The Best Mentor of All
Posted on July 2, 2023 Leave a Comment
The whole idea of going outside to paint really appeals to me. I love being outside. I love painting. I love all the beauty we have around us. So going outside to paint the beauty I see and wallow in the gratefulness of it all, just like a pig in mud, is a win/win for me.
Well, in my head it is. Until I actually get out there and nothing goes according to the plan in my head. The ‘plan’ has me admiring the beauty, pulling out my brushes and PERFECTLY portraying onto canvas what I see before me. What could ever go wrong with that plan?! Yeah, I know… pretty silly, but sometimes we can be like that until we take the time to think something through. I, obviously, had yet to think…
I was out there all Keen and ready to paint the majesty of the mountains. Sun was shining. Sky was blue. Snow was sitting perfectly atop those peaks in front of me. And then it just went pear-shaped… totally bottomed out! I was basically pretty annoyed. I had watched the tutorials. Due diligence was done. And yet, here I was with nothing going right. Basic mountain form was wrong. Colours would not disappear into the background so no distance was happening. Wind got quite intense and kept blowing my whole easel over. Sun moved… what’s with that!… so suddenly I was working in the bright light instead of the shadows. Argh!!!!
What made my annoyance worse was that this was not the first time I had painted these mountains. I had tried not too long ago and that was an even worse failure. All my dreams of plein air painting the beauty of New Zealand seemed dashed and shredded as my two attempts sat and mocked me.
There must be some lessons I had missed. Some trick that would set it to right. So I called up my very patient mentor and asked for a session. Let’s learn from the masters, right? ‘ Sure, come on over,’ he said, and then patiently listened while I showed my failures and grumbled miserably perplexed as to why I had not been able to achieve the visions in my head.
He started my lesson by taking me to visit another artist who has given up everything to follow her dream and paint. They sold the big house and gorgeous gardens and have built instead, a minimalist house with garden to match. Total easy care. And all because she realises that there are only 24 hours in a day and has decided to commit hers to an oft forgotten love of painting. That’s dedication. She is also incredibly detailed in her work spending literally hundreds of hours working on one painting, whereas, I have my suspicions that my mentor knows I get impatient with anything more than thirty… max! Hhmmm…
Back at his studio he pulled out his portfolio and we began looking through it for all paintings with mountains in it. This guy has been painting for close to seventy years (longer than I have been on the planet), so, he has countless paintings… I literally did loose count… just of mountain and landscapes. I searched them trying to find the keys I was missing. I took photos to take home and study. Then he pulled out a REALLY cheap canvas, the WORST brushes I have ever seen and squeezed out the final remnants of some OLD paint tubes. Not quite what one would expect to create a masterpiece with, but, right there in front of me, despite the Parkinsons shaking his body, he did just that. He created an awesome painting in less than an hour of the very mountains I had tried TWICE to capture.
I left feeling quite deflated. No fault of my mentor, but I had been looking for the rules, the quick-fix. Follow this 1,2,3, and you’ll have it. Instead he had shown me that, like life, although there are rules we would do well to follow, it’s actually in the doing that we find the relationship we hunger for. I hunger for success in my painting, yet the only way to have that success is to go paint again and again and again. When I told Father my complaints, He reminded me that He had never told me to paint a masterpiece, but, rather, to just come paint with Him each day. He knows that I don’t have seventy years to paint and perfect my craft. He knows that I am not so patient as some.
He also knows that relationship with Him is what it’s really all about. I get to go again and again and again to sit with Him in the great big beautiful outdoors and concentrate hard absorbing all the details I can of the wonderful world He has created. As I change my perspective from my inward perfectionism to His abundant goodness I realise that my heart is filled with gratitude. How awesome to be asked by God to come sit with Him and ‘take notes’ on His creativity. He really is the best mentor of all!
White Noise
Posted on June 25, 2023 Leave a Comment
It was the line in his poem ‘To The Mountains’ that I have had going round and round in my head.
To The Mountains
Peace
whipped around by the wind
warmed by the winter sun
sung to by the battered flax
frowned upon by the commanding mountains
But peace, easy in its age old form
Free from a man’s ambition
Peace, rolling lazily
across the tussock and rock-strewn land
echoing its message from long ago
Inviting a response from deep within
Flirting with my spirit
to arise and come forth
to look to the mountains
from whence my help comes
to the source, the author
of peace.
