The beauty in ife is the meaning we bring to it, the creative languages, nature, those we support and those we love. Beauty is the salve that vacillates our longevity, supports our will, shines a light for waning hope.

The striving to do better and to be better is a process of discovery, a curiosity of finding what satiates the mind and body, regulating emotion during the ups and downs of living life. It is within this process of seeking that we learn who we are, matching thought and emotion with doing: creating beauty and finding meaning.

In the thick of adversity, one finds what matters, what uplifts and brings us to a place of clarity that eases the way forward. This profundity sheds light upon our darkest times, allowing us to see through the fog of mind and emotion, smoothing the truths of reality so that we may best move on. It is through times of hardships that we find who we are, where we see our strengths and better our weaknesses. To be still within the midst of beauty, be it nature, words or the hand created, provides us with the deepest opportunities of respite and resolve: pulling deep the intuitive universe within.

The evidence of the hand in creativity cannot be fully replicated, in fact it is expanded by the story of the maker, how they create and why. In this world of the instantaneous, the depth of the maker’s story brings a level of intimacy to the already physically intimate object, a connection of hand, eye and emotion.

Within an architectural building are spaces divided, filled with objects layered with memories, some of utility and others of pure beauty. It is here in these cubed spaces we build our lives, defined by language and deepened by emotion. Our ways of living are intuitive, brought from the gut and our traditions of history. When we are mindful, we know what brings us joy and expand upon it, smoothing our passing forward. Life is difficult, our time here, finite, to create change and beauty as life allows builds lasting results for generations to come.

Naming clouds and their shapes are a forgotten favorite, left to childhood pastimes and memories of a slower and simpler time, or seemingly so then. There is a forgotten simplicity that we unwittingly left behind, forsaken for the hopes of the new, complex and the quick. We know of what we’ve lost, its residue is still upon our lips, now only spoken of fondly as if unretrievable, as if because time moves forward we cannot look to the past, salvaging what we need.

The influence of nature over all we create is profound, sometimes obvious, often subtle, floating up from our subconscious mind and deepest intuition. We create from which we are born, that which encompasses our DNA, filtering through our pores and escaping through our nightly dreams. All that we create is somewhat autobiographic, what we see and experience is a part of us, as we consume and then expel.

Life behaves very much like water, it can be still and deep as night or thunderous as a Summer’s storm. We live in difficult times and seek out the opposite, the calm within the storm, solace within our homes. It seems as though we have little control, except for our selves and how we live, what we surround ourselves with, and whom.

An object, whether a bowl or painting is not separate from the interior where it’s placed, nor separate from the language used to describe, and most certainly not from the person experiencing it. There is a thread that ties person, place and thing and even language, and that is emotion. We are emotional beings, which is why beauty has its place within our lives, instinctively we are drawn, pulled, deep from the gut.

Human kind and nature are both part of the same life affirming system, both inspire by way of beauty and awe, mystery and innate determination of will. We share the same space and oxygen, while communicating deeply with our own language, nurturing our ailing neighbor as we nurture our selves. To the winds of change and adversity we bend and sway, reaching for light, change within the patterns of seasons.

The world is a menagerie of experiences, full of beauty, wonder and even at times, overwhelm. One of these experiences, is color. Color can be experienced sparingly in a minimalist painting or a valley of poppies lavished in splendor. We are identified by the color of our hair, eyes and skin and enhance them by the colors in our clothes. Color can dominate our attention or soothe when we are in need, it can make us salivate or bring tears to our eyes.

The items we choose to collect hold memories of time, reminding us of our past while inspiring days to come. They support us in their utility and ease us in their beauty, heirlooms to the future coming.

Often I think about the work of creative minds, those who create physical work but also those who create with words. The creative mind inspires creative deeds, what has been created is not in fact in and of itself, it impacts those who use it, those who view and consume. The creative efforts of many, push the will of the mind and uplifts the spirit of mood, easing the body forward, moment to moment. We are biologically attuned to beauty and continue to build our world within it, while simultaneously trying to save it. We are creative beings, living in a created world.

Being present takes a willingness to see what’s around us, the simple and complex, the beautiful and the ugly. Seeing what’s in front of us guides us to what’s to come, opens us up to reality, to what’s possible. By being present we see our choices more clearly, we see and create beauty, building what we wish to see around us and in the future.

If it brings you joy, go there, run.

We are living in very difficult times. I am tired of writing that but there it is, here we are and perhaps sadly, for awhile. I don’t like writing this nor do I like the way it makes me feel: frustrated, worried and even sad. My hope wanes. My good intentions seem to fade beneath the noise of media and my overactive brain that tries to keep me safe. I continually go back to what’s familiar, the traditions of family, the objects that I collect, my creative work, all the things that bring me joy .