Art’s Natural State of Grace

 

Natural v. Nurtured States of Beauty

Art is not only décor or ambience, it frames everything as it is, as it is not, as it should be, and as it never should be again. The artist decides the stuff that matters based on their impulses.

Think about nature by comparison, for a moment. Are you aware of or value its authentic states. Is there a difference, for instance, when you walk through an overgrown path of woods rather than a manicured Italian Garden that you’ve paid admission to see? Is one really more valuable than the other? Applying a mindful artist’s outlook, I propose not. Yet, one is more typically viewed as majestic or artistic. If the Italian Garden persists as the essence of one’s aesthetic, well – that’s all fine and good.

However, I encourage expanding your angle on nature, like your angle on yourself, shifting into equal regard for polished and inherent states. Think of your local woods as a representation of you, yourself, as a natural muse. Just as nature may be: overgrown, thorny, dark at times, yet lush, so may you be. Awareness of who you are, organically, and where you situate, now, we access a broader toolbox. I could have never succeeded as a choreographer, let alone demonstrated the movements desired of my dancers, if I hadn’t adopted a turned-in foundation. My twentysomething knees and alignment would not allow me to prance like a ballerina anymore, but – dang – I could romp a riot with my feet facing one another.

Artistry breathes more freely when our beings, like our planet, are honored, tended to, and appreciated rather than polluted or overly manicured. Fuller awareness, and the acceptance of this awareness, expands artistry from the source. YOU are YOU, WOODS ARE WOODS, and both are bold, beautiful collections of things just as they situate.

by honigjq

Artists Frame the World.

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Artists frame the world. How will you frame yours, today?

From photographs contained only by byte sizes, to epic trilogies that span continents, oceans, heavenly bodies, and the onions in between, art captures the stuff that matters. And then there’s all that stuff one might have missed had artists not presented it; think Sponge Bob Square Pants or a day in the life in Compton.

Consider these steps as you frame your artistry and the world:

  1. Awareness from within, including:
  • Thoughts including ideas, point of view, or representation
  • Feeling purposeful, a mighty force moving outwardly
  • Sensations recognized as a spark or tap on the shoulder to create something
  1. Open up:
  • Actions that represent our inner world, authentic as possible
  • Either private or public, allow thoughts, feelings, and sensations the space and time to surface
  1. Extending beyond our personal space:
  • Showing up for like-minded community
  • Share with an audience
  • Vulnerable to feedback or critique from a diverse community
  • Vulnerable to new experiences, despite the discomfort
  1. Circle back around:
  • Through mindfulness, notice people and nature just as they are, slowing reactivity and expanding gratitude
  • Honor impermanence and imperfection of all natural forces, finding and sharing peace of mind throughout your artistry, community, and planet
  • Be open to the return of energy from nature and other compassionate souls, sending productive energy as often as possible to struggling nature and souls.
by honigjq

Finding Your Way Back, to Begin Again

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lovely vacation with family, refreshed and beginning again

Getting back on track is within reach. You already have the tools: YOU and THIS MOMENT. Stop ignoring them. Pema Chodron (2009) highlights in her book, Taking the Leap, that the power of “pausing very briefly, frequently throughout the day, is an almost effortless way to do this,” and essentially propels us back onto a meaningful path (p. 13). Pausing is a verb, I like to tell my clients. There is a deliberate action. I pause. In the pause, if we are open and fully show up, we move into discovery with curiosity rather than judgment or immediate reaction.

by honigjq

More authentic art, less arbitrary standards.

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imagining my next move, no matter the confinement

Mindful art is authentic. Authenticity derives from pure sources like personal experiences, genuine physical states, or natural phenomena. Reframing what is within and around us, rather than what should be, art making propels itself into a unique symbol set. Your art is like your unique code. It is inherently beautiful by association. The practice of mindful art making includes:

  • Space and time to get to know your true self.
  • Honoring characteristics that make you human.
  • Curiosity with beginner eyes.
  • Less credit to someone else’s standards, inventing your own.
by honigjq

Terry Gross is my Copilot

As a kid, I operated a radio talk show out of my bathroom. It was the best place for privacy and moments all about me. With my pants down to my ankles, I entered this imaginary world of interviewing. I was the subject and I was also the host.

How did that bike ride go?

Tremendous, freeing, fa la la la la, and then a kid went by me on a yellow bike a little faster. So, I went faster. Oops-a-daisy, I fell.

Did you get back up?

Yes

Wow, I’m so impressed. How did you do that?

I’m super strong and smart.

Anyhow, you get the point. I had a side project on the toilet. Isn’t that normal? Don’t answer. Regardless, I credit those moments with the beginnings of my career as a therapist. I love what I do, mostly because I am so curious about what motivates us as humans and what keeps us going. I especially love this way of thinking when applied to the artistic process.