“Sung to by the battered flax”
It conjures up such a good picture of the flax, with those thin but fibrous leaves beating against each other as the wind makes the percussion ring out. It’s nature doing its thing, all working together in harmony.
Nature ‘doing its thing’ is everywhere. We were on our lakeside walk the other day and you could hear the wind in the trees, the waves lapping the shore. The crunch of the frost breaking under our boots and the stream gurgling early morning. Or today, it was very still, hardly a breath of wind, but the birds were enjoying themselves full chorus. I took a few moments to just listen. Winter brings the fire crackling, while summer brings cicada’s song and bugs all a chattering. There’s nature noise everywhere.
I’ve heard it said that once you get used to the silence you discover that its not a silent world at all. I guess this was displayed in the recent lockdowns. From my perspective, the quiet was WONDERFUL. So peaceful. After a couple of weeks people everywhere noticed more bird life around. We had a couple of Fantails (Piwakawaka in Maori) that decided being inside our house was great. They flew around quite happily often perched on the top of the door just observing us. We did have one that decided to perch on a lampshade and has totally destroyed it with his anxious pooping as he fought with his own reflection in the mirror behind. Perhaps he was a bit more of a nuisance, but generally, it was lovely having their chitter-chatter and lively flitting about the place.
It was as we walked the lake, that I began wondering if perhaps, God has already made all the ‘white noise’ we need. It seems more and more people are needing this ‘white noise’ to sleep and be at peace. Our world makes so many demands on us keeping our cortisol levels so high, when some quiet from all our industrious activity and thinking might be just the answer. To take some time each day just enjoying the sounds nature provides us with. It’s an idea…
What’s your favourite nature noise? Where does the world become peaceful for you? Sitting on the beach listening to the waves rhythmically roll in? In the quiet of the bush with birds calling to each other? Or hearing a stream tumbling gently downhill? I am definitely a sea girl, but I won’t be able to hear the wind in a flax bush without thinking of his line “sung to by the battered flax” … white noise.
His Turn
Posted on June 11, 2023 2 Comments
THE PAINTER
For all of its strength
the sun can barely
keep at bay
the chill of the alpine breeze.
She sits in front of her easel
as her brush dances
pauses
then dances again
As she captures
the freedom
the majesty
the emotion
Only to be released again
into the hearts and minds
of those captivated
by her art.
SHE HAS MY HEART
Surrounded by the expanse
of the volcanic plateau
and drawn towards
the snow crusted mountains
We both sit here
each with our own focus
Hers a brush
Mine a pen
Engrossed in the magic
of mimicking what
we see and feel
For all of the harshness
majesty and grandeur
I find my mind
returning again and again
to her
for she has my heart.
TO THE MOUNTAINS
Peace.
Whipped around by the wind
warmed by the winter sun
sung to by the battered flax
frowned upon by the commanding mountains.
But peace, easy in its age old form
free from. a man’s ambition
Peace, rolling lazily
across the tussock and rock-strewn land
echoing its message from long ago.
inviting a response from deep within
flirting with my spirit
to arise and come forth
to look to the mountains
from whence my help comes
to the source, the author
of peace.
A Grateful People
Posted on June 4, 2023 Leave a Comment
The Hebrew term for gratitude is hakarat ha’tov, which literally means ‘to recognise the good’. The neat thing about recognising the good is that when we start with even the smallest of things it multiplies and we find ourselves with more and more things to be grateful for.
We are told in scripture to give thanks in ALL things. No exceptions are made for the difficult circumstances. Actually, these times of trying are the times we need this advice the most. Why? Because the act of giving thanks is reminding us that #1 God is worthy of our gratitude and #2 it is for our benefit as we are uplifted in the process. So, even when it’s a tough road to find gratitude, it is still accomplishing a dual purpose.
Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.
As we take our eyes off of ourselves and think about His love alone, let alone all of His other amazing attributes, we find that our hearts are ‘righted’. Our perspective changes. We begin to appreciate what we have and optimism begins to build towards our lives.
