June 21, 2013 In art, life and the universe, photography By Patricia Saxton

Hello Summertime

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Hello Summer, welcome back around! Time for flip-flops and fireflies, barbecues and flying kites and lemonade stands and wading through woodland creeks. Time for the surf and sand and long afternoon shadows glimmering on the lawn. Time for dreaming on stars and watching blades of grass grow; for listening to crickets chatter and mourning doves coo; for lazing in a hammock (note to self: get a hammock) and eating fresh berries and seeing who can spit their watermelon seeds the farthest. Bees buzz, foxes prowl, flowers bloom, brooks babble, sprinklers water children. Days are longer, nights are sweeter. Ahhh … summer!

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June 15, 2013 In art, branding, communication, creativity, design, drawing, illustration, imagination, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

The Pencil

A modest and unassuming tool, the pencil has witnessed global events, mapped grand expeditions, documented scientific discoveries; it has chronicled famous lifetimes and private journeys; it is an artist’s companion, and is ever patient in the hands of a child learning to write or a poet listening for illumination.

The pencil quietly observes, renders, and calculates, and from the slightest stroke to the boldest pressure, its touch can bring the magnificent and fantastical to life, leaping from a blank white page in great passionate detail.

With pencil in hand, stories are written, stars dreamed upon, ideas and equations scribbled ~ and its only vulnerability ~ revealing the pencil’s tender heart, and reminding us that it comes from Mother Earth ~ are the charcoal smudges made by the smear of a hand, or how cleverly it can disappear with a simple eraser.

A more loyal, trusting tool I’ve never known. Even if you break it in two, it still works! And, ah, what imaginative beginnings can be stirred by the humble pencil… a marvelous instrument indeed. :  )

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From Patricia Saxton’s “Pencil Point Series”, a long-runnng self-promotional campaign based on her logo and favorite tool, the #2 pencil.

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June 12, 2013 In creativity, design, imagination, inspiration, intelligence, life and the universe, philosophy By Patricia Saxton

Positive Dissension

That’s an important sounding title, eh. If I think of a better one I’ll change it, but right now I just want to get on with it… which is, that certain ideas take hold in the mind, get tossed around and shared and pretty soon become part of a mass consciousness. Hearing, speaking or seeing something with enough repetition often becomes “truth” to a great many people. Kind of like how advertising works (well, a LOT like how advertising works), and politics (but I won’t, WILL NOT, go there…) ~ both are selling concepts, often cloaked in a happy disguise, to as broad a base as possible, hoping for buy in.

It doesn’t mean that these concepts are necessarily dark and evil ~ it just means that the thought form that’s being repeatedly projected has the opportunity to “stick” in our minds and become a “belief”. Once that happens, it can be hard to shake without something dramatic flaring up in our face, affecting us in a personal way. (The same goes for things we learn at home and in school, whether positive or negative, and while usually even more influential, it’s on a smaller scale, not a “mass consciousness” level.) And you know all this, but I’m on a roll, so …

Some people are content to go with the consensus, to follow popular thought processes. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m not one of them. It’s fortunate, because it gives me the sense that I have control of my thoughts. It’s unfortunate because it can lead to too much “thinking”, which, trust me, isn’t the easy way to skip down the road of life. I can probably blame my parents, for the genetics as well as the lessons, because while I don’t remember them specifically saying “always question authority”, we were taught to “think for ourselves”.  I’ve been a good girl in that regard.

Which leads to my positive dissent. Catch-phrases, meant to explain or alleviate our troubles or help us navigate to a more fulfilling life, can be powerful if they’ve withstood the test of time ~ but some, if not tested, can lead us astray. Like armchair psychology. It gets in the air, we start spouting off without having truly considered them.  Again it’s not necessarily bad, it’s just that it can lead us on a much twistier path. Of course, we all follow our own path, and I make no judgment. Just my viewpoint.

So, there are two of these phrases that recently prompted this whole rambling essay I’ve embarked on. 1.) “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist, and 2.) The idea that you have to be out of your comfort zone to experience magic.

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First one. A friend posed this Coelho quote as a true-or-not-true question, and everyone was commenting with “oh yes, most definitely!” Then I chimed in as a dissenter. (And let me also add that Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is one of my favorite books of all time. But the notion that fear of failure is the sole reason for unrealized dreams just rubs me all the wrong ways). I don’t believe this is true!

