I am actually in the arena.

Buddha statue at Butterfly World Victoria B.C. taken with my Sony DSLR (c) 2012

"It is not the critic who counts: 

not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles 

or where the doer of deeds could have done better. 

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, 

whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, 

who strives valiantly, 

who errs and comes up short again and again, 

because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, 

but who knows the great enthusiasms, 

the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; 

who, at the best, 

knows, in the end, 

the triumph of high achievement, 

and who, at the worst, 

if he fails, 

at least he fails while daring greatly, 

so that his place shall never be with 

those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

I found this quote today over on Brene Brown's blog in a trailer she posted introducing her new book Daring Greatly.

The message of these words came to me at precisely the right time, on the right day and in the voice and style of the right person.  It still strikes me as profound that whenever challenges pop up in my life, the Universe sends me exactly what I need to get through them.  Luckily, over the past year I have grown to become in tune with that energy and magic and I can understand when it is happening.  SO GRATEFUL FOR THAT.

Today I am spending time painting some teeny tiny canvases for an upcoming community art show I have entered.  That's kind of a BIG DEAL. BIG that I am doing it, BIG that I am sharing that info here and BIG that I BELIEVE I CAN.

I am DARING GREATLY and BEING BRAVE; SEIZING THE MOMENT  (my chosen motto for 2012).  And I feel completely vulnerable, naked and SCARED. But also excited, enthralled and full of hope for the future.

Thankfully I have Brene Brown to remind me that vulnerability is not weakness but rather, showing up in life...and daring greatly to live it.  Fully.  Completely.

Please come back to check up on sneak peeks of art I have been creating.  I feel it is time to share, despite the major sense of dread and anxiety that action gives me.