Psalm 95:2 Let us come before Him with thanksgiving. Let us sing songs of praise to Him.
I was interested to learn that in Judaism, nearly every prayer begins with the words, “Blessed are You, Lord, our God… / Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu”. What a great way to give thanks as we come before Him.
In Hebrew, bracha (which means blessing) shares the same root with the word for knee – berech. So, when we say a blessing and are on our knees before God, we are in a position of gratitude. Humility is a part of this gratitude, for without Him we are nothing.
We can keep going with this examination of roots of Hebrew words and find that the word for a Jewish person (Yehudi in Hebrew) also has the same root as giving thanks – which is hada’a in Hebrew. So, whereas the Jewish people are often called ‘People of the Book’, it is actually more correct linguistically to call them “the Grateful People”.
Now, we are not trying to BE Jewish, but rather to learn from their wisdom and values. With all the references to being grateful, giving thanks, coming before Him with thanksgiving, etc., etc., it would seem to be a very powerful concept that matters a lot to God whether we are Jewish or Christian, or Muslim (yes, one of the most important duties in Islam is to be grateful to God for His blessings.). Many Jewish people start off their daily prayers with Modeh Ani Lefanecha / I will give thanks before You. We should learn from them.
It expresses gratitude to God for the gift of another day. Is there a better way to start our day? So, let’s focus on hakarat ha’tov , recognising the good. Let’s be a grateful people.
Sunshine on my Shoulders
Posted on May 29, 2023 Leave a Comment
Did you read the title and immediately think of John Denver’s classic song?
“Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
Sunshine almost always makes me high”
It’s a song we love because it shares a sentiment we all feel… sunshine is GREAT!
My neighbour was telling me about her terrible day… she accidentally flooded the entire house. (There was no need to put the word ‘accidentally’ in there because NO ONE in their right mind deliberately floods their house but she kept telling me how she didn’t mean to do it.) She went on to say that the only thing that kept her going that day was the sunshine. We’ve had so much grey and rain lately, then on the first sunny day she has this catastrophe. How thankful she was for the sunshine on her shoulders!
I get that! I, too, added ‘grateful for the sun’ to my list this week, and then noticed an Arabic proverb at the top of the page that said ‘All sunshine makes a desert’. What?!
I guess its actually true. Even the things we love the most, like sunshine, can become a negative if there’s too much of it. Maybe not necessarily a negative but it does change the whole landscape, doesn’t it… makes a new norm. We need all things in balance. Living here in NZ, we have a pretty good 50/50 mix of wet/grey days and then sunshine days. However, when we lived in the tropics we had a dry season which was gorgeous, clear blue sunny skies day after day, but then came the rainy season and that gorgeous sun was no where to be seen for, what seemed like, forever. The desert would be even more extreme.
I painted a still life of an apple this week and couldn’t work out why it looked so flat. Eventually it dawned on me that I had put in the deep shadows but had forgotten the highlights. Until I had equal balance it was all wrong. Even a painting needs both. I put the highlights in and voila! The painting popped!
So basically, too much of even a great thing that we are so thankful for, can be a bad thing. Balance is key. Don’t begrudge the grey days. Celebrate them too. But when the sunshine is on your shoulders, when it’s in your eyes and making them water, when the light is sparkling across the water, fly high. Enjoy the moment 🙂 It’s the grey day that makes the sunshine day pop!
Oh, Romeo & Juliet, What If…?
Posted on May 21, 2023 Leave a Comment
Don’t we all love to celebrate our mothers on Mother’s Day? Whether with a phone call or flowers, brunch or a gift, it doesn’t matter except the opportunity to acknowledge the great gift they have given and are in our lives. My family are the same. This year two decided months ago to take me to a ballet production by the Royal New Zealand Ballet of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ that coincided perfectly with Mother’s Day weekend here in NZ. And so from there it snowballed into a Mother’s Day roadtrip where I visited all of them and had special time with each in their environments. What a wonderful gift!