There are many inhibiting factors, all kinds of blocks – intellectual, emotional, spiritual, physical – real or nurtured – that can inhibit actualization of dreams, and fear of failure is a big one, but, in my opinion, certainly not the only. There are also lots of dreams that may even not be associated with fear or failure, just as there are those that actually have fear or failure at its core. Too many variables to chalk it up to this very common, and I think, easy, reasoning. I don’t buy it.

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Second one. Yes, it’s great to venture out of one’s comfort zone. It leads to breakthroughs of all kinds, personal growth, opportunities you’d not have crossed, new doors opening, wonderful people and experiences you might not otherwise have known, and perhaps even magic and miracles. But do you have to go >>> over there to experience magic? I say no.

One of the most incredibly powerful actions we can take is to shift our thoughts. “Yea, yea, right”, some say – “that’s too simplified, it doesn’t take into account my circumstances and struggles and strifes; it’s not that easy. That’s a bunch of pie in the sky mumbo-jumbo, you don’t really understand how it is for me.”

Well, yes, it IS simplified ~ and that’s part of the beauty!

For the naysayers, I suggest trying it. Realllly try it. Miracles, magic, or wonderful changes (to keep it sounding real), can occur from where you sit. From a place where you DO feel comfortable, at ease and strong. You don’t have to go out on a limb and dangle with trepidation. You can do that too, and still get awesome results, but my point is that you don’t have to. You DO, however, have to change how and what you think. Thoughts, as I’m apt to say a lot, so forgive my chant, are very powerful. And just like collective, or “mass” consciousness, the more umph and energy and clarity and conviction ~ and the more repetition ~ behind a thought, the more power it holds. There is magic there.

And now I’ll get off my soapbox, but leave you with this, which I do believe to be true.

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Choose your words carefully and think well!  ~  Patricia

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June 8, 2013 In appreciation, inspiration, life and the universe By Patricia Saxton

Waking the Warrior Within

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I think I’ve got my mojo back.

Of course, in all honesty, I hadn’t realized it’d been missing. But you can get into a certain life rhythm that over time, and without your awareness or your consent, flattens certain elements of yourself. Some of it seems to happen out of necessity ~ for example, I’d be dappled in oil paint in a room full of canvasses if I weren’t so concerned about keeping a roof overhead; I’d be writing more poetry and making more music and probably doing a lot more for others. And I’m all too aware how much I miss those things – they’re very much part of my fabric, my DNA I guess, and my spirit thirsts for them. And they’ve had to be patient in recent years; they’ve had to “flatten” while my focus needs to be elsewhere.

But that’s not mojo. That’s about time constraints and practicality. Mojo (good mojo) usually describes a someone being “in their groove”, everything going their way.  And that’s true. But to me it’s also an energy that fuels your core, that pushes you to stand up straighter and speak with more conviction and act with more confidence and be more decisive and set more boundaries and to say, “this is my space, my energy, and I will use it well and protect it and respect it and nobody’s gonna mess with it.”  It’s an essence, that feeds all your other actions and behaviors. It means you feel in sync with the strength of your spirit.

So how did I get mine back? I’d been sensing a shift in my world. Perhaps even looking for something to kick that shift into gear. Well, I may have found it, literally, by kicking.

Last week I took my first ever kick-boxing class. Aside from the awesome workout (which I, and my very different set of swimmer muscles survived, thank you very much), as a testament to the many benefits of hard-core exercise, I felt something more than muscles awakening. I felt my inner warrior rising up from what I can only describe as a foggy nap.

This warrior has been there all along, sometimes full-on, sometimes at rest, but I recognized her almost instantly. “Hello! There you are ~ welcome back!”

I’ve always liked this warrior side. She’s staunch in her beliefs about right and wrong, positives and negatives, and fiercely adamant about being true to your best self and letting your light shine. She seems even taller than usual and doesn’t tolerate bullshit. (pardon my French). She’s got your back.

And the lesson for me was simple ~ Sometimes you have to change stride and shake things up to feel your mojo kick in and your inner spiritual warrior step out.

Kick-boxing class, I’ll be back…!

