The power of positive thinking

One of my favorite books is Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams. I find new meaning every time I read this small book.

Here's a brief summary of some things I've learned from the book.

1. Law of Pure Potentiality: We are all born free of ego with infinite potential and creativity (pure consciousness, spiritual essence, all possibilities). Acknowledge the pure potentiality of yourself and others.

2. Law of Giving (and Receiving): Always bring a gift to everyone you meet every day: a smile, a prayer, appreciation, or a compliment. Whatever you want, give it and it will be returned to you: blessings, caring, attention, affection, appreciation, compliments. Receive such gifts with gratitude.

3. Law of Kharma (Cause & Effect): Make the right choices to achieve right results. You'll know it's right--if it feels right. If something bad happens, turn it into a lesson or rise above it and change the effect.

4. Law of Least Effort: Do less and accomplish more by working through love, not power and control. Nature is the model--it simply "is." Accept this moment as it is; respond to the situation as an opportunity, without blame; no need to convince others of your point of view.

5. Law of Intention and Desire: Formulate your desire (goal) and use your intention to achieve it to benefit mankind. Center yourself (meditate), release your intentions and desires to the universe.The past and future are in your imagination. The present is in your awareness, i.e., real. Obstacles disappear when you are serenely grounded in the present.

6. Law of Detachment: Attachment is based on fear and insecurity. Detachment allows freedom to create. Uncertainty is fertile ground, the field of infinite possibilities. Preparedness in the present makes you alert and ready to seize opportunity. "Good luck is preparedness and opportunity coming together."

7. Law of Dharma (Purpose in Life): Each of us is here to discover our higher, true Self, our Spiritual Being. We are here to express our unique talent and our own way of expressing it. No one else has it. We are here to serve humanity. Put your talent to use.

-Find your talent. Ask yourself what are my talents? What do I love to do?
-If you have passion for what you do, you are in dharma.
-If what you do serves humanity, you are in dharma.

Ask "How can I help?" (spirit) instead of "What's in it for me?" (ego)

Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams.

Thoughts for a New Year

Many artists are motivated to set goals for their artistic development and careers, and quite a few have achieved them. Then the question pops up, "What next?" Do they set higher goals? More goals? Different goals? Each artist has a different response to these questions. One artist says that his retirement from his "day job" has changed his idea of goals. Now he is entering a phase of life that should allow him to enjoy his achievements, and he's finding that difficult. Seems like the inevitable end of life looms larger every day and the idea of setting goals becomes a quandary.

All of my life I've been goal-driven, and to a great extent I've been fortunate in achieving my goals. Then several years ago I realized my goals had changed dramatically–not the goals themselves, but the priority-ranking of each goal. Angeles Arrien writes of how to live the last half of our lives, and her discussion of the importance of "mentoring" made me see how my own direction has changed from personal achievement to freely sharing my knowledge and friendship with other artists of all ages and skill levels. While I have always done this in my teaching, I feel an urgency now that I wasn't aware of before. The most amazing thing about it is that the more I share, the more complete I feel and the more connected with those I work with. Thus, mentoring now resides at the top of my list of goals.

For the past fifteen years I've traveled throughout the United States and Canada teaching workshops. From the start I felt compelled to bring my students together as a community of artists working to help each other learn and grow, instead of individuals seeking praise for making the best or biggest painting in the class. Now more than ever I sense the value of this approach, and I am almost overwhelmed by the responses of my students and those who use my books and web site. My thanks to all who express your appreciation in your emails. It helps to keep me going.

In the light of the events of recent years I've been trying, like everyone else, to sort out how I feel, how to react, what to do. At this moment I realize the best I can do is to keep on mentoring and sharing what I know and love. I hope others will do the same. We still need goals, and these will be different for all of us, but high on the list should be the promise to respect others as we wish to be respected. Art is a labor of love, not just artists loving their art, but loving one another. Please, put this at the top of your list of goals.

Happy New Year!

Getting it right

Thirty-five years ago--I remember it as thought it were yesterday--I asked my watercolor instructor how to fix a muddy passage in my picture. He replied, "Get it right the first time." Those were the good old days of watercolor when we honored the white paper, used no white or black paint, added no collage, and didn't mix media. We've come a long way, baby. Or have we? I made that same statement today in a class critique, hoping to create awareness of the beauty of a directly painted, fresh section of a painting compared to an overworked passage in the same picture. From the viewpoint of the class they looked the same, but at closer range, there was a world of difference. These days painting is much like everything else--it doesn't matter how you get there, as long as it works. Somehow this doesn't ring true to me. There is nothing like an elegant brushstroke or a masterful color wash--and you know it at once when you see it. I hate to think that these traditional qualities could be completely lost as the watercolor societies become more and more open to acrylics-as-watercolor, watercolor-on-canvas, watercolor-and-collage and other contemporary techniques. It almost seems as though the permissiveness of our society has crept into the discipline of watercolor painting. To me nothing is more impressive than a well designed and masterfully executed watercolor and I'm grateful there are still a few national groups that honor this achievement. Striving to "get it right the first time" should be every watercolor painter's number one goal.