Being welcomed into their worlds is a special honour and I wanted to enjoy every minute of it, thus the idea was conceived to draw my time with them in 5-minute sketches. There are 5 of them after all…well, there used to be before adding a son-in-law and grandbaby to the mix. This was also a way to leave the studio without actually leaving, focusing on speed drawing. Five minutes allows for no fussing over details. Of course, you need to have a tight rein on your inner talk because you can do some real doozies when moving so quickly. So, armed and eager, I kissed Hubby goodbye and set off on my journey.
I got to spend time with new Mama and cuddle that gorgeous grandbaby. It was my first time as a ‘Mummy-in-Law’ and we had a few laughs along the way. Then on to Auckland where youngest son took me for a sedate mother’s walk (not one of his normal ‘ascend the mountain’ jobs) through the bush. It had just rained heavily and the waterfalls were flowing large while the wet bush smell was intoxicating. Such a treat! There was food a-plenty all weekend both home-cooked treats and eating out, all served with lots of laughing and friendly banter. Variety was the name of the game. I kept pulling my pencils out keeping my visual diary flowing. They, used to me, waited patiently enabling my objectives.
Then came the ballet, and obviously, with the theatre in darkness there’s not a lot of opportunity to draw, but I did get a quick sketch in while we waited for it to start. A good exercise in perspective to get the feeling of depth. And then, amidst all the sumptuous period costumes, scintillating music from the live orchestra, and spectacular story-telling as the characters danced their way across the stage, I had a really random thought. “What if either Romeo or Juliet had had a different mindset?” How would the story have ended then? Perhaps even the parents/families mindset? Could any one of them have changed the whole storyline?
Shakespeare didn’t come up with the plot all by himself. According to Britannica his principal source was ‘The Tragicall Historue of Romeus and Juliet (1562), a long narrative poem by the English poet Arthur Brooke, who had based his poem on a French translation of a tale by the Italian Matteo Bandello.’ We love the tragedy of it all. We write plays, poems, theatre, musicals, ballets, you name it and we have a rendition of it, as we wallow in the sorrow and feelings. I know, I know… it’s all about unrequited love, something that we have all experienced at some time or other, but we grew through the experience, right?
As I played out differing mindsets for them all in my head, I realised it was like one of those neat books where, by turning to different pages, you get to choose the story, the journey, and ultimately the ending. And most of us, like Shakespeare, Brooke or Mandello and the thousands of other authors like them, just go along with the storyline we’ve been given. And if perchance, someone does change something in the story that creates a different ending, the audience is up in arms and causing mayhem till it’s returned to the tragedy they know and love. But what if?
What if in our own lives we took a different mindset? Sometimes I like to do just that… take a situation I am presently in and roll it round in my head, looking at it from differing perspectives. Obviously, I need to keep checking in with myself while doing this as my head can create some pretty lifelike scenarios and my body is then flooded with the adrenalin, etc, that I do not need or want. But what if? Does the situation have to be such a tragedy? Could I write a totally different storyline with an alteration in my thinking? Where would I like it to end up? What if I started by writing down the things I am grateful for to get a better handle on where things are really at? What if? What if? What if?
After three hours of magic, the performance ended with clapping and loads of applause. It was a brilliant production. The audience was happy. No throwing rotten tomatoes and demanding a re-write here. And like-wise I get to look back on my sketches and give loud praise to my family for such an enjoyable time with them all. They are all high on my grateful list. Now, to get home and do ‘show and tell’ with Hubby.
The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree
Posted on May 17, 2023 2 Comments
As you grow up you get to observe, both consciously and unconsciously, the mindset of your parents and caregivers. They are, after all, the most prominent people in your life from whom you learn how this world works. My experience was no different to any other and I got to watch my dad and his determination to have a positive mindset no matter what life threw at him. And it definitely threw him some curveballs. Yet he would whistle while he shaved in the morning, no matter what was going on, and challenge you that ‘this was a good day, wasn’t it?’. A day full of possibilities just waiting to be explored.
I was not quite so positive in my outlook (insert direct opposite of positive) and would often be perplexed by his optimism. I admired it, wanted it, but struggled with the ‘reality’ of how I saw things. My singing of hymns was more to comfort my aching heart rather than the hymns he whistled, as he thought about God’s goodness to him and his excitement about what the world had to offer today.