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June 6, 2013 In creativity, design, illustration, inspiration, work and play By Patricia Saxton

A Plethora of P’s / #24: Priorities

proactively punctuating life with the plausible, powerful possibilities of positive thought presented through a plethora of “P’s”.

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I’ve posted this before … wait, this is really crazy, I literally just noticed that I posted it on exactly the same day last time – June 6. WOW. Just wow. Whew! Okay, clearly I’m feeling the same as I did then, and the need to re-post this message. And maybe this time I’ll learn! I’ve also been hearing an awful lot of grumblings “out there” of a similar kind of discontent, a desire to pull in some reins. So maybe this will hit home with some of you. Here is P#24, once more:

So much to do. So many things to check off the list, people to see, plans to make, meetings to attend, bills to pay, rooms to clean, cars to fix; on and on and on it goes.

So, after we pause, and become present, and before we decide to persevere, it’s a great idea to welcome in the wonderfully practical notion of prioritizing. To take a moment of clarity and think: really, and truly, what’s worth our time. To consider what we “have to do” vs. what we “want to do” ~ and within those needs and wants, what will give us the most peace, the most value, the most satisfaction. Today, tomorrow, at the end of the road.

I’m talking both about the daily priorities ~ those that help us be productive and get us through the day without everything a.) colliding, or b.) wasting our time, or c.) back-firing ~ and “life” priorities. At the end of the day, what will give you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction?

Sometimes, for both the daily and the bigger-picture-of-life viewpoints, less really is more. Quality beats quantity. The world is moving so fast … so fast. It doesn’t have to make us crazy in the process. Much more than we may acknowledge simply depends on our priorities.

What are you going to choose to give your attention to?

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June 2, 2013 In appreciation, life and the universe By Patricia Saxton

Saved by the Bulb

I had no intention of going downstairs that night. Having felt relief that the furnace had been fixed and the weather turned pleasant, I was enjoying some well-deserved time outdoors.

But the universe moves in mysterious ways.

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If I hadn’t noticed that the light was out in the hallway; if I hadn’t been compelled to go downstairs to get a replacement bulb; if I’d waited even half an hour longer; God forbid, if I’d waited til the next morning…. the damage from a runaway hose on the water heater would have been much more than a huge ordeal, it could have been an even bigger disaster, ruining paintings, electrical equipment, and I hate to think what else.

That’s not to say that the removal of carpeting and walls and about 5 hours of steadily running water hasn’t been a problem. But somewhere in this, perhaps some blessings too.

Maybe it was just “life”, just another trial and tribulation, cause for cursing and a whole lot of aggravation and time spent on something I didn’t have time for – or maybe it was something that averted a potentially worse event (I’ll never know, and that’s okay!) – but for whatever reason, the water flowed like a river where a river doesn’t belong, and made me take note.

Water symbolizes fluidity. When restricted, it doesn’t flow ~ and then when released, like a broken dam it bursts and gushes and overflows, spoiling everything in its path. There’s a lesson there, and it wasn’t lost on me.

And hey, over the past week I’ve learned that PSE&G backed up their words with action – they were there for me. I learned something about pressure valves, met some of the local firemen, and through them, a great team of restoration and damage repair guys. The carpet I’ve been wanting to change just found an instant answer and all this took my mind off the cicada onslaught.

Of course, between the cicada’s incessant whir outside and the drying fans inside, it’s a surround-sound experience I could do without. And the flooded area is a long way from being put back together. But it’s sorting itself out ~ and because it could have been worse, I probably have to say I’ve never been so happy to feel the urge to change a lightbulb. Who knew it could prevent calamity?

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May 28, 2013 In appreciation, inspiration, life and the universe, photography By Patricia Saxton

When Flowers Bloom

I love spring! It may sound corny, but I’m over-the-moon when everything turns green, when everything’s new and fresh and full of wonder. I love going barefoot. I love hearing the birds singing their little hearts out, the squirrels skittering, the crickets cricket-ing. I love getting a little dirt under my nails. And when flowers bloom ~ flowers are, after all, the superstars of springtime ~ my cares feel lighter, my heart and all the world a little brighter.

