healing – Notes of A Native Son

Rest, Don’t Quit

Last week, I got up every day well before sunrise and kicked in with all eight barrels wide open and didn’t leave the studio until long after that ole sun had dipped below the horizon. For the last few months, large overlapping projects, no breath in between. No real pause. Just that headlong push— the kind, I admit a part of me relishes, leaning into the body temple like it’s an infinite source of fuel. Please note: even the most well built temple can crumble if it’s not respected. And truth be told, I’ve been known to test the limits of this vessel far too many times. Not out of recklessness—but out of love for the work, out of fire for the vision, and sometimes, if I’m honest, out of a lurking fear that if I stop, something might slip away.

Despite rapper and entrepreneur 50 cent’s declaration “Get Rich Or Die Trying”, pursuing your purpose shouldn’t have to kill you. Even the sun goes down. There’s a lesson the great orb in the heavens teaches every evening if we’re still enough to notice. That golden glow of descension isn’t a sign of quitting—it’s a sacred cue to transition. A reminder that even light knows when to rest. That beauty doesn’t just live in the blaze of midday hustle—but in the hush, the slow fade, the surrender, the rest.

Yet we so often glorify the grind (I’m not totally against it), wear exhaustion like a badge, and limp with a smirking pride. What if rest isn’t the enemy of progress—but its partner? What if stepping back now and then is how you step forward with intention? What if your goals need your soul to be whole and rested to rise? I’m learning continuously, even now, that discipline isn’t just about how hard we push. It’s really not so much about how fast or furious we plant, but how deliberate. Even then, we have to wait for the increase. It’s about knowing when to pause. Not to quit, but recalibrating. Not burning out, but burning slow and steady so the flame lasts. So this is me, telling myself and sharing with anybody else who needs to hear it. When the sun sets, let it be a cue. Let the studio close. Shut it down. Let the body breathe. Let the mind drift. Let the spirit sit in its quiet strength. It’s ok to rest. Just don’t quit.

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.