Leap forward many years and lots of learnings and I have a much more positive outlook. Not perfect by any means but definitely way more on the positive side of the scale than it used to be. I have learnt that my ‘reality’ is not really reality at all, but just my perception of things. I have learned that there are, indeed, many many things to be thankful for if I set my mind to the seeing of them. The power of choice is mine over what I think and ponder on. These lessons are not a ‘once done and over’ class, but rather a continuing lesson that rolls round and round, and probably will do so for the entirety of my time here on earth. While my brain continues to function and think, I will have choices to make every day about what I am dwelling on and on how I view things.
My mind seems to be the stage on which my life is determined. The realization that I am stage director/script writer/conductor of my own story has been very empowering and pivotal. But still there are continuing lessons, like this week… I am baking and need apples. I go the fridge and discover we have run out. Being already halfway through making the pie, I decide to brave one of the remaining apple trees that haven’t been harvested yet. I didn’t harvest them because last year they had been full of coddling moth due to a couple of very mature apple trees in a neighbouring section that are riddled with it. Despite my best efforts of spraying and laying traps the apples were still loaded with Coddling Moth activity. This season I had used Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) spray instead but had only got to do it a couple of times. This left me ASSUMING that this year’s crop would be even worse. As I have been super busy with family activities I figured I didn’t have time to waste on taking out all the coddling decay for very little return. And so I left the apples on the trees and had told myself I would deal with that later.Now I needed to get the apples, despite the work involved.
Pleasantly surprised is an understatement as I peeled and quartered each apple finding beautiful clean apples, with no sign at all of Coddling Moth in the entire tree bar one apple in a small section. I had nearly lost and wasted an entire tree of apples due to my mindset. The way I had thought had not been challenged. I had not checked. And this mindset was causing me great loss. If my mindset had not been challenged how would I have gone into next season? Would I have decided to not spray at all, like what’s the use? Or saying that ACV spraying didn’t work? Extreme results might have been, in time, to rip out the tree and try planting something else instead.
Who knows exactly where it might have ended… how the story might have played out, but I was reminded yet again to choose carefully because I am writing my own story, little adventures one at a time. I get to choose the ending. And quite frankly, I would like to be an apple that hasn’t fallen too far from the tree.
I haven’t stopped
Posted on May 7, 2023 Leave a Comment
It may have been ages since I have been posting on this platform, but, rest assured my need for being grateful has not diminished at all. In fact, with all the busy happenings in our world, I have actually been more reliant than ever on taking the time to fill out my ‘grateful list’ each day.
While all the activity that has had me running in circles has challenged my comfy day-to-day status quo, I have been pleasantly surprised at how I have coped amidst all the stress … not always my strong point … and I have put it down to Father’s grace and being more disciplined at actually putting my gratefulness down on paper. Well, pseudo paper. Daughter showed me her ‘Daylio’ app and I was hooked, paid the monies and installed it immediately on my phone. Talk about super easy. Can be filled in once a day or lots of small visits as the day unfolds, can be customised to suit each person and each of the departments in their lives, or help you track your way to better habits.
For me, it’s been a game-changer at helping me check in, not just every day but multiple times a day. Quickly.It’s kind of like a fancy star-chart. We know how motivating those can be for kids. Well, I guess this is a big kids version.
As one of its features there are templates that you can customise and fill in each day. Obviously, there is one for the ‘Things I am Grateful For”, but there is another called ‘Self Reflection’. Stopping to think about these questions, to stop in with myself for just a moment, has made all the difference. “What am I feeling right now?” What makes me hopeful? What makes me worried? What can I accept that I cannot Change? What does Father say about this? (My customised question as that is who I want to build my life around)
So amidst all the craziness and adventure, I’ve found myself remaining positive and focused. Able to concentrate on the good each day, address my emotions and not let those anxious little foxes in to steal my joy. No mean feat and for that I am very grateful!
Do you record your ‘grateful list’? Do you like to write it down on paper or do you have an app? Love to hear what you do… share in the comments.
Gardening of a Different Kind
Posted on April 26, 2022 Leave a Comment
“Make a list of the jobs you’d like some help with and I will give you four days over Easter to get as many as possible done”. What a gift!
