a peek inside what’s happening in my journal this week:
art journal page: willing to let it fall apart
she is showing me – letting go is beautiful and being willing to let it fall apart is not about giving up.
it’s just that we are not open to receive when we are grasping onto something. literally. imagine you are holding a coin in your hand. your hand is closed. you have to open your hand in order to receive more or even to use the coin or look at it. the only time we would hold on is if we’re afraid that there isn’t more coming.
we have to be willing to let go of the thing we want most.
there is a messiness in this that i am really in love with right now. and i think there is a lot more to say about this. so i’d love to hear from you – are you grasping or letting go or finding balance?
![](”http://www.abccreativity.com/images/creativedreamer.jpg")
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, Andrea. I love it. So so so proud of you and perpetually inspired by your growth. Love you, mama.
xo
thank knoxy. i love you!
A stunning page and powerful message.
I’m in Connie’s BIG Fearless painting class and she wrote about how letting go takes practice. It IS a practice! I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Holding on keeps me stuck, even when that place is a good one, it still means no growth. Falling apart, making messes all are viewed as such from one particular moment; later it may appear those were the points of change and transformation.
So yeah, if I want to keep growing, keep learning, spiral into my truth I have to let go and constantly surrender to process. Nothing stays the same. I think I am starting to really get that! To come together, things must first fall apart
Oh I struggle soooooo much with this. Creativity can only come from a place where we let go but so often I just don’t want to! I’m a beginner at it and I need to keep reminding myself of that but, damn, it’s tough sometimes!
thanks lis. “To come together, things must first fall apart” isn’t that kind of cool? because it can be so hard to try and hold everything together, it feels like a relief that we don’t actually have to hold it all together at all!
nicola yes it is tough sometimes! lots of times actually. i love this “Creativity can only come from a place where we let go”
dear andrea,
)
i love this, it is very beautiful, as what you say as what you paint.
there is a saying: there needs to be chaos to bear a star…so i love messiness…it organizes itself (at least this messiness, we are talking about here
all best for you,
stephanie.
thank you stephanie. “there needs to be chaos to bear a star” oh i love that. here’s to the messiness!! xoxo
andrea, i adore your honesty & brave brave soul!
willing to let it fall apart/wow! it’s beautiful cuz it’s real!
it’s funny/i tell myself lately i don’t have time to fall apart/
like it’s a luxury!
huge love!xox
that is funny rachel. like it’s a luxury. it kind of is! xoxoxoxo
Yep, this is very well put, honey. I think there is a widespread misconception out there regarding letting go or letting things come apart versus giving up or losing, etc. I find that really interesting, given that my experience has shown me quite the opposite. Someone just said something to me the other day (given a few interesting turns in my life) more or less warning me that I’d better be careful not to colour too far outside the lines for too long, that I’d better make sure I can return to ‘normality’. What’s interesting – as I see many people experiencing a real shift right now – is that we don’t all wish to return to what we were previous to this shift. Frankly, most of us don’t. We’re hurtling towards all sorts of things at an unprecedented pace. And yes, it’s a fragile time for many. But it’s also very transformative and POWERFUL. We’re not surrendering or giving up. We’re moving forward with audacity and authenticity. We’re going for what we really want.
xo
meg i love what you’ve said. thank you.
*sigh*
I heart you so hard.
I am off to quote large chunks of this in a blog post. Yup.
This is exactly what I have had going on this week. Exactly.
i heart you back!
really hearing you on this & loving the idea of falling apart
kind of ties in for me with ideas of life cycles, yearly cycles, and so on. That old stuff has to decay away so we can plant wonderful new things in it. Otherwise we get stagnation – which is inside that ‘ol comfort zone but not very nourishing. I fel as though I am CONSTANTLY updating and entering new growth phases and letting old relationships, situations, beliefs and ideas fall away. When that fails to happen for some reason I really notice it. & Meg I find a lot of people don’t get how beautiful that is, letting things slide past rather than hanging on desperately with a fixed smile and an illusion of control.
My biggest letting go & one I come back to often is the need to be making or doing. The deep passive stillness that is the reward is one of my greatest & most fulfilling joys.
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