Kryptonite, well, perhaps not quite…

What do you find challenging in your work?

My challenge is truly integrating my new learning with my existing knowledge to create new approaches, content, and materials. Remembering/refreshing my memories of what I have learned over time with new concepts and practices is daunting and yet delicious!

Just this month…

I chose to step into the opportunity to unite two areas of interest to support my practice. I joined the “Commit to Sit—A 90-Day Commitment to Practice” program offered by Koshin Paley Ellison, one of the founders of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. It’s a wonderful opportunity to increase the consistency of my meditation practice and to make time every day to reflect on a brief reading and question relevant to who I want to be in the world. (Such a question, posed every day, is also a great reinforcer of my coaching practice and being in that space of curiosity—in this instance, about myself.)

I’m also feeling delightfully pulled into exploring—widening and deepening—my comfort level with different styles of illustration. With the desire to practice my drawing in a new and consistent way, I decided to abandon my usual style (simple, rather spare) and color palette (often lively), and to explore using only one color as a background (!), another color for drawing, and a third for writing. I also yearned to make the finished works simple and easily comprehensible. And, to do this every day, to reflect the essence of the brief reading and reflection in the Commit to Sit email.

What has come to pass in a short time…

It took me a while to become enamored with my choice of colors and style, though once I settled in, my challenge has become more keeping my work to just the essence of my thoughts.

I have also decided to share my work with the FB group for this adventure—these are folks around the world who probably aren’t very familiar with the work of visual practitioners. I am excited, feeling a bit of trepidation, and am super curious to read their reactions. Doing this work for myself, and sharing it with others, meets so many of my needs—for adventure, novelty, connection, and contribution…

My plan…

As you can imagine, I have no idea how my work will be received by the Commit to Sit community.  I will share the impressions I receive in a future blog post or two… as this is a long term commitment.

How are you encountering this piece?

What is alive in you when you consider my ruminations and the challenges in your work? How are you making your way through, around or over the obstacles you face? In what ways are you reaching out for the opportunities that will enable you to flourish? I’d love to know. Please drop me a line, jill@jillgreenbaum.com,  or comment to share with the community.