As we enter a new year, many of us think about beginnings or resolutions. I have made many new year promises to myself over the years and have even adopted a “word for the year” to help keep me focused on them. I think it’s good to consider one’s life and goals but sometimes the enthusiasm in January for those good intentions is often forgotten by March.
I don’t want to give up on this yearly ambition so I’m considering a different approach this time. Instead of a resolution, maybe I can take time in the morning to approach each day as I would a painting. The idea came to me while taking a painting class. Maybe I can take those basic rules of creating art and apply them to a daily meditation. I can use the four seasons as a prompt that will help me stay with it so when March rolls around, I won’t forget, but will start again with a new season of prompts.
Many artists like to do a study, painting the same subject over and over many times. Recreating the same painting, but perhaps changing the perspective each time. This works beautifully for my meditation exercise. I will focus the first three months on a winter theme, then move to spring for the next three months, on to summer for three months and finish up the year with autumn.
To begin a new painting, I like to start with simply looking at the blank canvas. Sitting with it and allowing myself time to envision what I would like to create. Next, I will lightly sketch out the basic layout, then add in the light and dark values. Now it is time to begin adding color, one layer at a time. The final touch is to add the fine details that give the painting its uniqueness.
If I were painting a winter scene on canvas, I might start with looking out my window and sketching the barren trees and frozen river. I would also want to include my view of the trumpeter swans that like to hang out in the small part of the river that doesn’t freeze. Such beauty and stillness can serve as an inspiration for my winter meditation.
These studies will need a title, so in keeping with my tradition of applying a word for the year, I will title each season’s meditation. For my first meditation series, I’ve chosen the title “Discover” because winter’s stillness is an invitation to quiet my mind and open my heart in order to truly see in a new way.
As in beginning a new painting, I can start each morning in quiet contemplation, appreciating the gift of this moment. I can “lightly sketch” out my day, while remembering that the finished product may or may not be exactly as I first intended, and to accept that as part of the process.
As the day evolves, color is added; when I interact with others, engage in hobbies, go to work, run errands, and work on my everyday tasks. Maybe darker colors in the form of shadows are incorporated as unexpected or maybe even unpleasant encounters and tasks arise. And as the day comes to a close the final touches and details are added when I set aside some time to discover what this day has brought. To observe what has been created.
Changing my perspective each day will further help me with Discovery. If I were to paint my same artwork from the vantage point of a bird flying overhead or of a fish looking up from the bottom of the river, the painting would be different. I would discover new things about it simply by observing it from different angles. Likewise, using perspective to look at my day, I can choose to see things from someone else’s view point or change the way I am looking at a particular situation, which will offer still more opportunities for discovery.
My hope for this winter study is that it will remind me to approach each day with the quiet stillness of the season and not get stuck by only seeing things from one perspective. To open my heart and mind to truly Discover.
I am excited to use the gift of each season as a prompt to help me grow as a person, one who takes a step back, opens her eyes, and fully lives this beautiful life!
Tammy McCoy is recently retired from working in nonprofit arts organizations in Burlington.
The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of TSPR or its license holder, Western Illinois University.
Diverse viewpoints are welcomed and encouraged.