Yesterday, I had a banner of a day because I happened to drive into the office listening to Terry Gross hosting Fresh Air, and I managed to drive home listening to the same episode during its evening re-air. NPR is an acquired taste, so I don’t expect everyone to know what I’m talking about. In short, Fresh Air is a radio talk show that features the best and newest subjects, showcasing whatever it is these fascinating humans do. Similar to an ideal memoir, Gross finds a way to angle in so that the audience receives the essence of the subject, and I think sometimes, in such an unassuming way that we learn more than maybe Gross (or maybe I) had anticipated.

And, while I pretend that she reminds me of my kid self on the toilet – getting to the heart of the matter to inspire – now, I listen to be both entertained and schooled in a master class on conversing throughout the onion layers.

As I listen to the timbre of Gross’s voice, my body lights up. She’s steady, wonderfully present, and capable of timing that question for Stephen Colbert or Jake Tapper, just as she asks a question about their own sense of timing.

She’s a mindful wizard. And I think I admire her most because she appears so comfortable with who she is that we are blessed to bear witness to authentic energy bringing out authenticity in others.

I believe that the brightest among us allow the rest of humanity to shine more brightly.

Driving home last night, I turned the dial back to my local NPR. Good, I thought, this is the interview I wanted to hear again. W. Kamau Bell was talking about a latest project he’s glistening the world with. It’s on geneology. He said something like he was told growing up he wasn’t as black as others and when his 73% to the average 75% African came back to him in a report, he thought that explained it all. Gross warmly chimed in with something like, that’s just margin of error. And Bell bantered back with a delicious response on how, rather, that two percent validates his whole developmental narrative.

I laughed as I listened. Somehow, the show took me to a higher consciousness, once again. What I gathered then, most importantly, is something beyond a skill: I learned about the humanity of others, and because I remain the center of my own universe too often, I learned about my own.

Part of me could reach out and hug Bell, thanks to Gross. His blackness, maybe like my jewishness, has its overlaps. Blond haired, small nosed, parents interfaith with the occasional Christmas tree, I was often told I wasn’t jewish enough. But, in the United Shades we live in, those things that make us feel different – a little darker, a little less christian, a little off trend, make us stand out. In that moment, Fresh Air did what I revere art may sometimes do best, it connected fragmented parts into a new beautiful whole. Someone’s life, quite different from my own, reached out and touched me, hugged me really.

It’s a gift of shared humanity that Gross gives us, and I am lucky to have her company – her guidance, really – as I drive to and from work.

Beyond boxes and percentages, I think of the only word I know to be true of me: relativist. Despite that point of view, I cannot help thinking I better understood a truth last evening: it is certain that Terry Gross has a talent for opening up both subject and audience, and the broader world.

As a kid, bathroom time was my sacred space where I could close a door, get away from broader stimulation, and have a heart to heart. Now I close my car door, drive, and trust someone else will ask the important questions.

by honigjq

A Fresh Path for Art Making

 

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The next time you think you’re stricken with artistic blockage or trapped with only snobby teacher voices to keep you company, dig just a wee bit deeper. Do just one subtle thing at a time. Become aware: notice the space and time in which you are situated plus identify thoughts, feelings and sensations. Swallow water and take a few deep breaths, then choose what inspires you to create in this moment. Connect with your tools. Apply yourself and the tools to something purposeful. Let go. Move along. Show back up. Repeat. It is now safe to unlock the limbic seatbelt, roam around uncharted neuropathways, and accidentally bump into new artistic approaches.

 

by honigjq

Art Pollution v. Mindful Art

We cloud ourselves with unproductive messages, most of which fall under categories like expectations, memories, and judgments. These are responses to the past, future, or other people’s standards and have little to do with who we are, right now. Think of the past, future, and someone else’s point of view as art pollution.

 

 

Art Pollution: Rigid beliefs over intuition

Mindful Art: Playful and inspired by our true self, nature, or available materials

 

 

Art pollution gets in the way of healthy art making. Instead, seize whatever you have, now, in fresh ways. Look up at the ceiling or observe nature. Regather a sense of what’s going on with your own being. Combine compassionate ways of noticing and experiencing your world to dilute art pollution.

Maximize this unique point in history to create art-whatever! Mindful art deserves more influence than anything that a particular school of thought or social trend provides. Mindful art means that it is authentic (ie, from a pure source of personal experiences, honest physical states, or natural phenomenon), and it is inherently beautiful by association.

by honigjq

mindful art making 101

 

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What do I mean by mindful?

Awareness and engagement in the present moment.

Aka, show-up. All of you, show-up! And pay attention. Showing up and paying attention are the key ingredients to mindfulness. Rainbow sprinkles would be the compassion, and I like to add a dash of humor, too. Lucky for you, we are living in an era that values mindfulness. You were meant to be alive, right now, after all! You were meant to make art, right now! The art world often leads the path of modernization and is just the place for mindfulness to build its nest. Many artists do it without labeling it, and many stuck artists could benefit from its application. Artists crave mindfulness, despite and maybe because of the social media and highly subjective world in which it situates, despite and maybe because of too much reactivity and terror of our current world. For many, mindfulness may feel like a foreign language at first. Remember how you learn a language? Basics and practice! Immersion.

by honigjq