Fluffy and tough
some days anyway
I got a wonderful postcard recently from a dear friend that had an image of the Olympic National Park on it1. The next morning I woke up thinking generally about the US national parks that
and I have visited. Each park has its characteristics and it's own charms. Each park also has its own challenges due to climate change and being underfunded.2 In my half asleep state it seemed to me that every human is a walking national park with their own characteristics, charms and challenges.I thought about my past hikes in parks with
and how we adjusted to the trail we were on by stepping over tree roots, ducking under branches, going around muddy areas. We didn't look at the large rock in the path and shout at it to get out of our way - we coped. We weren't negatively judgemental of the trail difficulties - they just became part of the day. Likewise the times it was cold and rainy or we got snowed in became part of the story of our national park vacation.Similarly our personal quirks and life experiences, which at the time perhaps felt dramatic, later become part of the stories we tell others about ourselves.
I followed those thoughts by marveling that I, like many humans, will shout at one of my temporary emotional landslides to shape up already and I will shout at a physical difficulty to get out of my way3.
And yet both emotional and physical landscapes are better managed by using gentle habit changes over time rather than by internal shouting4 especially when knowing that some months or years from now those landscapes will become part of my life's lyrics.
The first task is to stop the shouting. The second is to let time pass.
When I finally got out of bed, after all that thinking, I grabbed my sketchbook and wrote a general thought-stream summary “what if, just for today, I wasn't judgemental of my personal life…”. Then, after making coffee, I used two different colors of blue ink to draw a non-judgemental mouse.
Over the next few mornings I continued my “the obstacles are the path” thoughts and using ink and gouache I drew a brave rabbit hopping from stone to stone.
Still other mornings found me thinking about imperfections and how many cultures and artistic people embrace - even celebrate - imperfections.5 Life, people and the natural world are seldom perfect - adjustments are made, coping skills are learned and over time we become softer, more understanding, more “fluffy” with ourselves while also becoming tougher more able to weather life's storms.
These thoughts went into my sketchbook with ink and gouache a bit at a time over several mornings.
I did a scan of my fluffy and tough bunny because there might be a coffee cup featuring this bunny some day. Perhaps.
I share it here for the fun of it.
By request I did a coffee cup with my last post’s WTF blue cat. The link for the cup in the photo below is here.
Also by request I put my WTF cat on a wall hanging and a greeting card plus a few other items all of which you can see by scrolling down my whimsical blue ink collection. (Link here)
I hope you're able to enjoy the fluffy and tough personal “park” of you this weekend!!
Thank you for your ongoing patronage of my attempts to be fluffy and tough!! As a patron you can access 24 of my ebooks here!
Here's a photo of our friend's Olympic National Park postcard which has joined our postcards-from-friends collection on our shelf.
More about national parks issues and what we can do to help https://enviroliteracy.org/what-is-the-biggest-problem-for-national-parks/
A link to a good video about physical difficulties and adopting the mantras “I have what I have and that's good enough” as well as “we're managing”: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/165KT5VDS9/
A book I illustrated some time ago talks in detail about this and practical strategies for coping. I remembered and referred myself to this work again this week - and again I found it helpful. https://store.bookbaby.com/book/dr-bobs-emotional-repair-program-first-aid-kit1
I LOVE this essay and the artwork. Printing to tuck into my commonplace book to reread when I need this reminder. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. And art!
I always feel uplifted and more hopeful after reading your posts, Sue!