“Grandma, how do you cope with pain?”
“With your hands, honey. If you do it with your mind instead of relieving the pain, it toughens even harder.”
“With your hands grandma?”
“Yes, our hands are the antennae of our soul. If you move them; knitting, cooking, painting, playing or sinking them into the ground, you send care signs to the deepest part of you and your soul lights up because you’re paying attention to it. Then signs of pain will no longer be necessary.”
“Hands are really that important?”
“Yes my daughter. Think of babies: they start to know the world through the touch of their hands. If you look at the hands of old people, they tell you more about their life than any body part. Everything that is done by hand is said to be done with the heart. Because it’s really like this: hands and heart are connected. Masseurs know well: when they touch someone with their hands, they create a deep connection. It is precisely from this connection that healing comes. Think of lovers: when they touch their hands, they make love in a more sublime way.”
“My hands grandma.... how long I haven’t used them like this!”
“Move them, my love. Begin to create with them and everything within you will begin to move. The pain will not pass away. And instead what you do with them will become the most beautiful masterpiece and it won’t hurt anymore. Because you have been able to transform its essence.”
~Elena Bernabe
When the quarantine broke into reality, I felt like I was in a game of musical chairs and I was the last person standing. Not to mention, I've always hated that game. But I felt a sense of fear and a sense of being left out, living at the top of a mountain and working already all winter in the garage turned studio. Then I read something from a workshop led by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes back in October. She explained that in Spanish, Esperanza means hope. But it also means wait. There I was. And there it was. The emptiness. The hope. The waiting. The STUDIO. I wandered in and looked around at all my parts and parts. And I decided instead of saying I HAVE to do this hard thing, I GET to do this and to get curious and get to work (okay, play). Can you relate to this in your own journey? Soon, I was running practically to get into the studio and see what the day would bring. I still do.
This is what I mean by ART really does SAVE. I shudder to think where I would be without it these past few months. I hope you have been finding those moments in things you do where your soul lights up because you're paying attention to it and it helps make this time valuable, memorable and worth living for. Who knows, it may be what you are here to do after all!
I am so grateful to all of you that are buying small business and helping to keep us and many other businesses going. Thank YOU.
With my hands upward and heart extended to yours,
Keep Laughing + Keep Loving,
Nancy + Team Sweet Bird