Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Treasured Heart


Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken pottery 
with resin sprinkled with real gold powder.  
The Japanese make no attempt to hide the repairs, 
but rather accentuate the breaks with gold 
so they become part of the beauty of the pottery, 
rendering the piece stronger and more valuable after being repaired.


Perhaps the human heart should be considered Kintsugi.  
If we gingerly patch the inevitable breaks with golden tenderness, 
then treasure that beautiful heart 
and honor it as stronger and more precious than ever, 
perhaps then we won't close them off to the world, 
expecting them to be ever unblemished.  
And we can get on with the messy business 
of loving and losing and loving again.


Of course, we don't enjoy the darkest times in our lives, 
the times when we are broken and in pain, 
but if we can remember that the darkness defines the light...
that we can't see the candle's flame in the brilliance of a summer day...
then we will remember that the dark 
is a time of holding on to our hearts,
tenderly patching the broken bits, 
and allowing time to heal.  

May you  treasure and honor your battered heart.
Shelly


Monday, September 24, 2012

Say A Prayer For Peace

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

~Mahatma Gandhi



I painted "Say A Prayer For Peace", with both individual peace and peace between nations in mind.  
There's so much turmoil in the world right now. It's so easy to feel powerless.  

Sometimes I feel powerless in my own life.  
The unrest in the world is certainly out of my hands...  
out of anyone's hands.  
More than one person, or even one nation, can resolve.  
But I know this:  I know I can pray for peace.



Peace in my own heart.  
That much, I can start to claim.  
And as I claim it, I can imagine it radiating out.  Out from my own body, into my neighborhood, encompassing my city, then my state, slowly spreading through the whole world.  
I can breathe in peace.  
And breathe out love.  


I can pull it from the earth into the soles of my feet.  
Through my body and out my head.  
And if a lot of us do this; if we remember to feel peace, to be peace...
perhaps the world will begin to feel it too.  

Wishing you peace always,
Shelly

"Say A Prayer for Peace" - Acrylic on Canvas - 24x36" - ©Shelly Penko 2012



Friday, September 14, 2012

She Dreams In Color



 Even when her world seemed dark,



She had a light inside.


That feathered bird in her soul known as Hope


Could not be silenced.



And sang to her ceaselessly of the beauty of life.


May your soul bird sing sweetly to you always.
Shelly


"She Dreams In Color" - Acrylic on Canvas - 30x40" - ©Shelly Penko 2012



Sunday, September 2, 2012

Ocean Dreamer





“I must be a mermaid.  


I have no fear of depths.



...and a great fear of shallow living.”

~Anais Nin


I always think of the surface of the ocean as the mythical veil between worlds. Like the veil between God or Spirit and human awareness.



  If you've ever been snorkeling, you'll understand exactly what I mean.  To look across the vast surface of the ocean, it appears a limitless moving mass without a hint of the teeming life just beneath..  But just bow your head and look beneath the surface and a whole beautiful world comes into focus.  



As above, so below...a wonderful reminder that the unimaginable beauty of the world of spirit can be accessed by simply bowing our heads.


May grace and spirit find you awake.
Shelly

Ocean Dreamer - Acrylic - 24x36" ©Shelly Penko 2012