Sympathetic Joy
During my time being taught Mindfulness there had been what i would say as life changing lessons and one of these is ‘sympathetic joy’.
Without knowing it myself my wellbeing had been covered over and i have been driven by unknown attachments making my life miserable , reactive and limited. The source of wellbeing such as being at peace with oneself , clarity , patience and many other beautiful innate gifts we are given is often covered up due to our attachments in life.
We do not realise it until we stop , begin to notice patterns of behaviour and contemplate whether this is how we really want to be. I just didn’t experience positive things especially joy. I was so engrossed in what i did not have and how bad things were that i did not see other people or good things i already have until i met my mindfulness teachers who helped me with amazing insights.
I was angry at the world and even though i was nice to people deep down i was hurting especially when they were succeeding , getting the opportunities and being seen. I worked so hard , far too hard and i never sat quietly to slow down and look around. Then came a phrase “Sympathetic Joy” and it stopped me like a train crash , it took me weeks to recover from the first impact , from just seeing myself and being honest with how i feel about others finding their success and blaming myself for my perceived failure.
Clouds started to lift and some light shone through revealing my innate wellbeing , a source of goodness, when i just started to see humans once again , to understand their fortuitious gifts received was from effort which was unseen to others and even if it wasn’t too much effort it was a gift from the universe and should be celebrated.
These days i see the universe so differently , i see that we come to earth with pre-selected challenges and maybe it is not what we chose for ourselves and our work is not to force but to allow . Maybe , what we do is to be done without being seen or be celebrated by others just like Vincent Van Goff. Maybe we have arrived to learn to bring peace to our hearts, unravel anger and jealousy and that cannot happen if our attachments are being met with gifts
Before we can accept universe’s true gifts of abundance we need to heal ourselves , free our minds and open our hearts. Then we have to realise that abundance comes in different packages and being fixated on something we think we want or lacking is blinding ourselves to what we been given.
Seeing people flourish is a beautiful thing , it is looking at nature in spring and seeng life at its best. This is why i say “being happy for other peoples successes” instead of “sympathetic Joy” as Joy is a felt and often difficult to experience.
Extend your well wishing to everyone you can as it is transformative for yourself and holds space for humanity.
Bull Crag Peninsular
I would like to say i like March as the mornings are lighter and spring is on the way but in truth being from the very northern part of England i am getting weary of the cold and looking forward to feeling the warmth of the sun once more.
I like the transitions of seeing the old which has remained and the up-coming new of the year revealing itself. I have also liked exploring deeper into the woodland and that mostly due to the winter time its peacefulness.
The gorse flowers are multiplying and opening up to give us a glimpse of the arriving summer warmth and i expect thats why it is associated with the sun god Lugh. Catkins are everywhere to be seen , they have always been there but as everything else has returned back to the ground on the trees they have revealed themselves more.
Along the waterside verges there are still some grasses , cow parsley and knapweed which look beautiful as a silhouette to kielder water and i cannot wait for new plants to emerge here especially for my wee project of 12 months in Bull Crag Peninsular to show the cadence of nature.
This is the time to wrap up and go into your nature place and see the moment just before life arises and feel within its stillness a force of energy thats ready for new things to emerge. To me , this represents being with ourselves and to feel our own energy in stillness and instead of turning it into old patterns of thinking we transform it by allowing what comes next as an emerging experience.
In the Wild , Painting
“Come” they said
paint me
not as me
but
as you
Top Left : Watercolour on 50 x 65 cm Fabrinno Oil Paper
Top Right : Watercolour on 33 x 50 cm Fabrinno Oil Paper
Middle Left : Watercolour on 140 x 210 mm Watercolour Sketch Book
Middle Right : Watercolour on 170 x 250 mm Leda Supplies Sketch Book
Bottom : Watercolour on A3 Canson Watercolour Paper
Hareshaw Linn
The energy of the burn has calmed a little allowing me to venture onto small gravel islands and to have new perspectives. It is deepening my knowledge of the woodland and understanding its character more and as new places open up now i can re-find during the riot of greenness of spring and summer which conceals so much beauty.
I love the changing colours of the water during it different moods especially when the burn surface colours mingles with reflections it is something i have imprinted in my heart and hopefully i will share this within my paintings when i find a solution to the textures.
The lichen and moss are enjoying the consistent rain and they are absolute stars of delight and delve deeper and deeper into new parts to find more of them to show, Although miniature they are definitely not bashful like some mushrooms and welcome the attention.
Over the winter periods i have visited a group of Rose Hips which slowly they have grown old and fallen to compost back but some have become as beautiful of a brand new berry glistening in the sunshine. Its shapes , wrinkles , textures and colours are mesmerising to me.
Mindfulness grows stronger in us when we take time to slowly inquire into nature delving deep into its form and colours. Feeling its beauty as its the most remarkable sunset.
