A Simple Gift

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Iron string. Silver cord.

Trust thyself. Remember your Creator.

When the almond tree blossoms, trust. When your hair turns apple-blossom white, trust. When you are doing the thing you love, working with a heart vibrating, trust.

Trust that you are creating something beautiful.

Imagine the brush strokes, as Van Gogh created Almond Blossom.

I look at the painting, then close my eyes to imagine the feeling, talent pulsing from heart to fingertips, creating something so beautiful ...

... to give as a simple gift, a painting to hang in a child’s room.

After the birth of his nephew, Van Gogh wrote in a letter

to his mother, “... I started right away to make

a picture for him, to hang in their bedroom,

big branches of white almond blossom

against a blue sky.” Feb 20, 1890

 Today, my hair is apple-blossom white. I kept my hair a youthful shade of brown for 26 years, applied artificial color and highlights more than 260 times, spending an estimated 1081 hours of my lifetime covering true me. On the second Wednesday in March – 108 days ago – I asked my stylist to cut it at the growth line, to essentially shave my head. He gently refused, agreeing to cut it short, then later cut it again, then cut it again, and again until all that remains is true me – an almond blossom me.

How will I use the time I am not in the salon, dyeing my hair?

How will I use this time here on earth before the silver cord is severed and the golden bowl is broken?

I will use it to remember my Creator.

Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over.
Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends.
The body is put back in the same ground it came from.
The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.


Rw

Ecclesiastes 12


Enthusiasm by Mars Dorian
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. – Ralph Waldo Emerson  “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” is a great line from Emerson. If there’s no enthusiasm in what you do, it won’t be remarkable and certainly won’t connect with people on an emotional basis. But, if you put that magic energy into all of your work, you can create something that touches people on a deeper level. How can you bring MORE enthusiasm into your work? What do you have to think or believe about your work to be totally excited about it? Answer it now. MD