This is about our dreams.
How often do we neglect our dreams? Or have we forgotten what they are, like an old suit dusty in the attic?
So one of my most outlandish dreams, as a mother raising seven kids (thank G-d) and working full time as an engineer, was that I’d display my paintings in an art gallery.
I’ve loved sketching and painted since I was little. As a hobby. On the side.
Sometimes in life we get busy with our routine. We forget what makes us come alive. What talents Hashem (God) gave us to do our shlichus (mission) in the world.
A friend handed me a book last week “The World Can’t Exist Without You,” by Moshe Stern (העולם לא יכול להתקיים בלעדייך).
Stern talks about actualisation of our unique mission, our unique shlichus to do good and light up the world based on our talents and strengths.
Sounds cliche and mundane? Well he pitches a great question. If you had six months to live, G-d forbid, what would you do?
Be the parent you always dreamed to be? Travel the world?
So what’s stopping us from living life to the fullest every day?
Incidentally I was at a women’s event where the speaker was a mother of five who survived a violent form of cancer while pregnant with her fifth.
She was told she wouldn’t survive. And that’s when she really started living. Being. Now she left her office job and does what she loves: nutrition and naturopathy consulting. Painting. And conscious parenting. This encounter shook me up. In a way that made me question, “Am I really using all these amazing days hours and minutes that Hashem has graciously given me?”
So one tiny step in that direction, as well as a few others I took on, was to dust off some easily accessible dreams (relatively), with the intention of reconnecting with different parts of myself. Like stretching different muscles in a yoga practice.
I’ve decided to take out a few paintings from my bottom drawer (before they and my imagination get dusty). I will share them with you, one by one.
So here’s to never letting go of our dreams.
This was painted when I was hiking in the Negev with my husband Ezzy, pregnant with my first. I spent some time in meditation on the verge of the Nachal Tzin cliff, preparing for the birth. This powerful meditation has been useful to me in every birth since, and I try to pass it on in the birthing prep classes I have lead.
