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I have officially completed 2 "21 day meditation challenges," 1 "Global Meditation for Compassion," and months of independent meditation. I can now officially say that I have tried meditating.

I can also say that I love it. My heart feels active and uneasy when I look at facebook, or my email, in the morning. When I meditate it slows and levels it's pacing.

At first meditating was downright hard. Apparently, I am no longer used to sitting for 20 minutes straight without being in a chair. I couldn't remember mantras in sanskrit (a language that I and most other people in the 21st century don't speak). I would receive my thoughts, and then rather than stare at them in an out of body manner  and let them go- I would follow them in an out of body manner like Alice and the white rabbit. The time felt long, and as if it weren't elapsing at all. The music felt loud and domineering. Nothing about my experience involved an ease or release.

       

Meditation is a practice, however. So I practiced. I did the meditation experiences, and used the time to concurrently develop better sitting posture. I forgave myself when I would forget a mantra, and would continue with the classic fallback, "om." I brought art into the experience of watching my thoughts without engaging them. When they would come I would imagine them as watercolor bands drifting into a white box just ahead of my vision.

I began to really enjoy my meditation time and look forward to it. The negative space created by an absence of thought produced more ideas. Doing nothing produced a me that was more likely to try new things. I even created this blog. If you're considering meditating this author says, "om."

             

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I failed cutting in Kindgerarten. My teacher was very concerned and alerted my parents to the problem right away. Whatever would I do?

Cut the shit out of everything (paper) that I saw, that's what. I had the fortune of meeting author and illustrator, David Wisniewski, when I was younger. His illustrations truly allowed me to see art created from shredding paper into tiny pieces. His illustrations of layered paper create more light and shadows, depth, and animus than some pencil drawings I've seen. 

I should note here that this image is not from one of Wisniewski's profound books like Golem, but instead from a personal favorite: The Secrete Knowledge of Grown-Ups.

I'd love to say that I tried to sharpen my exact knife and really attempt such intricate works- but I didn't. I went for the commercial version of the medium. I scrapbooked. 

Never underestimate the meditation involved in mindlessly cutting paper. Do not question the childish joy that the smell of Elmer's glue retrieves. Even as an adult, it is still difficult to get the right amount of glue on the paper. 

Instead learn to layer frames around your pictures, and edit pages to only include odd numbers of pictures. Be sure to journal on various pages to give context and narrative to what you are seeing. Pick themes for different pages in order to create cohesion and ease in your editing process. Color themes have a similar effect. 

I recently created three scrapbooks for the first time. The first was for my Omi to remember our trip to Vegas (she has since lost it in a move), the second was for my lovely mother-in-law as a wedding thank you gift, and the third was for the artist who taught me this new craft: my mom. 

Art Art Art Art Art Art