Detail of a recent painting in progress
When loved ones die, we kind of tilt our heads upward and ask them to look out for us, thinking they’re up there in heaven where they can help us down here. And that is true, they can, and they do. Yet there is another thing unfolding. In Jewish Mysticism (which I fell in love with in my early twenties, or before really) there is a teaching that we actually have a large impact on those who have come before us and died before us.
How do we impact them? On earth, where there is a lot of contrast, pain and suffering, we are given a chance to expand God’s knowledge through our experiences, and then bring love, forgiveness and understanding into these painful situations. And when we bring love into sorrow or healing into injury, we not only help ourselves and people involved with us here in our lives (and often many we don’t know we are impacting) we help our loved ones and ancestors who have already died by increasing the Presence of Love. Yes, that’s right–our choices help them. And they’re rooting for us!
Our learning and expansion never ends. God is a great creator and the expansion of knowing and loving never stops.So when you forgive, you eventually do it to save your own self so you’re not miserable and unhappy, but realize too that you do that for your parents, grandparents and so forth. ALL will benefit from it, not just ourselves alone or the ones directly involved in the situation!
A recent Spirit Painting
commissioned by a client 2016 copyright Elaine Clayton
Yesterday I painted a childhood scene, above. I was born and lived on the flat plains of the Texas Panhandle until I was about 10 years old. The land may be flat out there (oh yes, it defines “flat”), but the sky is multi-dimensional and ever changing. Clouds build in fathoms moving upward, their color and shape spectacularly mounting and powerful. Shadows from the clouds move like vast omens across the land at times. And when rain came, I remember running from it with other children in summer time, until at last, the cloud full of rain caught up with us, and giant round drops of warm water made dark circles on dry dirt, or on paved roads. The sky gave what the land did not–a particular elevated and hopeful, colorful, mysterious bounty. Where the land was austere, silent and seemingly ungiving for the most part, the sky was overly generous, entertaining and voluptuous. The wind was it’s agent, whirling up dust devils and making the songs of ghosts, the way it could howl an eerie song on some days. It brought jagged looking and well-beat tumbleweeds passing by. They seemed like roaming story tellers who happened along, and somewhat like victims of circumstance. The sky knew where they had been before. I grew up expecting the sky to tell me something. I learned to look at the clouds for information and guidance. The intuitive kind of knowing that comes from feeling inspired by the brilliance in nature is what I”m talking about here, the way sky communicates that which we ought to have recognized anyway, but need prompts and reminders. Gentle and sometimes dramatic. I believe the sky is “the veil” between us and heaven, and it symbolizes our ability to know intuitively and to quietly observe things which we need unveiled. It is like doing a tea reading, but instead of looking down into a tea cup, you just look up instead.
The Creation of the Hebrew Letter Shin copyright 2016 Elaine Clayton
I’m thrilled to show new work at the Westport Women’s Club this weekend. You are welcome and encouraged to join us April 30th from 5-8pm at the Westport Women’s Club in Westport, CT. There is a selection of fabulous artists showing their work. A percentage of sales goes to a worthy charity.
About Shin, this important and mystical letter is known as the “Eternal Flame”. To learn more about Shin, see this video.
Painted Stream Drawing Elaine Clayton copyright 2016
Do you notice that throughout the day different memories drift into your mind and before you know it, you’ve got a running narrative of various painful thoughts? When I stream draw with people and we ready ourselves for a memory stream drawing, the memories that generally want our attention immediately are not all the happy ones. Ekhart Tolle describes this as the “pain body”—it is like an alternate self to who you truly are–an ego construct that hangs out with you, often makes decisions for you and runs your life–if you allow it. It is a hungry separate self carrying all the pain you’ve suffered and it feeds on more pain, and it will fight hard to stay with you in your every moment. You, the real you, the whole and complete and miraculous you in essence, is not this pain body.
So why do we let memories from so long ago or even yesterday, ruin our moment in the now? Why would we let this specter, this victim of life circumstances have power over our time, each moment? We don’t have to. The moment we notice this is happening, that we replay in our thoughts things that re-injure us, this is the pivotal opportunity because once YOU realize YOU can see that this pain has staying power, YOU are no longer identifying with the pain because you are now connecting to who you truly are–the observer, the witness to circumstances. Stream drawing is one way to get into that observer mode and fast, plus it is a physical action, which edifies your intention because it puts into action, and then into physical form via the actual drawing on paper.
Stream draw to get control over the pain body, and fly over it. And have some fun!
