the life of a public school art teacher is one of intense expenditures of energy all week, and weekends of enforced rest and recuperation! weekdays, I pour much of my creative energy into the minds and hearts of children. on weekends, i give myself the “required luxury” of time to catch up on sleep, a quiet hour of reflection, and only then, i can turn my own mind and heart to the making of my creative work. i have been exploring BLISS lately.
i have begun meditating with a generic mantra and find moments when my small world dissolves. an overwhelming sense of joy washes over me physically, though it just lasts a few seconds, and disappears if i mentally lunge toward it. then, after i’ve acclimated to realizing it’s gone, an image blossoms in the projection screen of my mind. it is almost always a mandala – a radiating kaleidoscopic image of color and/or form. since i meditate before i sleep, i often drift into semi-consciousness with this image growing in my brain. when i awaken, the image is always gone, but the FEELING remains. that is when i go to my studio and begin work, or sit in my recliner recording ideas with pen on paper.
