Author: Joel

Sketching

September 28, 2013

I heard a friend say once that “works of art are never finished, only abandoned.” My art teacher in high school taught me to develop a composition moving around and across the entire image at once, sketching in parts of the whole a little at a time, rather than  finishing one part in detail and then moving onto another (which may be our tendency). Life is kind of like that, too. You don’t ever really finish it. It’s just that one day you die. You might not have everything ...  Keep reading

Real Strength

September 18, 2013
Real strength is not defined by your ability to conquer any and every thing that might stand in your way. To overpower and dominate is often weakness. Real strength is knowing your own fragility (for you can be snuffed out at any moment). And it is realizing that though they kill your body, they cannot kill your soul.

Chet Atkins

September 11, 2013

Tried out old Chet on the turntable this evening. The kids liked it and danced. I wish you could see the diamond-patterned corduroys he is wearing on the album cover.

Me

July 30, 2013

I am learning that getting older means becoming more like myself than anyone else. Before, in the name of becoming a more balanced human being, I spent a lot of time trying to become more like someone else. In doing so, I did not trust my own compass to lead me to what I needed. That has caused a lot of anxiety for me. I was the most healthy when I was a kid and I didn’t know any better and I just developed my own way of coping and dealing with life out of necessity. 🙂

A New Story

July 18, 2013
A child who hates himself will act in such a way as to cause you to hate him as well. This is the only safe way he knows to find out if there is something other than hate in the world. He acts this way in order to check and see if there is love for him even when he is at his worst. One of our only jobs with children is to show them that there is something other than the choir of voices that confirm the way they already feel about themselves.