yet, I’ve had no words, no way to approach blogging about any of it.

Every time I’ve thought about writing a post, I didn’t know where to start.  With too much going on, I’ve been  stymied with trying to find an entry point to talk about it all.  I finally realized I don’t need to cover it all.  And – with credit to Pema Chodron’s words/book – I got up the gumption to just start where I am.

Working on "Along the Way"

So, I’ve been swimming in thought, and working long hours, juggling yet another change in role and manager in my day job (4th one in less than a year now), and cherishing the time I get in my studio, where I have several pieces in progress.  Feeling a need for some resolution/completion (and needing to meet some show deadlines), I’ve finished a couple pieces (Along the Way, detail above, is one of them).

Circles and cycles and change.  No beginnings and endings, rather an unfoldment of new desires.  In this past month, 2 important souls in my life have made their transitions.  A Patriarch and a Matriarch, 99 and 102 years young respectively, both such kind, loving, and wonderful artists, loved and missed by many.  And mostly there is stillness, words seem  so insignificant.

Me at work in the studio, along with some of the works I have in progress.

And so I’ve been working.  April marked my 1 year anniversary for my blog, and my completion of my SHIFT-IT Graphic Coaching Certification.  Major milestones achieved. And now the unfoldment continues, as I launch and align with new desires.  The beauty of this circle of life – there is no end, and we’re never done becoming.