Yesterday my blog sister Louise at Recover Your Joy posted a quote that startled me and set me to thinking:
When I was a child my mother said to me,
'If you become a soldier,
you'll be a general.
If you become a monk,
you'll be the pope.'
Instead I became a painter
and wound up as Picasso.
-- Pablo Picasso
I missed the class that taught me how to truly appreciate Picasso's art … but his words often blow open a closed door in my mind.
Think about this quote which is wise on so many levels.
Would Picasso have become Picasso if his mother hadn't opened the world to him?
Why don't we hear more about his mother? What manner of woman must she have been to say such words to her child, to lay endless paths of possibilities before him?
What might we do with those words in our own lives? Is it possible that, even if our own mothers did not quite paint such endless possibilities for us, that we could, even now, mother ourselves?
Could we say those words that give us the permission to go to the far reaches of our own possibilities, to step fully into our own authentic selves?
We don't have to be a general or a pope … we don't even have to be a ground-shifting artist … but what a gift it would be ... could be ... to be wholly, jubilantly our own selves.
About this image: Awakening
Often,
when things seem quiet,
when nothing is moving,
when all seems dormant,
behind us,
unnoticed,
without effort,
without expectation,
the blue light of tomorrow
arrives
and becomes
now.
I liked this post. It is a good reminder that I like being me. It is good to be ourselves. That is a great quote. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI also really like your artwork here too!
Thanks Lisa!!
ReplyDeletethanks Joyce -- It is a good question isn't it... what about his mother? who was she.... where was she... :)
ReplyDeleteand, isn't it funny -- my post today is all about 'being true to who we are' based on what my daughter wrote about the right to be true to ourselves.
(thanks for sharing it!
:)
Hugs
So interesting, how often -- even if we're not connecting -- our minds seem to go to the same places. I attended an opening last night for a man whose paintings, however wonderful, are presumably secondary to his primary career as a Hollywood producer/director/writer. Lots of them had sold by the time I arrived, and some less admirable part of me did wonder whether they sold on merit or on the perceived connection to the artist. But what I really noticed was that they seemed very authentic: there was a discernible style, very consistent across the breadth of the work, and quite appealing. And I found myself thinking -- how do you get to that point? My paintings, and my photos as well, seem to be all over the map, while yours, and his, and Picasso's (see what extraordinary company you keep!) seem almost immediately, recognizably, unique, with a very discernible and consistent style. It makes me wonder if I'll ever find that space, or if I'm destined to always be exploring...
ReplyDeleteBTW -- I mentioned you in my blog today; I'm just saying!
Diane ... aren't we funny ... I would have said you have a beautifully discernible style while I'm all over the map and trying to figure out what I'm trying to say. I LOVE being on this journey with you.
ReplyDelete