More than 400,000 hits! Wow! And another thousand things I learned in 2018.

And this painting is one of my favourites

because it's of a pond I see almost every weekend,

yet this year it jumped out at me.

Higher Love

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 48 inches

Barbara Muir © 2018

Wow I have passed 400,000 hits.  Who could imagine that?
Thank you to everyone who visits my blog.
To continue from the other day -- Dhyāna āpō, or pay attention
in Gujarati, connects massively to the second one thousand
things I learned in 2018.  (This is in response to Howard
Wolinsky's suggestion that I write about 2018 things I
learned in 2018).

For my second thousand I'd say paying attention was my
big lesson. As an artist that means being on -- seeing the world,
and taking it in.  My focus is the magnificence of nature at
the moment, and certainly more than 1,000 times this year I was
dazzled and in thrall to nature's beauty.  At this time of
year the flowers have all died, which is why the brilliant
seasonal decorations that brighten every doorway and porch,
and light up so many trees mean so much.  No matter what holiday
we celebrate, the point is bringing back the light to a
gloomy world.  And we need to do that metaphorically too --
by caring.

Caring for one another and the planet is paying attention.
In addition to caring about what I see and want to paint and
draw, I want to be as kind and caring in every situation as
possible. Not always easy.  But even if it takes 1,000 tries
I want to do it.  And this year because I broke my wrist,
had my arm in a cast and a sling, couldn't carry anything,
and was in some pain from February -- to September,
I am grateful to everyone who helped me carry my books
into my class, including my students led by Pooja Chauhan,
and my dear husband who drove me to school when I
couldn't drive for 4 months, and helped me in every way,
and to the kind curators who helped me with my art.

So that is my second thousand things I learned, every time
I turned around.  I learned to see the amazing sights surrounding me,
and to notice the thousands of kind things my students,
friends, family and art community do for me every day.

Have a seeing the kindness around you day.