The Call to Hear, Understand, and Express Who We are as Individuals

By: Beth Offenbacker

There are several artists and writers whose work I’m reflecting on these days.  A central theme is the call to hear, understand, and express who we are as individuals, and how we can positively contribute those insights in service to humanity and the natural world around us.

A few of the quotes that especially are compelling to me right now include:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. …

No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others”
― Martha Graham

“Even sequestered we can busy ourselves and forget to stop.
When we stop and wait for others
in the gap we enlarge ourselves.
When the merely important stops for what is beautiful,
when we let a little sabbath interrupt our busyness
the holy enters in the empty spaces.
Stop, and let the Holy breathe in you.
Who knows? In the pause, angels may parade
the neighborhoods of your soul.”
Steve Garnaas-Holmes