Hey, You're Not The Boss of Me!

"If you hear a voice within you say

"you cannot paint,"

then by all means paint, 

and that voice will be silenced.

Vincent Van Gogh

The radiant young woman stated she taught a meditative painting class.  She apologetically  shared facts about her background which did not include art classes.  She also minimized the meditations she used as they were her own, not some well known person.  No, she wasn't a writer, she made clear.

Why do we do that?  Why in a vulnerable moment do we share a passion of ours then spend wasted minutes convincing the listener we are no good.  I was drawn to this young woman, and I wanted to know more.  She again began to back pedal telling me all of the things wrong with her class.  I finally interrupted her and aggressively said, "I don't want to hear those parts!  I want to hear what prompted you to do this! "  Pleasure slithered across her face.  She then shared how she had visualized painting for years, and imagined having a private space to create.  She was innocently endearing.

Divine Spirit prompts us, gives us nudges towards unexplored areas of our lives that would bring us joy or pleasure.  It is not as though we would need to master these areas, but to experience them.  Then ego jumps in with dripping negativity, squashing the desire and squelching the excitement.  This is when we need to raise our voice to ego and say, "Hey, you're not the boss of me!"

When a splendid idea flits across our mind, we need to pay attention.  We can reduce it to a manageable size so we can begin right away or we can enlarge the idea, expanding it into true passion.  The key is to follow through at any level possible.  Start little until a mentor appears or a reasonable class to share the basics becomes available.  Whether it is music, painting, or writing, when we raise our awareness, opportunities unfold.