OK, so it isn’t exactly high art.

My grandmother created the painting you see in the photo.  No, she wasn’t a painter.  And that’s precisely the point.  She did it anyway.  Because she had always wanted to.  This was my grandmother’s spirit, though: She was the most feisty, direct person I’ve ever known; not always liked, not always popular.  But she was real.  And she followed her inner spirit.  There’s an arresting integrity there.  If she wanted to do something, she just did it.  Belly dancing? Sure. Trip to Rome? No problem. She read Tarot cards at one point; hey, why not?  She even gave up everything (career, fancy townhome, friends, hometown) to help raise me.

Her painting hangs in the Sarva workshop as a permanent reminder to just “do it anyway” – a reminder that there is a time to engage your spirit, completely and without concern for the outcome.  To savor the process without being driven by a specific desired result.  Or hampered by some niggling insecurity.

I have a lot in common with my grandmother in many ways. And April, and now May, have proven to be tremendously challenging for me personally.  I’ve come to a place where I’m rethinking and evaluating the value and integrity of everything I do… perhaps overthinking would be a better word.  You see, I’m quite the perfectionist and I find it very easy to lose sight of things. Sometimes I have to force myself to simply be.   An ironic statement, yes?

At times like this, I go look at my grandmother’s painting.

(Free spirit though she was, I suspect she’d be less than thrilled that I published it for the whole world to see.  And boy would I hear about it.)

But I’m sharing it with you in case you need a reminder too.  So tell me… I’d love to read your comments:  What’s on your daydream list?  What are you afraid of?  What if you just “did it anyway”?