It wasn’t hard to think of them. If I can chip away at something and do it myself, I will, but there are some jobs that I just don’t have the muscle power or height or whatever for. So, an offer like this is pure gold to me. A real love gift, because I am pretty sure that even though he really enjoys what I create in our garden, if he was left to himself he would find other ways to occupy himself on a precious long weekend off work.
True to his word, he gave me four days. We put up curtain rails in the studio and then hung the curtains. Neighbour’s hedges were trimmed and mulched. Piles of sods left over from previous excavations were removed.The list was long and with each one completed I felt such a joy to finally cross these things off my ‘to-do’ list. #grateful
On day four as we began to clean up from all our activities, he stopped and said, ” Why don’t you go and pick some flowers for inside before the rain comes. I’ll do the clean up.” Wow! What a gem of a guy! #grateful again!
I’ve looked at those flowers on the dining room table all week and seen, not just their beauty, but, also, someone’s very thoughtful gift to me. They’ve reminded me of the fun time we had doing four days of cleanup projects together. The being outside in the sun, stopping for a cuppa, dump runs… together. The laughter, conversations, building memories. They let me feel the love all over again.
“Let us be grateful to people
who make us happy; they are
the charming gardeners who
make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust (1871-1922) French Novelist
Writing this in appreciation of his wonderful gift to me, it makes me stop and think about how I have the responsibility and joy to be the ‘charming gardener’ who make his soul blossom as well. What parts of ‘me’ would make him happy? Am I sharing them? Am I giving gifts of love? And not just to him but to all the people in my world. Loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself, is what the whole law and commandments are about, right?!
It’s good to take a stocktake every now and again. Are their new gifts I could give? Things I could do? If I want my fruit trees to blossom big I need to feed and water them big. Little feeding gets little blossom… sad, but true. But when the blossom comes we ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ as we appreciate their beauty and have all the feels of satisfaction for our efforts. We do it because we like that kind of fruit and so we chose and planted it. We entered into a relationship with that fruit tree. The ‘hard work’ is now just beginning. Now we need to tend it. It’s the tending that gives us the fruit we desire.
So, I am off to have a cuppa and do a little pondering. I want to feel the fruit of love in my relationships. See what I need to add to my ‘to-do’ list, that he so kindly emptied for me. It’s just gardening of a different kind. 🙂
Joy Sparkles
Posted on April 19, 2022 2 Comments
It’s not been a week of great events. Nothing out of the ordinary has really happened. Yet, I’ve found so much joy in seemingly insignificant things. The warm sun on my hand while driving. Autumn leaves swirling in the wind. The quiet.
In noticing it, I’ve begun to wonder if, when big events happen, our vision is overwhelmed by them and we miss out entirely on seeing the little things that colour our world. A bit like when an elephant is sitting on your lawn, you would be forgiven for not seeing the lawn daisies.
When the elephant is not there, you would be very normal to miss the elephant, wish the elephant was back, even pine for the wonder of the elephant. But in the process of having your mind consumed with the elephant you would be missing out on all the smaller, yet just as beautiful, joys. Like the wide open space or the daisies in the lawn.
Well, it’s been a week like that here. Space to breath a bit amidst the diaries activities. Less humans in the house for a few days. Time to just chill a bit. And in the quiet, which, in itself, is a HUGE joy in my books, I’ve found myself noticing all of these little things that have been real ‘stop you in your tracks’ moments with the wonder of them.
The wonder of the wind in the leaves kind of gets my insides all excited. It’s fascinating. And I am left with a ‘high’ almost, of joy sparkles. The light and warmth from the sun when it reaches my hand on a chilly morning. The kind deeds from those who didn’t have to but thought of helping you. Knowing that your boys and your darling dearest are having a wonderful time just enjoying each other’s company. Hearing that one of the highlights of their trip was buying a couple of pizza and going to the lake to skip stones together as the sun set.
These little things are often overlooked as things to be grateful for. But the gratitude and wonder for the smalls of life brings a world full of joy and sparkles that would be such a pity to miss out on. we are definitely richer for them. What are some of your favourite joy sparkles?
Lynda Symons Artistry 