Obstacles to Walking in Love

How often do I set myself on a path determined to a certain end only to find I can't get there from here? Most of the time I have a certain amount of resilience, the ability to shift about a bit and make adjustments so I may continue on. The ripples in the pond are not so big. What do I do when a giant boulder has been put into the pond and the water is so turbulent that I forget everything except keeping my head above water so I can breath air? Little different story here.

This project presumes working on the art pieces, and for my part as the curator working on all the rest that goes with an installation as well, while holding the concept/feeling of love. John is helping with the metal work that will support all the art pieces. He reminded me a few days ago to return to the premise while working all aspects of the project. I infer from that the necessity to stop myself when I find I am veering off course from the intention of love. The goals, however, have a subtle way of trickling in to take precedence over the premise. After all, deadlines are looming and the Highland Art Gallery is waiting expectantly for this new birth. As are many. And birth it will. But not at the expense of friendships and harmonious gatherings with one another and inside of oneself.

It is important to me to support all of the many artists who are creating pieces for this project. To that end I have found myself helping to install a motor in a long arm sewing machine that decided it had had enough right in the middle of a panel Angenett is working on for the installation. Frannie is scheduled to use the machine after her and neither one  is able to carry out their vision at this point, at least not in the initial way they conceived of it, until we fix this machine. The machine is not cooperating and the four of us who are working on it have set out again and again with the intention of love and have not been able to fix the machine. It is the 15th of February and the deadline is days away. Today we found such frustration come up that we walked away from the machine leaving screws, tools, parts and manuals just as they were while we've been working. It seemed best.

All of us have lives that are going on while we are working on Walking In Love. I don't know anyone who has been able to step completely away from their life and all of it's responsibilities to do this work. And some of us have some very stressful things going on. I know everyone committed to this project would like to complete their pieces and see the final installation, myself included. I also know that if I work on the Walking in Love Installation while I am in extreme anger or frustration or judgment then I am missing the point.

To everyone working on this project please remember to breathe. Those deep breaths really do help release tension. Breathe again and again until you  are able to return to your life, to your art piece, to whatever you are doing from a place of calm, to your ideal of love. And breathe again and again if the first breath set did not help. It took me 45 minutes of breathing after feeling so frustrated working with the machine to release my tension over all the panels that will not be completed because of the machine being out of commission, of the impact on the whole.  In the light of more clear vision I ask that if you are not able to do the piece the way you envision it fully then do something simple. Keep it simple and do it with renewed commitment to the premise: Walking in Love. I believe that the intention will come across whether the art is simple or complex. And if you can't make the dead line for this particular installation then know that this show will move on and you can join in later. Bringing yourself to love is the first and most important step, the cake. The art work is the frosting on that cake!