truth..

or dare?... for me the ultimate dare is the ultimate truth. i spent the majority of my life keeping my own truth inside. only saying what i thought others wanted to hear. only saying what i thought would be accepted and admired. keeping the honest and authentic stuff for whispered conversations with myself.
but no more. i'm surrounding myself with the color of truth (blue) and paying much more attention to my throat chakra. i'm challenging myself daily to not only speak my truth, but to hear it in the first place. this takes listening ears. i have to hear from the inside, even more than the outside, to really know what's true for me. this is vital, because if i don't know it for myself, then how can i communicate it to others?
and you know what's really freeing? truth is far from absolute. what's true for me, may not be true for you. and that's okay. as long as you know yours and i know mine and we're meeting in a place of gorgeous authenticity. what more could we ask? as far as i'm concerned, real honesty is where love resides. love of self and love of other.
so get ready - i'm about to point out when you have a booger in your nose or b.o. or a bad haircut. well, just kidding. if that's what you think this is about, go back and read it again. and then hang out with yourself on occasion to think about what truth is for you. what's your definition? can you make a list of some truths? how easy is it for you to communicate it to others? maybe you're one of those people whose truth fits you like a good pair of jeans. you provoke both hope and envy in me. but i'm on my way. i want that kind of freedom.
yes, and so be it.

art

think of how much art is a part of our world - there's art in smart, tart, start, partition, mart, fart, participate, dart, arthritis, earth, warthog, part, cart, parthenon, artichoke, farthing, party, chart, BART, partner, and heart. can you add some more words to the list? i'd like to know all of them, please.
and then there are other important things to say about art...

i define art as 'the outward expression of the inward experience'. too often we get hung up on thinking there's a certain way to do it or a certain outcome that's expected; we need training in technique; we need to sell or publish before we're 'legit'. well, those are just the stories flying around in our heads. i used to believe them, but not anymore. the truth is, if you have something to say or draw or cook or paint or write or knit or dance or sing or play or bake or build or sculpt or mold or sew or, or, or...
yep, that makes you an artist. putting something 'out there' that's 'in there' is all it takes, and that's the only story that's true. i love participating in and observing the creation of art. everyone's life-process is unique and there's so much to express.
so, as you jump in to more of you, see what leaks out. maybe it's a silly poem or a crazy-happy-dance or a deep, dark secretive painting, or a scrumptious cake-a-dilly delight. it's all good, and you will know yourself just a bit better for having put something observable out there. art - artist - artistic - artistically - artisticallyfragilisticexpialidocious!