Honor What You Can Do

This past week I mentioned on Facebook that I was trying a yoga class. Mind you, I haven't done anything other than walking and regular life movement (hello laundry!) in years. So it was a stretch for me. Literally. Ha ha ha, I crack me up! It was hard, but I did it. I reported back on Facebook that I was thankful to have done it, and glad I hadn't fallen over. And this comment from Lori Ann Corelis stuck with me.




 My whole life I have had a kind of impatience with my body for one reason or other. Some of it came from societal expectations. I was always comparing myself to a yardstick that was touted as the beautiful ideal, as if there is only one kind of beauty.

This relates to being an artist, as well. So often we bump up against what we see in our mind and what our hands can execute, especially in the beginning stages of learning something new. I have blogged about the time I cried in art school. This is particularly true for people who are trying to create works which look like creations from the past. It is sometimes hard to let go of the yardstick we measure our work against and be thankful for our own perspectives, our own creations, the work of our own hands. (This is why MAIDA Dolls Group has self-discovery prompts this year, under the title of "Creating Like You.")

Thank you, Lori Ann, for that comment. it's been rattling around in my head since I read it. There is a proverb that talks about saying the right thing at the right time. Older translations read "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." The Message, a modern version of the Bible, puts Proverbs 25:11 this way:


If I approach movement and creativity from the perspective of honoring what my body can do for me, how would it change my work and life?

3 comments:

Lori Ann Corelis said...

Dixie ~ This is a beautiful post! I hadn't known my few words would impact you so much! I was only repeating what I've heard in many a yoga class . . . but as with you it has stuck with me. Many years I didn't listen, but getting older has meant working hard to be kinder to myself. I love how you connected this to our creativity ~
Enjoy the journey ~ Namaste!

Unknown said...

Happy New Year Dixie! I have been a yoga student now for 3 years and it is a wonderful challenge to work your body in this type of inner/outer exchange. I absolutely love it! I hope you will stick with it. The benefits are many!

Jan Conwell said...

Great post and very useful reminder, Dixie. :~)


"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden