Returning to Life at Last

Spring is here and I'm wallowing in her warmth even while wishing for more rain to nourish the thirsty earth. The past few weeks have been a time of reflection and appreciation. One quote that is floating through my mind is the following from the little book LET EVENING COME: REFLECTIONS ON AGING by Mary C. Morrison. She quotes another writer, Olga Lamkert as saying: "We do not live life; life lives us." That's an interesting perspective - and I can readily see where events and circumstances in my life have often formed my life rather than me forming the circumstances and events to my choice or will... She goes on to say, "Childhood lives us; maturity lives us, old age lives us." Indeed. Yet we still have free will and the ability to choose the perspective from which we view life.

Morrison concludes the chapter by writing, "Pay attention to what you do so you can find out who you are; and try to say goodbye to the old self that wants to make the world meet its demands. For those who will do this work, a new way of being, a new 'me,' is accessible, and available - one that becomes at home in the world, and more and more the old, lost me of childhood."

"Pay attention to what you do wo you can find out who you are..." For the artist, this is especially relevant, but it is so for all. When I gaze about the studio, presently rather tidy, I see evidence of who am I and who I have been. Now I'm wondering - what is next? what will I begin to create? who am I becoming? Life is an adventure in self-discovery, is it not? Saying goodbye to the old self that tries to control outcomes and experimenting with the self that explores, wanders, dallies over the wild and the mundane - that seems to me to be an adventure worth pursuing.