Art School Wisdom

...and pomegranates

When I was an undergraduate student in art school, I had a watercolor painting professor who taught us a method that stayed with me forever. She would set up a dynamic still-life arrangement for us to paint, and give us ample time to study it, lightly sketch the outlines of our plan in pencil on our large 18 x 24” watercolor paper, and choose and mix our paint colors and brushes. Then, when the time came, she would set a timer for 5 minutes. We had just 5 minutes to execute our actual paintings. When the timer dinged at the end of the 5 minutes, we had to put our brushes down. No fussing over the details, no continued fixing-up or perfecting of our work. Our finished paintings were so fresh and alive! It was a profound teaching.

Over the many years since that experience, I have often pondered how it has revealed its hidden power in the background of many of my life’s adventures. For example, people often ask me how I managed to “go raw vegan overnight and not look back.” The truth is, I studied nutrition and experimented with different dietary programs for 20 years before I stumbled upon the information that connected all the dots for me. I was already so prepared by the time that information about a raw vegan diet reached me, that I was instantly ready to commit it to full, wholehearted action, without hesitation.

In another example, when I got very clear on my desire to live in the countryside in Michigan many years ago, with more nature-space and freedom to create, I did a deep-dive about how to buy property in the country, journaled endlessly about my vision, and looked at many properties. When the right one eventually appeared (years later) it was so very clear to me, and I changed course right away and did what it took to acquire the property and move my children and me there. And more recently, when events conspired to bring the thought to sell my current Florida property into my consciousness, I gave myself ample time to sit with the idea, to look objectively at all the factors involved in the impulse, to explore new visions and research ideas, and (very importantly!) to ground my thoughts and emotions. I did not declare a decision until I knew that I was clear about it in a healthy and non-reactive way. But once that clear knowing arrived, I did not hesitate to declare my decision out loud, and put it into motion. Once again, people asked me - How do you put things into motion so quickly? And once again, my answer is that I really didn’t - you just didn’t see all the background work I did before acting with such decisive clarity.

Even with the background work in place, I am usually committing to a decision long before I have a handle on how the details will come together. I know the direction I want to be heading, and I trust my resourcefulness and my ability to find my way as I head myself in that direction. There are also some decisions which spontaneously arise intuitively, without the conscious background effort to pave the way for them to become clear. Even these, however, likely come to conscious awareness due to a readiness that was hidden from my view, just under the surface of my awareness - the result of a collection of life experiences that might appear unconnected, yet have nonetheless accumulated in a way which has paved the way for the seemingly instant intuitive clarity.

However conscious or unconscious are the preparations, once I see clearly I rarely see a reason to delay action. While it is great to proceed without hesitation once clarity is felt, I have learned (the hard way) the great benefits in proceeding as slowly as is needed in order to remain emotionally grounded, and fully mindful of my steps. The main thing is to move forward in the direction of the clear vision or compass setting, without waiting for all the details to be shown first. They will become clear once a true commitment is made and real action steps are begun, and resources will appear in the most unexpected ways.

Circling back to the art school lesson - your life, hopefully lived mindfully, IS your preparation for your future dreams and visions. As author Richard Bach said: “You will not be given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true.” You already have what it takes to welcome your next adventure into reality, and you have been preparing all along….so when a clear vision appears and feels or becomes grounded, with broad strokes you can commit it to action without hesitation, and not get bogged down by fussing over the details. This approach will insure that the canvas of your life remains fresh and alive!

Bonus: The Pomegranate

Bring a little extra pizzaz, and get your healthy holiday dish to stand out with the bright red brilliance of beautiful, deliciously juicy-crunchy-tangy, festive pomegranate seeds! I choose pomegranates that are heavy for their size (more juicy-ripe!), and with skin that is starting to darken and indent just a bit between sections. A good way to facilitate separating the seeds from the white pith, is to cut the fruit in half, immerse it in water in a large bowl that you can get both hands into, and with the fruit under water, start prying it apart and rubbing the seeds out. The white pith will float to the top, and the red fruit with the seeds in it will sink to the bottom. Simply scoop off the pith, drain the water, and you have the seeds to use for your dish! They are beautiful simply sprinkled on a salad as a finishing touch, or similarly on other dishes.

Pomegranates can also be juiced with a citrus juicer. If juiced with oranges, you will have a gorgeously colored and uniquely flavored holiday drink. Or for fun, try this juicing method: roll a pomegranate back and forth on a hard surface like a countertop or table, pressing down fairly hard with your hand on top of the fruit. This will release the juice from the red fruit-seeds. Then, use a small sharp knife to cut a half-inch “X” near the top of the fruit. Face that “X” downward (into your mouth or into a container) and squeeze hard to release the juice!

Happy, Healthy Holidays!