"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
"Live from the inside out." That's my motto for 2013. I have put the kibosh on following social convention and fulfilling other's expectations. Living in a box of someone else's making leaves little room for sharing your gifts with the world.
Over the years, I've learned to actually feel when my heart is speaking to me. It takes quieting the mind to discern the embedded whisper. Granted, many times I've ignored that guidance and gone into my brain. There is nothing like trying to reason your way to safety for a sense of false security. Being safe and being an artist do not go hand in hand.
I'm a firm believer that we are born to share our gifts with the world. The older I get the clearer it becomes that I'm just passing through this realm. That knowledge is what has brought me to the decision to take directions from within. Living from the inside feels risky until I consider the ticking clock. American author Erma Bombeck said, "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'"
Me too.
Allegra was the perfect model for my painting. Living from the inside out is something she was born doing.
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