A place to speak

  

Market flowers rock out (work in progress)

Acrylic on canvas board

6 x 6 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014
(I could not get a clear photo of this.
I'll try again tomorrow. ;-)

I'm super tired after a 17 1/2 hour day, but found this
post I wrote last summer, and liked what it had to say.  I've
spent most of my teaching life whether in art talks,
private art lessons, or teaching English or Psychology,
encouraging people to find their voices.  In this one
short life, I think that's part of the job, and the joy
in living. So here's what I was thinking:

"I've had laryngitis today -- most uncomfortable.
I confess I'm a talker.  I love conversation.  Funnily
enough in the midst of this difficulty, I had phone
calls from some pretty funny people.  There have
been sad stories too today, and in both cases, a
voice would have been useful.

It made me realize that we take our given gifts
for granted (or I do). Voice -- vocal,  visual and
written is an incredible gift.  I listened to an
audio meditation today on gratitude.  (One of
the things you can do really well with laryngitis
is listen ;-)

I now realize that I'd like to be grateful for the
knowledge that being able to speak your mind
about whatever delights, inspires, even about
what terrifies and angers you -- is a huge gift,
and not one that many people in the world
enjoy.

So thank you again to blog land, to this place
to speak about my work, my day, and about
art and artists.  As a younger person it was my
dream to have a column.  Today I have it, and
even if my physical voice is on strike, I still
am thrilled to be able to talk to you.

Have a loving-your-voice day."