9.16.24

Thought

She is a queen

A goddess with a briar rose tiara in her untamed hair

And a sword on her hip

Just try and stop her

And passion-like vines reach out for a hand

Tendrils of rage

Unravel, untangle

It is astounding

It is like magic

Each day unfolds a new leaf

And deep within it

A synchronized dance of old roots and new growth

Watered carefully wit the sea salt rain of yesterday.

– Excerpt from Sarah Tea “Brujita”

Quote

Nietzsche on creation: 

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”

Moment of Gratitude 

Today I’m just grateful.

What are you grateful for today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

9.9.24

Thought

But the whole point about biology is that the earliest forms of life, mainly plants, were related to the light of the sun. All life on Earth is dependent not on merely terrestrial events, but on our relation to the sun and the wider cosmic environment. Even carbon and the other chemical elements on which biological life depends is fallout from exploding starts. Biology on Earth is rooted in a much larger ecology. I don’t think the evolution of life on Earth can be regarded as merely terrestrial, merely biological in that sense. Every human culture has recognised the importance of celestial influences of one kind or another: the sun, the moon, the planets, the stars, the sky. Influences from outside the Earth are working on us all the time. The transcendental object may be located or channeled through the sun, other stars, planets or constellations: something to do with the astronomical environment.

– Rupert Sheldrake, The Evolutionary Mind

Quote

Picasso on the transformative power of creation: 

“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun.”

Intention of the Day 

Today my intention is to show loving kindness to everyone I interact with.

What’s your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

9.2.24

Thought

Well I’m a product of my experience, surely, of what I have seen and known of the world. I’ve had, by the way, what I think of as a very fortunate growing up. On the basis of my experience, trusting my own perceptions, I don’t see any validity in the separation of man and the landscape. Oh, I know that the notion of alienation is very widespread, in a sense very popular. But I think it’s an unfortunate point of view and a false one, where the relationship between man and earth is concerned. Certainly it is one of the great afflictions of our time, this conviction of alienation, separation and isolation.

– N. Scott Momaday, The Magic of Words

Quote

Osho on creation: 

“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”

Moment of Gratitude 

I’m grateful for long road trips and country roads.

What are you grateful for today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

8.26.24

Thought

And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free? If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead. You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed. For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their own pride? And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you. And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.

– Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Quote

Rumi on self sufficiency: 

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”

Moment of Gratitude 

I’m grateful everyday for the opportunity to learn and to create.

What are you grateful for today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

8.19.24

Thought

The ecstatic is our compass, pointing to our true north. It arises genuinely in the process of creation. You’re working and struggling, and suddenly you notice a shift. A revelation. A small tweak is made, a new angle is revealed, and it takes your breath away.

This epiphany is the heart of creativity. It’s something we feel in our whole body. It causes us to snap to attention and quicken our heartbeat, or to laugh in surprise. It gives us a glimpse of a higher ideal, opening new possibilities in us that we didn’t know were there. It is so invigorating that it makes all of the laborious, less interesting parts of the work worth doing.

– Rick Rubin, The Creative Act

Quote

Kurt Vonnegut on creation: 

“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”

Intention of the Day 

My intention today is to release things that aren’t serving me and to live in the moment.

What is your intention today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

8.12.24

Thought

Consciousness exists on two levels: as seeds and as manifestations of those seeds. Suppose we have a seed of anger in us. When conditions are favorable, that seed may manifest as a zone of energy called anger. It is burning, and it makes us suffer a lot. It is very difficult for us to be joyful at the moment the seed of anger manifests.

Every time a seed has an occasion to manifest itself, it produces new seeds of the same kind. If we are angry for five minutes, new seeds of anger are produced and deposited in the soil of our unconscious mind during those five minutes. That is why we have to be careful in selecting the kind of life we lead and the emotions we express. When I smile, the seeds of smiling and joy have come up. As long as they manifest, new seeds of smiling and joy are planted. But if I don’t practice smiling for a number of years, that seed will weaken, and I may not be able to smile anymore.

–Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step

Quote

The Buddha on anger: 

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

Moment of Gratitude 

I’m grateful that I get to see one of my art pieces in a group exhibition in New York this week.

What are you grateful for today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

8.5.24

Thought

If you have the guts to follow the risk, however, life opens, opens, opens up all along the line. I’m not superstitious, but I do believe in spiritual magic, you might say. I feel that if one follows what I call one’s “bliss” - the thing that really gets you deep in the gut and that you feel is your life - doors will open up. They do! They have in my life and they have in many lives that I know of.

Theres a wonderful paper by Schopenhauer, called “An Apparent Intention of the Fate of the Individual,” in which he points out that when you are at a certain age - the age I am now - and look back over your life, it seems to be almost as orderly as a composed novel. And just as in Dickens’ novels, little accidental meetings and so forth turn out to be the main features in the plot, so in your life. And what seem to have been mistakes at the time, turn out to be directive crises. And then he asks: “Who wrote this novel?”

– Joseph Campbell, An Open Life

Quote

Alan Watts on myth: 

“The myths underlying our culture and underlying our common sense have not taught us to feel identical with the universe, but only parts of it, only in it, only confronting it - aliens.”

Moment of Gratitude 

I’m grateful for time spent away from the internet and constant news cycle to reset.

What are you grateful for today? 

Happy Monday,

Val

7.29.24

Thought

As a general matter we find it hard to be really at home with things that shine and glitter. The Westerner uses silver and steel and nickel tableware, and polishes it to a fine brilliance, but we object to the practice. While we do sometimes indeed use silver for teakettles, decanters, or sake cups, we prefer not to polish it. On the contrary, we begin to enjoy it only when the luster has worn off, when it has begun to take on a dark, smoky patina.

– Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows 

Quote

Rabindranath Tagore on beauty: 

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

Moment of Gratitude 

I’m grateful that I got to spend some inspiring time with loved ones traveling to Mexico and Senegal this summer.

What are you grateful for today? 

Happy Monday,

Val