Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
There is joy and wonder everywhere when you see the world through the eyes of a child. Unknown
Last night on the news they featured a seventy-one-year-old woman at her art show. She’s been painting for thirty years and her paintings are beautiful intricate florals and the longer you look the more depth there is to see.
Many artists got started late and became well-known artists, but it isn’t about becoming well-known artists. It’s about building a life that works for us. Finding our voice as a person, artist, gardener, singer, and living with passion and purpose. In two hundred years no one will know who most of us were. We will be remembered by our children, grandchildren, and if we are lucky great-grandchildren.
If we live fully by developing our talents and interests so we live a more creative and interesting life isn’t that the goal? Painting is a way to say things we may not know how to put into words. We can paint our worries, passion, hopes, fears, and dreams. No one may know the significance of the painting and may wonder what is behind it, but they may still find something that moves them. No passion in the artist, no passion in the viewer.
Last night we watched the movie Ode to Joy, the protagonist cannot feel strong emotions or he passes out, and joy is the emotion that causes him the most problems. This condition is called cataplexy and brings on brief bouts of muscle weakness or paralysis when experiencing strong emotions. He devises all sorts of ways to keep from experiencing joy, and it isn’t just his joy, but seeing the joy of parents with their children is especially challenging for him.
He thinks he has to live a boring life, but in the end, his brother tells him he doesn’t have to live a boring life devoid of joy and love; he just has to be willing to deal with the consequences this brings him.
Fainting at the sight of a baby, a beautiful painting, or at your sister’s wedding, or perhaps at your own would be unbelievably challenging. Life is much more challenging for some people than it is for others, but we each must find a way to deal with the challenges that come into our lives.
Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods. Plato
Are we choosing a life of joy? Do we see the joy on the faces of parents and feel a swell of happiness? Are we touched by works of art, movies, books, sunsets, and sunrises? When we walk in the woods does it feed our soul? When we hold our children or grandchildren does our heart swell with joy?
Being a grandma is one of the great joys in life. It is a double joy because we see the joy of our children with their children. The circle of life continues and our legacy is in the flesh.
Even if we don’t experience the joy of parenthood or grandparenthood we can experience a small part of the joy when we see the joy and wonder babies and children bring with them.
She found joy and wonder in every little thing. And joy and wonder always found her. Katrina Mayer
Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. Joseph Campbell
The special life is where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, the natural becomes miraculous, the every day becomes unique. Finding the magic and wonder within nature is the most assured means by which children rediscover the joy of life. Shmuley Boteach
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