Living in Eternity

Usually when I paint I get inspired then work on the painting all night into the early hours of the morning until I can no longer "see" anything else in the painting, and determine the painting is finished. To be honest, I am usually pretty unsatisfied with these pieces of art; they have potential, but feel not quite "there."


One of my favorite things about life is the ability of experiences to inform each other. For example, I find it amazing how learning to hold a yoga pose can also develop the patience and endurance required to teach my toddler to say "please" and "thank you."  A few months ago I had an epiphany while making art.


It began with a colored pencil sketch of a Native American profile. The image flowed fairly easily and I was pleased with it, but I felt an internal push to continue working on it. I left the picture on the floor and occasionally propped against a chair leg for a week or so, glancing at it every once in a while out of the corner of my eye. Gradually, I began to "see" the next step the piece was "asking" for. 

I began to wait for the images to appear and meet them as they approached. Slowly, I began to see what was to come next, and I began to follow what was being revealed: I had a dream and incorporated an image from that dream; in a certain place I recognized a longing for a movement of energy, and  so I placed some images in this place of yearning. Slowly, the painting began to come alive; it was guiding me and I was dancing with it, listening to its direction with a "third eye" type of sense.


I have heard that the only place that eternity meets time is in the present. When I exist in the moment and listen to the guidance available in the present I realize the next right step. As I take that step in faith, I am rewarded with surprises, gratification, and delight. 


Eventually I was guided to cut out the colored pencil sketch, apply it to a canvas and begin using paints. After several months of working on this piece, more is still being revealed and I am enjoying the process–no hurry. Another realization I had was that if I forced solutions by hurrying to complete the piece it would only result in a scant realization of the piece's "voice" or "soul." 


Though this epiphany came while making a piece of art, I am realizing more and more that the process of creating my life is very similar. I throw some ideas around, get inspired, begin to do the footwork in order to manifest it (make phone calls, do research, take action), and ruminate on it for a while until the next step is revealed. The miraculous part is that the universe works with me through synchronicities, and the same "third eye" type of sense, guiding me with a gentle, yet firm, knowing hand. 


I realize I am still learning about this process. I have a hunch, that similar to developing any new skill,  the more I recognize and use this process in my entire life, the more quickly I will become aware of the next step. Life is a piece of art, and as we begin to listen to and follow the gentle guidance available in the moment, we begin to recognize eternity in each breath, until we suddenly find ourselves living there. 


"The art of life is to live in the present moment, and to make that moment as perfect as we can by the realization that we are the instruments and expression of God Himself." ~Emmet Fox


"He who binds himself a joy/ Does the winged life destroy./ But he who kisses the joy as it flies/ Lives in eternity's sun rise."  ~William Blake from "Eternity"


"God exists in eternity. The only point where eternity meets time is in the present. The present is the only time there is." ~Marianne Williamson


"Quick, then–open the door and fly on your heavy feet; the song may already be drifting away." ~Mary Oliver from "Such Singing in the Wild Branches"