Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

 A verse from Leonard Cohen’s Anthem

Allowing ourselves to display vulnerability is one of the hardest, and most courageous acts we can undertake as humans. It requires acknowledgment, first and foremost to ourselves, but also, to others, that we are not the perfect beings we have projected ourselves to be. But acknowledging our chinks, or "cracks" as Cohen so succinctly described them, can open the door to incredible personal growth, healing, and new experiences. 

Over the last twenty years, my art has been taking me on a journey of self discovery. It is helping me unearth, unravel, and consequently, better understand, who I am, and why I am. I use this understanding to help navigate my way though life moving forward. 

But it is not always an onward movement. Sometimes I find myself taking ten steps back, a comment, or perhaps an action by another, triggering a response in me, that catapults, me into a landslide of self doubt, and if hurtful enough, severe anxiety.   Only, by remaining kind and patient with myself, and by using the tools I have at my disposal: my art, my support systems, my research, my willingness to acknowledge, am  I able to work my way through. When I do, I emerge a little stronger, a little more self aware, and, coincidently, a little more empathetic towards others. Because of the cracks, the light is able to get in.