~~~Painted this weekend with help from my 5 year old nephew....
I'm like most people...I have experienced horrible, messy and terrible things in my life....
I try to be positive and forward thinking, but at the same time I don't want to trivialize the things that have happened to me...they've made me who I am for better or worse....
But, I am who I am...and I can't change that....
Maybe I'm jaded, maybe I'm a realist...but I don't think you can completely cover up certain things in your life...if you do, it has a tendency to grow in the shadows like mushrooms and become overwhelming...
But if you can open up and share things, you have the chance to help someone else...someone who can't open up or are afraid too.....you can help people grow, change their situation and better their lives....
So, because I've been in some crappy situations, I'm going to try to open up more, help people more.....
Because I feel like I need to....
I've come up with some beliefs that I carry. I'm going to work on talking about these more and opening up about how I've overcome some of the ****storm I've endured.
First some beliefs that I have....
1. That the world is a wonderful, terrible and beautiful wonder.
2. That there is pain but also joy.
3. That most people are scared (of whatever) but that if given strength, knowledge and power can overcome
4. That there is sadness but also relief
5. That there can be balance and this is the key to everything.
And an explanation...
One of the reasons I like painting lyrics to blues songs and folk art in general...is that I feel it has an authenticity to it....it's not candy-coated, hunky-dory-ness (which is a southern way of saying everything's fine) but deals with life, misery, the whole kit and caboodle of living...and makes the best of it while respecting that it's not all peaches and cream....
But let's face it....there is pain and suffering in the world...and while I'm not trying to celebrate it...I think that if you ignore it or act like it doesn't exist...you trivialize it and the people experiencing it.....but sometimes you have to face the demon to conquer it.....and like the painting above says....there ain't no grave gonna hold my body down....
