Tag: faith

Believe…

The other day in a very intense conversation I was having, the person stopped mid sentence and said these words to me, ” I saw your body language change. Remember, if your brain doesn’t believe it, nothing’s going to happen.” At that precise moment my mind glitched then morphed into an ultra clear movie projector. Everything else we had just talked about, everything I’d attempted in the past, everything I was thinking about became strikingly clear. I literally saw a light come on. Belief is an all empowering ingredient to any level of accomplishment, whether it be the completion of a sketch, a full drawing, or a sold out show at Laxart Gallery.

Napoleon Hill told us ““Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve.” It CAN achieve. In an effective scenario, the body is servant to the mind. So when your brain believes, it not only kicks the body into gear but activates the spirit which summons all manner of assistance to bring the intent to pass. Belief moves providence to move on your behalf. Belief goes beyond hoping. True belief is laced with intent which revs up the to a superhuman level of operation. The accomplishments are often followed by comments like Wow! How did you do that? I wish I could do that! That is amazing! These exclamations are the brain’s way of saying this is actually possible in a question and a definitive statement. Think about it. We all have so many reminders of this. One that comes to mind at the moment is the photo of Gabrielle Union and Zoe Saldana standing in front of one of my paintings on a movie set.

Belief is so powerful, it’s never limited to the mind in which it is activated. It’s like a fire. The more you stoke it the warmer everything around it gets. Martin Luther’s beliefs reformed the church. Albert Einstein’s beliefs shifted understanding, relatively. Martin Luther King’s belief motivated and mobilized a nation. Hitler’s belief nearly destroyed one. The power of belief is there for us to utilize as we will. That instance when you first believe will create a paradigm shift in your story. The moment when you can exclaim this changes everything, everything can change.

Post Cards From Rabbit Lane

In the spirit of gratitude, I write with a renewed sense of purpose. At this juncture of Juneteenth, the summer solstice, and my bEARTHday, I feel both the warmth of a new sun and the lull of evening’s tide. For this southern born artist, life is a color palette spread out on all sides. Although I am not immune to the rage of life’s realities, I live with the joy that the hues never fade. At least not for long.

I am often asked, as artist, who was my early inspiration to live as a creative. I can never cite a person from the onset. Before any character emerged from the plethora of paintslingers and wordsmiths, there was Mother Nature with her omnipresent bowl of colors, shapes, forms, and values set in a space of splendor that transcended time and drew no lines. She was my first, my present and my always. She nurtured my childhood curiosity causing crawdads to dart backwards and hummingbirds to hover in midair. The colors of the rainbow set ablaze on the sun-kissed backs of fish, the wings of Japanese beetles, and dewdrop misted morning leaves. She showed me all her colors and called me home to myself. I would sit in stillness soaking up her fragrance between whispers of wind and bird and frog symphonies. All that I do, in all of my effort is but a shadow of the her divine masterpiece.

Some time ago, I began to capture sunsets and rises on my phone. On long days, heading home I would debrief through golden wheat fields, oceans of soybeans, and corn that seemed to stand up in paise. Upon my arrival, the evening sun would wash the front lawn in a warm glow. I made a conscious decision that I would one day share those photos. Beauty, like love, should not be kept to oneself. The title came simple and immediate. Postcards From Rabbit Lane. They are not only visual notes about what I’ve seen, they are messages about what we can be, and how we can be, in this vast nature painted landscape. We get to choose our role and how we manipulate the elements to create what we will. At one point, I did not realize we had been entrusted with such power. Nature got my attention in more than one of her seductive ways and reminded me who I am, and whose I am. In all that I am, my goal is to honor my full purpose here on the planet. In that I find a peace that passes understanding. The divine lens puts everything in perspective. That makes for a pretty good picture.

An Answer of Faith

I was recently questioned regarding the target audience for my writing. To be honest I hadn’t thought of it that specifically when I started. I knew I wanted to get things out of my head and on paper. That I want to inspire others to seize their baton and run with it. To be their highest and best version of who they want to be. Then it slowly came into view. This blog is for those who already know or sense that there is something more potent to be done or somewhere greater they are going and may need a little boost to walk their walk. It’s really a sacred journey whose pathway only the pathfinder or path maker can navigate. It is specifically for those who dare…

Keep pressing forward in word and deed. What do you believe? Your answer will be the basis of faith in word. How you believe is the bedrock of faith in deeds and actions. Faith can ride upon the wheels of any religion, denomination, dogma, or no organized sect at all. The manifestation of a thing is based on the faith (belief) of the believer. In the Bible when Jesus is quoted as saying Your faith has saved and healed you, he spoke directly to belief rooted in intention, not the religious bent of the one in need of healing. The healing had less to do with their religion of choice and everything to do with the conviction of their heart for the thing they desired. Religious inclination is what it is, but the actions that proceed from faith with intent is what will grant us the life we say we desire and consequently touch the world with our legacy.