lifeisaninnerjourney

"Getting in touch with your true self must be your first priority" Tom Hopkins Friday, December 11 7:50 a.m. In winter, the sun describes a different arc, allowing me this morning some shade while sitting on the front porch. A perfect alize (an East breeze) speaks about oxygen, fresh air and health. That's why i want to stay where i am, because it is a healthy choice, physically and mentally. Life would be happier, much more bearable if we could laugh at our shortcomings, our weaknesses, and accept things, people (and ourselves) the way we are. I'm carrying this collective guilt from our cultural consciousness: ° why don't i just settle for any job, pay the bills, scrape the rest of the money drop by drop, ° become less demanding about life and wait until the end of the financial crisis is over? I just can't. These words now come to mind: "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." Will i be parked in the driveway, waiting

A good word is like a good tree whose root is firmly  fixed  and  whose top is in the sky. the Koran

"The real voyage of discovery consist not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust Wed Dec 9 6:10 a.m. The rain taps at the window like thousands of little impatient fingers, the strong eastern wind carries the humidity to my bones, deep inside. Leggings and long sleeve t-shirt have been taken out of closets, replacing the little silk tops of the summer. Yesterday, i brought my first painting home, Hope wants me to finish it. "little boats now and then, shining dots on the water, children on the beach, you could add a lot more details and give it more life, more interest, Jicky..." For now, i like it as it is, gladly surprised that i could paint at all. For me, the painting is whimsical, already beautiful, it's a miracle it is coming from me. I had such pleasure painting with Hope at her house! She would paint her own compositions, cleaning house, while i would dash paint as my imagination saw it fit. "Folk Art, you

"The best way to predict the future is to create it" Peter Drucker Thursday Dec 10 6:30 a.m. Mood: Happy, listening to Sheryl Crow My "work" was all over the floor, awaiting me in the kitchen. My first painting twinkled at me with mischief: "Would you add lovers under the flamboyant tree and boats in the sea? one or two birds in the sky may be?" "I don't know, so far i like you the way you are, untouched by human presence. May be i should paint you over again without the trees, place umbrellas and lounge chairs on the beach, and a bunch of roads and houses in the mountains? But, can we really live without the touristic development? We could, at least, do a better marketing. At least! We have empty buildings, empty hotel rooms, villas, condos and apartments, we're ready for business and no business has seen us." 9:55 p.m. After a little bit of surfing News channels, Hope and i watched: "Julie and Julia", from Julia

"Every artist dips his brush into his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures" Henry Ward Beecher  Thursday October 22 5:38 p.m. Today Candy and i were "playing" and we both liked it a lot. First, i etched my mother with charcoal, adding 2 touches of red first with her 2 earrings then her mouth. By looking at the portrait upside down, i could see an Asian woman, tall and elegant, with full hips and a long embroidered dress. The garland on her dress reproduced exactly the one on the photograph. My mom was picky with details, so it is in paying attention to details that i honor her good taste. My second practice was to cover two already painted canvases, so i could have the "feel" of painting. Hope gave me two old oil paint tubes with turpentine and linen seed oil in which i could dip the brushes. For the first canvas, i tried to mix the white, the blue, the oil and the turpentine before i placed them on the canvas For the second

"Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world" Hans Margolius Wednesday 2 December 7:44 a.m. Perfect morning walk with Ray Charles, reaching a little bit further down the road. slowly, endurance is setting in, building up one walk at a time. in 3 weeks, i'm good to go to the end of the world... and back lessons from my children received lately. good! we need to communicate the truth to each other, the truth about how we feel. chatted with my artist friend Leila, who said: "you chose your life, your freedom all along, you have to keep on keeping on creating."

"To Thine Own Self Be True"  i can't possibly continue to write a Journal on paper at the rate of one diary per month, at the cadence of my moves, with 28 new homes in 3 different countries, this is too much to carry  if life is an inner journey, i can write mine on the web, spreading the little seeds of wisdom acquired along the way an artist wants to create and share her visions with an outer public, an artist's duty is to become the medium, the instrument played by the wings of inspiration visiting her nothing exists if there is no awareness of beauty through the eyes of the beholder Thursday 26 november, 2009 5:46 a.m. Woke up at 3 o'clock with a serene and trusting mood. Reassured, i went back to bed for another sleep's cycle. when i am in full creative mood, waking up at 3 a.m. does not pose any problem, i even have sometimes the impression that it helps me to soften time, and that this time i live before dawn, before people and animals awak

Tuesday, December 1 7:13 a.m. Short 20 mn walk, brisk and more powerful than a week ago when i started this morning routine all over again. Still, no daily yoga but that will change soon. I do not know any other effective method to build up muscles and endurance, gradually but powerfully. Reaching physical balance teaches patience, endurance and determination. It is an exercise in active meditation. Internal and external senses are honed until the power of living in the Now becomes second habit. Each second of life becomes a living prayer, as "now" is the best (and only) time to be totally happy and content. Sometimes (many a time), fulfilled by the beauty of nature around me, lungs filling up with new, fresh air at full capacity, my mind takes stock of where i am right now, memories of similar walks come to mind, revealing wells of wisdom, assurance of my worth i did not grasp before. this lonely life may seem straining at times. the want for a public, a family surr

The winds of Grace are always blowing; But you have to raise the sail. Sunday, November 30 I'm waiting. Not really graciously or eagerly, wagering between big hopes, anticipation and despair. People cannot understand how i can keep smiling, looking happy and healthy, not desperate as they would be, faced with the same situation of lack. I don't lack the sense of beauty i constantly witness in my life. The singing of the birds still tear at my heart with their sweet and joyous melodies. The lush green brought by the raining season after a long drought with the dust reigning supreme is enchanting my photographer's eyes. gratitude is the spice of my every day. i seem to have lost interest in the daily affairs of life, my eye looking at numbers on bills keeping their monthly rhythm as if nothing had changed in this reality.