Sunday musings during a heat wave on the east coast…

We are tired.

We are hot.

The industry is shut down due to a pandemic.

There is new shit every day in the news.

Now what?

As I have said all along, get honest with yourself. Rest, cry, take the emotional triage daily. I do it too. EVERY. DAMN. DAY.

When it gets tough, we get to work. When it’s chicken shit, that is exhausting.

We see both. We experience both.

We all have to make choices, listen to our hearts and our souls and our spirits and discover what is deeper than the fatigue, deeper than the despair, deeper than the tears, deeper than the anger, the boredom, the frustration. We have to give ourselves permission to feel that, in order to get under it. The deeper we go, the cooler it becomes, and the more comfort we discover. The deeper we dive, the more familiar that stillness becomes, and we suddenly don’t hold our breath anymore. The home of self.

This is where true creative expression resides. Your creative expression. This is where the well is. This is where home is.

Why we have to wait until we are at the end of our rope to find it sometimes, is beyond me, but there it is!

The paradigms are shifting, falling, being challenged at every turn. Good. As it should be. Out of true chaos comes great change. The creative expression that will be our next is happening in these moments. It’s happening in you, and in me. We don’t always see it, but we sense it. We feel the subterranean vibrations of it. We don’t always want to acknowledge it, but we remain aware of it.

You aren’t turning your back on the industry, or on the business. It isn’t there anymore. It will return, but let’s hope that because of determination and demand, it returns and is changed.

You are here. You haven’t disappeared. You are fully formed, and dimensional. Your back is not turned on yourself. You find yourself each day in that mirror - pandemic hair and all.

Your creative force may not have a current residence in the outside world, per se, but that force is vital, and is deeper & more still than you could have ever imagined.

Creative expression is part of your day, your interactions, your decisions; to be alone, to be engaged; to cook or get take out; to read, to stretch, to watch Netflix; to start something new, or rediscover something tossed to the side. Creative expression allows YOU to call the shots. It allows YOU to make decisions. It allows you to go deep and still and recover. It allows you to recover so that when you reemerge, you are as you should be; as you want to be. It’s your depth, so you can revisit that as often as you need to feel replenished and whole again. Nobody takes that power from you.

If you aren’t ready to be creative, that’s okay. Some days I’m not either. If you don’t feel expressive, that’s okay too. The irony? As an artist, you simply are. It’s why you do what you do. Why you pursue the truths you pursue. Why you are inquisitive and curious and can’t walk away.

BE your creative expression. Just sit with it and sink into it and allow it wash over you. Action is not always required when the day is hot and sluggish. Reserve the energy so when you are needed, you can respond. Be honest with yourself, so you can create the next, just by being.

We will always BE here to define and reveal - just by breathing our parts together!

with fondness & fierceness,

Susan