Painting with Pure Light

Cristen Rodgers

We each have within us an infinite palette of emotions that we use to paint our personal realities.  There’s a complex array of possible hues; and for each different hue there are as many different shades.   There’s the crimson heat of passion and the rosy warmth of friendship.  There are teal waters of tranquility, golden rays of happiness, and charcoal fingers of sadness.  One of the greatest pleasures in life is the ability to mix these many colors in our own way to create a unique, one of a kind work of art; but we often find it more frustrating than fun because we become victims to rather than creators of our palettes.

An artist doesn’t identify with their paint; nor should we identify with our emotions.  We are not the joys and anxieties, or the pleasures and pains of our daily lives.  These are simply the colors that we splash upon each day’s canvas.  We are the source of these emotions; we are the white light from which all of these many colors are derived.

In a way, we are like the rainbows that decorate the spring skies.  We begin with pure, undiluted light from which we create three primary colors – love, fear, and serenity.  And using those three little colors, we can mix continually more emotional tints and tones.

When we forget our inner light, when we identify instead with the shade of our sentiments and the machinations of our minds, we begin to feel as if we are being created by them rather than being creative with them.  We may find ourselves dipping our brush in the same fears over and over again and responding to everything with tinges of anxiety, judgment, and insecurity.  Or we end up continuously painting with the blood of past pains and wondering why the wounds won’t heal.

The only way to reclaim control is to take the time to be still and remember who we truly are, to re-connect with the pure light of our inner being.  When we move from the inside out, rather than the outside in, we can choose which primary colors we begin with.  We can heal our hidden pains and face our secret fears.  When we embrace all of who we are, we get to choose which parts we want to work with, giving ourselves the absolute freedom that a great artist deserves.

Perhaps by consciously moving back into the pure light of our souls, we will remember that life isn’t quite as serious as we like to pretend it is.  We can remember how to be playful with this artistic experiment we call life.  By reclaiming the entire rainbow that lives within us, we can become the free-spirited artists we were always meant to be, dipping our brushes in the light of our own souls and painting our passions across the universe.

©2016 Cristen Rodgers

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31 Comments

  2. Wow Cristen…every word is a source of light for the rest of us. You are amazing. Your inner beauty spills over into these insights and produces a work of art for all of us to cherish. Thank you.

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  4. Excellent Post. The three primary emotions of love, fear & serenity (or peace or no emotion) are often tinged or abstractly colored, to create myriad surreal ones by the objective modeling of situations that are driven by attachments & aversions of the mind/ego. Once the mind has got absorbed into such extrapolation, it is very difficult to retrace; one is instead sucked into a twirling whirlpool which dynamically overpowers the individual

    There is the possibility to consciously withdraw from these emotions, like in contemplation after meditation, and witness them as an outsider. Watch them carefully and understand how they gradually grow, develop and finally disappear. Consciousness of the metamorphosis of emotions can be a wonderful tool to avoid being unaffected by them. The trick is to be willing to accept any outcome of the circumstance around which the mind is creating these emotions. This necessitates great courage and will power, but can render immense equanimity & peace.

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  7. Wow. Powerful. And every word went to my core being. I had the vision of the paints and canvas as I read, and when you related that to emotions, it all came together in my mind. And heart. Beautiful, beautiful piece and thank you for sharing your gift
    ❤ Bonnie

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  10. To paint with your emotions instead of being painted by them, you have to step outside the small temporary self and back into the larger pure awareness that you actually are. The paradox of life of course, is in not just knowing that, but in being able to do that when our emotions rise like a tsunami in the course of a life. It’s a great way of thinking about this, Cristen — another helpful tool for the mind and spirit, thanks for this.

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    1. It’s true; the trick is to find your center in that light so that when they rise you remain balanced. Easier said than done. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your day is wonderful 😊❤️🙏

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  11. Cristen,

    Your words are so beautiful to create such artful flowing images and connections. Thank you for finding me as I see we are on a similar spiritual path and journey experiencing our authentic-self reaching out to connect with others. By doing this we are able to join our light with others as one heart to encourage the world to be more accepting, compassionate, and alive. Being mindfully aware inside of how this feels can be life changing. We can learn to see and feel the bigger picture when meditating, being mindful, creating art, writing, dancing, going out and connecting with nature, etc.

    When souls connect and resonate, as well as during meditation, we can feel like peaceful still water. We can all meditate, deep breathe, and transcend to get in touch with the light and stillness already within us. I have an article on my website explaining one of the ways I help others learn to let go of stress, trauma, past experiences and triggers to help with this. Also, deep breathing and visualization techniques can help one accept and then shift negative self-talk and energy to be more positive and effortless. As we know there are so many ways to mindfully connect to oneself and to others.

    Authentically,

    Marilyn

    Marilyn Spenadel, LCPC, BCC
    Holistic Psychotherapist
    Spiritual Life Coach
    AUTHENTICALLY U! on FB
    Breathe-Focus-Thrive-Inspire

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  12. Beautiful. I am happy to have found your blog. I enjoyed reading “about me” page…I had difficulty writing my “about me” page and so identified with you. Thank you for the follow.

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  13. There are no true edges in the universe, only gradients; everything is mixed with its opposite. There is no state of being purely dissociated from your emotions nor any state of truly being your emotions. We are our whole being; even in the most deeply meditative state, we are still, also, our emotions. Even if we are carried away by the most powerful passion, there is always a dispassionate observer inside of us. Even, as a child, while having an out of control temper tantrum, I remember a part of my mind asking, “Am I really this angry?”

    Meditatively observing passion and overcome-by-passion are not different states but instead different degrees of the mixing of two opposite substates. To be your whole being, you must be capable of changing the balance between the two substates. This is not easy to do. You might allow yourself to float on a passionate grief not only crying out in pain, but also participating in the crying with your whole being. This is a cathartic experience and it can feel like a deep show of respect for a dead loved one. But then alter the balance, grow the dispassionate observer until it dominates your state and watch yoursellf grieve and you will see that despite the grief you are still alive, still capable of joy, still capable of wise action.

    To move back and forth along this axis and to learn to move along that axis, are two axes worth experiencing and are two useful tools in living life in the real universe.

    These are just a few thoughts that your beautifully poetic blog have evoked in me.

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