Compassionate Living

Sometimes it can feel like the whole world is in turmoil, especially with what we see and hear in the news and read in the newspaper. These truly are troubling times in our world for so many reasons, not the least of which is that many don't see eye to eye or truly seem to care about the horrible divisiveness that has permeated and taken hold among people everywhere. Our environment is being ransacked and exploited, and so many in the animal kingdom are suffering due to mans' abuse of land, air, and sea. The list goes on ...

I can't escape these depressing realities in our world, but, as an artist, I can, in a sense, create my own world of perpetual beauty and peace. I've always found great joy in drawing and painting, and my favorite subject matter has always been nature ~ plants and animals. When I create my miniature paintings, I can create any scene I want to create and express any mood I want to express. I enjoy painting most when I feel at peace and feel happy, because my artwork becomes infused with positive energy that I can send out into the world. Over the years, many of my customers have been kind enough to tell me that my little paintings bring them great happiness or a sense of peace...and their reactions to my artwork, in turn, brings me great joy.

 We all need to think about how we interact and affect others, but few people actually do that on a regular basis, being too focused on their own wants and needs, instead. Our world desperately needs a lot more genuine kindness and active compassion if we ever want to turn our issues around and survive as a species on a healthy, thriving planet. Is it too late? I don't think so, but each of us need to put our best selves forward and truly start caring about our friends and neighbors, and people who do not look or think as we may. And, we all need to discover ways to be more caring and compassionate right now.

For a long time, my blog posts have consisted mostly of photographs with very little writing. It's not that I haven't had anything to say and not that I don't ponder about many different things. My hope has been that by sharing what I find to be beautiful through photographs and artwork, that, if only for the brief time someone spends looking at a blog page, I might provide a temporary respite for the weary and brighten someone's day.

You don't have to be an artist who paints uplifting paintings or a photographer who takes pretty pictures to spread a little joy. Next time you are out in a public place, try looking others in the eye and smiling at several strangers you pass. Before you know it, you will find many people who are receptive to your gesture and automatically smile back. Then, they will smile at someone else, and so on and so on. It's a very simple thing to do that brings a bit of joy to anyone who participates by reciprocating a smile, and, then, in turn, smiles at someone else, starting a chain reaction of smiles and spreading a little bit of joy. A frivolous exercise with little meaning, you may think? My answer to that question is to try it and see how something so small can not only make you feel a little better, but anyone who reciprocates and spreads the smile on, feels a little better, too. A simple thing to do, yes … but it's the little things we do, the positive ways we choose to regularly interact, that can be the building blocks to living a compassionate life in which we all matter and all matter to one another.