From an early age, society shapes us to fit in. To blend in, avoid doing anything out of the norm. That, by definition, involves neglecting chances and opportunities to try new things. However, advancement, fulfillment, and delight are byproducts of exploration. Ironically, the society that seeks to force us to conform needs us to walk as ourselves the most. To give in the only way we know how. Finding our voice and following our path, then shining a light for others along the way.
Beautiful wall art at Ilona Cafe, Muweilah, Sharjah
Know, O beloved, that man was not created in jest or at random, but marvellously made and for some great end. Although he is not form everlasting, yet he lives for ever; and though his body is mean and earthly, yet his spirit is lofty and divine.
” Delight Within” – Original fine art from The Border of a Mind Studios This is loosely inspired from the delightfully curious life of my son, Ehan
I just completed an art piece based on the idea of a pleasant admonition to be contented with oneself. Allowing yourself the freedom to be who you really are and discovering the richness in the life you’ve been given. There are many wonderful things in your life, and even if you don’t always see them, they are there to help you create magic with the talents, traits, and characteristics you were born with. Simply learning to explore the joy you already have inside yourself can enhance your outlook on life.
I’ve always experienced and perceived that organic and holistic growth is always incremental and gradual instead of a sporadic leap. Incremental, constant progress over a long time frame is the recipe for the mastery of a craft, purposeful, fulfilling education, powerful aquisition of skill sets, learning something totally new (like learning a language, for example), etc. Small successes aggregate to produce massive change over time. Although the outcomes may not be spectacular right away, they will be long-lasting. And the accumulation of multiple modest gains is sometimes as potent, if not more powerful, than efforts to make large jumps. The same is true for personal change. People who make a difference always begin slowly, one person at a time. It is not completed entirely at once. It’s done gradually.
“And I’ve noticed something about people who make a difference in the world: They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters. They get excited over onesmile. They are willing to feed onestomach, educate onemind, and treat onewound. They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they’re satisfied with small changes. Over time, though, the small changes add up. Sometimes they even transform cities and nations, and yes, the world. “
Attempted some modest newfangled indoor space arrangement with a bamboo ladder added to the mix and some hanging plant installations. Right time with the right vibe enables the visual poet in me to prose. I’ve been contemplating some hanging set ups for a long time. There’s something very beautiful about plants hanging. They bring in coziness and warmth to smaller spaces and help them to be perceived as different. Petrichor is the smell of rain. The word comes from the Greek words ‘petra’, meaning stone, and ‘ichor’, which in Greek mythology refers to the golden fluid that flows in the veins of the immortals. Green areas with crawling plants and hanging pots brings the petrichor of a personal space and home. They say, home is a story of who we are.
“She awaits the rain like a writer embraces metaphors,
A drizzle isn’t for the child who dances in the storm.
Of rain that washes away the petrichor it brings,
A downpour of a hail of bullets, and she calls it spring.”
This is a humble effort to chronicle an endeavor to freeze a part of the time, a moment to reflect later. The hands and feet of my son cast at a time when he does not think of the future and is in a carefree state of mind. This is a work of art to remind of this time when this innocence leaves him to be free to enjoy himself as few adults can and to remind about this beautiful time which existed before being caught up in the fret of future when most adults leave their childhood behind. As a father, I gaze awestruck at how curious he is and this memory in my mind of him picking toys and little things by his tiny hand and tinkering with it and exploring them is so deeply engraved in my memory that I desired some sort of material realization of this time which will pass soon in a blink of an eye as he grows up so fast. This work of art graciously reminds us of the transitory nature of phases of the life of this world. Of course, photographs, old toys and dresses would bring back memories, but there’s something special with the aspects and details in a cast. Thanks to Imprintz by Srushti for crafting it to perfection with lot of care and love put into it with a stellar attention to detail.
“Writing, music, sculpting, painting, and prayer! These are the five things that are most closely related! Writers, musicians, sculptors, painters, and the faithful are the ones who make things out of nothing. Everybody else, they make things out of something, they have materials! But a written work can be done with nothing, it can begin in the soul! A musical piece begins with a harmony in the soul, a sculpture begins with a formless, useless piece of rock chiseled and formed and molded into the thing that was first conceived in the sculptor's heart! A painting can be carried inside the mind for a lifetime, before ever being put onto paper or canvass! And a prayer! A prayer is a thought, a remembrance, a whisper, a communion, that is from the soul going to what cannot be seen, yet it can move mountains! And so I believe that these five things are interrelated, these five kinds of people are kin.”
― C. JoyBell C.
Love these lines gushing with solace! There’s a beautiful kind of calm disposition on complete reliance to divine will.
fine art: theborderofamind studios
Should you not gain your wants, my soul, then be not grieved;
But hasten to that banquet which your Lord’s bequeathed.
And when a thing for which you ask is slow to come,
Then know that often through delay are gifts received.
Find solace in privation and respect its due,
For only by contentment is the heart relieved.
And know that when the trials of life have rendered you
Despairing of all hope, and of all joy bereaved,
Then shake yourself and rouse yourself from heedlessness,
And make pure hope a meadow that you never leave.
Your Maker’s gifts take subtle …and uncounted forms.
How fine the fabric of the world His hands have weaved.
The journey done, they came to the water of life,
And all the caravan drank deep, their thirst relieved.
Far be it from the host to leave them thirsty there,
His spring pours forth all generosity received.
My Lord, my trust in all Your purposes is strong,
That trust is now my shield; I’m safe, and undeceived.
All those who hope for grace from You will feel Your rain;
Too generous are You to leave my branch unleaved.
- Ali bin Muhammed bin Hussein al-Habshi
I recollect reading somewhere that if we need to bring about changes in our lives, the first step would be to change our thoughts about our life.
“Unfolding Thoughts” – Original fine art from The Border of a Mind Studios.
If you would like to change your life, you must first change the way you think about your life. Thoughts are not just thoughts. They are bridges and doors and entryways and foundations. They magnetize and repel. They can build a house and tear it down. They can energize momentum, or keep you idling within your own little world forever. Thoughts are investments, and they are decisions. The mind will generate an endless series of options-some inspiring, and others terrifying and so you must choose. You must choose what you will return to, what you will believe in, what you will place weight on. Because thoughts create feeling, and feeling creates desire, and desire creates action, and action creates reward, and reward creates more desire, and before you know it, a thought became the torch that led you down the path that is your life. If you would like to change your life, you must first change the way you think about your life. There never was another way.
” No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire..”
– Orson F. Whitney
Subtle Trials – Original fine art from The Border of a Mind Studios.
““In the fear of creating something normal, he stared at that blank canvas for a very long time with a brush in his hand. He waited until all the paint dried up, his heart didn’t sing the songs anymore, the fire in his soul turned into ash, his flesh turned into bones, and until his dreams and thoughts faded into the oblivion.”
― Akshay Vasu, The Abandoned Paradise: Unraveling the beauty of untouched thoughts and dreams.”
