For the longest time in my painting journey, I was obsessed with desert colors. Deep oranges, mustard yellows, muted pinks, warm browns. For many years, that color palette felt right…it felt like the colors were inviting me to look back and challenge assumptions.
Then, came 2020. Everything was flipped on its head. I was ending my saturn return and we all know what 2020 called in. With that collective shift, the colors I was drawn to completely shifted too. I wanted color! Bold oranges, greens, pinks, and blues. Inner child work became center stage for me as I spent alot of time alone. She wanted to play. So while deep deep grief was moving through me - the permission to use bright colors was instrumental to that era.
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Now, here I am at another giant shift. I wonder what color palette is drawing me in? The water has been a prominent element so far. Blue is in there for sure. I’m not sure about the other colors.
To totally pivot, as I mentioned yesterday, I was part of a direct action for Palestine today, and thankfully it made a huge disruption - no arrests were made and no one was physically assaulted. My body is still buzzing from all the energy. A phrase that keeps on popping up in my head is “the movement doesn’t need me - I need the movement.” Did I make that up? Hear me out, because it’s nuanced. I do believe that everyone is needed like a startling in a murmuration. AND if one bird drops off the flock will be ok.
Applying that to today: the direct action would have been totally fine without me. I left with renewed energy for liberation. It felt really good to use my body for a public disruption, to use my lungs to chant forward a Free Palestine, and to be shoulder to shoulder with people with the same vision of the future. In this case, I gained so much from being part of a movement. It’s an honor to be part of a movement. It doesn’t need me…in a way. BUT it is in the fabric of my being as a human to do what I can in this lifetime. I think that’s in all of us.
I was chatting with friends in the car today, and the question of the day is HOW THE F**K DO I DECIDE HOW TO USE MY TIME AND ENERGY? So much I could choose from with such limited time, energy, and resources. I’m not sure how to decide which direct actions to say yes to.
What does Liberatory Imagination spark in me today?
A future where there’s no need for direct actions and disruptions, because we are all living into our abundant roles in community. The only disruptions are fun surprises.
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