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May 25, 2013 In art, inspiration, intelligence, life and the universe, philosophy By Patricia Saxton

No Exceptions

Funny how the right combination of words on the right day can cut through all sorts of rubbish. There have been many phrases that have spoken to me over my long years of admiring quotes, but right then and there, this one kind of shouted.

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This isn’t to say I’m personally looking to start wearing big, red feathered hats. (I do love hats, but they tend to feel like a bit of a ball and chain, a cumbersome accessory that you have to hold if the wind blows.) But it does mean you get on with things. With gusto. No hiding behind ancient lessons of modesty (to the point of it being a flaw, not an asset), or memories of insecurity (too tall, too skinny, too short, too fat, not enough this or not enough that), or playing down your virtues to avoid someone else possibly feeling “less than” (after all, it’s very possible to be all you can be without being brazen or inconsiderate or creating psychological torment in others).

We all have merits and strengths just as we have faults and weaknesses. To hell with the latter. Why give them any more muscle. As I’ve heard somewhere along the way, we ought to afford ourselves the same benefit of good lighting that we often give to a painting on the wall. And do it now. Today. No exceptions.

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May 20, 2013 In art, design, inspiration, life and the universe By Patricia Saxton

Amelia’s Wisdom

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On May 20, 1932, Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland and nearly 15 hours later landed in Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

I applaud her courage, her sass, her confidence, her skill, and her devotion to a dream!

And that’s all I was going to say. Except then this thought came along for the ride…. that sometimes I feel like we’re all flying, flying through time and space, yet we’re moving from one thing to the next with an odd sense of urgency, like an almost directionless wave. Are we piloting, or going wherever the wind propels us ~ and in the end, does it even matter?

Amelia had a goal, for which she was very clear and very determined. Her eye was on the prize; nothing deterred her vision. Distractions were temporary ~ in contrast to today’s practically full-time, ongoing societal movement of distraction and sense of go-go-go to the next thing, the next chore, the next gadget, the next appointment, the next video, the next news cycle, the next facebook post that will fill in the void created in the five minutes between.

When do we sleep? When do we sit still and just be? Talk with a friend?  It’s almost as though those things have become diversions. I find that sad. I also find it true. And I also feel grateful that I have at least a couple of personal outlets that take me away from the frantic “gotta do this” mentality – a mentality which is very real, but also a manufactured product resulting from the marvel of technology allowing us to access everything NOW. We’re like little children who want to stay up so we don’t miss anything. We’re like subscribers to a virtual Life Magazine, interested mainly in the quick pictures.

And so we tell ourselves, oh, who cares about the cobwebs creeping down the walls, there’s no time for that. We get pulled in, sucked in (whooshing sound – can’t you hear it?), carried into the current. And time goes by without our noticing. It literally seems to fly – but not the same kind of dedicated flight Amelia ventured upon; not at all. And is that good or is it bad? Is it just different?

Is it harder to have focused goals like Amelia Earhart had, when we are driven to distraction in modern daily life? (Not counting those wealthy enough to hire others to handle the mundane.) Goals were simpler, “cleaner” way back when. Farmers sowed seeds in one season, harvested in another. Granted, that was hard work, certainly no walk in the park, but now it’s as if hoeing and tilling and sowing and harvesting and reaping are simultaneous actions, and then everyone needs to broadcast and re-broadcast their progress so the world will know that their tomatoes are the best tomatoes ~ because by tonight, something else will have our attention.

Time will tell… but I know that I need to do something organic everyday to counterbalance all the time spent electronically, that computerized place that’s “open all night”, around the clock, every day of the year, for business or play. There is a great usefulness there, and I value that, but I think it’s all too easy to lose sight of one’s own “prize” in the process. So I need to walk away now and then, whether it’s to pull a few weeds from the garden, play a few notes on the piano, draw, swim, stop and pet my cats. Spend some time with myself, the core me, not the “what am I going to share next with the world” me. Meditate. Stay away from my to-do lists.

It’s just hard to find the time… but I’m going to go do that very thing right now. An hour should do it. Maybe I’ll start by contemplating Amelia’s wisdom. Or maybe I’ll just thank Amelia for reminding us that we can do anything we set out to do, and then go feed the birds and not think at all.

ps: Sorry for getting all off base here from the original intent of a quick, light post, but sometimes it spills out and I’m not going to change it because I’m now on a bird-watching mission.

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