Always Learning

Sometimes it feels like we are never finished becoming, in a culture full of possibilities. There is always more to learn, there are always new places to travel to and more experiences to seek. As an artist, I am sometimes overwhelmed with the variety of ways that I might create. Anxiety can overshadow the creative impulse when the process triggers too many emotional responses and possibilities.

 I have always enjoyed the creative search for expression and exploration, and yet there are days in which I feel overwhelmed with a sense of unprocessed insights. I look around me and see the way that my belongings mirror my collection of possibilities, and this can feel simultaneously enriching and cluttered. I do not like feeling cluttered within, and have sought ways of organizing my inner world for as long as I can remember. And yet this too is rife with too many potentialities. Simplicity becomes a mantra I seek as an antidote.  

Today I am grateful for an inner richness, and yet aware that I cannot embody more than this time will allow. My version of perfectionism, "to know everything", must be laid aside and replaced with a gentler inner dialogue that affirms that I am always learning. The goal is not to know everything, but to keep learning. My mind's eye image can shift from becoming a personified library of wisdom gathered, to becoming more like a boat, able to flow with the river of life. I am always learning, and I allow the flow of life to flow, as it will.

Accepting the flow of ideas, accepting the variety of choices that surround me everyday, I choose to moderate my emotions with a reminder to "Keep it Simple" and "Enjoy the Ride."