My mom has said she is good at lots of things but not great at any one thing. I believe the fine line between those two descriptors lies in inspiration. For example, I can cook. More specifically, I don’t burn or over-season every meal. More times than not, though, in the kitchen, I am utilitarian…there are people who need food in their tummies & I deliver. (Since it’s hard to scale back once you are in the habit of cooking for a full house, there’s Operation TacOcaT, but that’s another story.) My guapo amigo, on the other hand, spends time researching food. If he’s not on Yelp looking for a new dining spot, he is studying cooking videos. When he attempts a new recipe, pictures follow (see above). This has caused me to ponder the creative spirit that lies in each of us.
For many years, I related to my mom’s ‘lotsa’ good/lacking in great. Maybe I was too busy mommin’ to hear any inspiration. Thankfully, in the last few years I’ve realized I’m pretty freggin’ awesome at painting interior walls. This isn’t riveting, I know. It seems most people love it or hate it (kind of like black licorice) & I simply identify myself with the first half of that population. (Painting that is-I’m gagging just typing the words black licorice.) My appreciation for painting is surprising, though, because between the ages of 6-17 I could be counted on for a daily chair tip & spill. My father once referred to me as ‘the one year that jumps rope with her knees’. Lugging gallon tubs of liquid color around houses & applying their contents carefully wasn’t a prediction for my future.
I’ve found the creative spirit is more about flow than ‘efforted’ learning. Or, maybe when spending time on a chosen interest, the learning doesn’t feel like traditional schooling. I’ve never taken ‘house painting’ classes, but I have moved approximately every other year for the last 20 years. Perhaps painting knowledge is absorbed out of necessity. Trial & error has taught me which brushes, paints, rollers, ladders & drop cloths work best for me; I’ve found The School of Hard Knocks is the finest institute of learning. I know to specify that I enjoy painting interior walls because painting outside in Indiana has factors like: rain, wind, windchill, humidity, bees, blasting sun-beam rays equivalent to hell & uneven terrain, which all make a fun project less fun & more project. I’m careful to mention that I prefer walls because ceilings & baseboards are comparable to the ab portion of a workout (necessary but brutal).
Before mobile orders were a thing, I remember once waiting in the Starbucks drive-thru line on my trek in to work. This was around the same time that I was weighing the pros & cons of my teaching job vs. an Indy Zoo maintenance position, so it’s fair to say that I didn’t feel the way I was earning money was a perfect fit. On a radio program (Blue Tooth wasn’t a thing either way back then), there was a discussion about the gift that resides in each of us. The speaker said when individuals figure out how to foster their special strength and eventually acquire income while utilizing his/her gift, they have the key to the happy, abundant life. I was hanging on every word until I arrived at school & proceeded with my normal workday, resulting in a brain of mush by 4 pm and no more thoughts given to my gift.
I eventually found my way back to the topic years later, just to find someone who utterly disagreed. This individual had attempted to turn her hobby into a money-maker which crushed the love & purity out of the activity. It seems the intuitive energy that once invited her to be creative was blocked by too much thinking about the bottom line. One of my favs, Elizabeth Gilbert, mentioned this in her book, Big Magic. She agrees that we all have a gift but when we get too serious about it, it messes with the flow. Gilbert urges us to write the book, paint the picture, cook, sew…create, and don’t worry about how our product is going to turn out. Just do it ~ and have fun in the process.
I admire how time is a non-factor when a person is tapped into their creative spirit. When painting, I’m done when I’m done – not when the corporate world has agreed to end a day. When I paint, I eat when my body reminds me that it needs nourished rather than when the clock tells me that I can enjoy a meal. I appreciate standing back at the end of a paint project, admiring the before/after pictures and feeling gratification about the change & progress I made. The office papers that I shuffle from printer to folder, folder to cabinet, cabinet to box just doesn’t offer the same intrinsic reward. I’ve completed painting projects for friends who started but got sidetracked with life before reaching the finish line. Sometimes my painting has served as the nudge that sets the wheels in motion for a room makeover. It is truly an honor to be welcomed into someone’s home and to play a part in making their house rise up to meet them.
I say all of this while I’m surrounded with half painted walls in my own home. That’s how I know painting is my inspired thing that I must keep balanced. I say no to projects that don’t flow and allow my body to rest when needed.
One of my mom’s cousins passed away abruptly a few years ago. Cousin Cindy also had her own one-person traveling paint show. I inherited the tall lamp that traipsed around town with my cousin to her paint projects. I like to think of the light as my connection to a higher spirit. Positive energy and nice conversations are all I’ve ever felt. I don’t know a bottom line because I’m only looking up. My side gigs are inspired & happy. I’m letting creative money work itself out.
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