HI. - This week on My Happy Cocoon

(Higgins Ink and gouache)

This little bugger is disguised but cannot hide, so she just plugs along in life, always aiming to love.  Love you, mean it!

Love one another!

HEAVEN

When You try to visualize heaven, what do you see in your mind's eye? Personally, whenever I try, all I can come up with is a feeling. A feeling of constant pure happiness and joy with no cares. A place of feeling like home, wherever or whatever that may be. It would be a place where we don't have to seek, ache or desire pure love because we are surrounded by it.

When we think of happiness we usually wish for things or people who would make a bit of heaven so to speak in our worldly life, don't we? We usually focus on the "if-onlyies." If only I was pretty, rich, married to the perfect person, etc. We spend our lives looking for the magic potion. I know it well because I fell prey to such a life. If I knew then what I know now, things would be so different. Even though I had a mediocre relationship with God then, I would have cultivated that relationship from the gate because by now I would have probably been a respected artist in the art world inspiring more and more people to come to God. Not for any other reason but just so more people can experience what a great feeling it is to be so blessed.  But God has his own plan, and His plan for me is not then but now.  I may not understand at this moment, but it really doesn't matter.

I don't have much in the way of just having the great life to make things easier but I rest in the fact that no matter what, God will always take care of us. Seeking God's will daily is what's on the agenda and the prize that awaits on the flip side is what it must feel like in this painting. Of course God said that His riches and rewards that await is more than what we expected or even imagined. What's your heaven like?

Till my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

HEY, SMILE! LIFE ISN'T THAT BAD

I had a doctor's appointment today and on the way to the med center, I was thinking happy thoughts and marveling at the fact that at my last appointment I noticed how the staff were so friendly.  I was so impressed.  So when I got to the registration desk, I was met with a warm smile and it was pleasant.  

My name was called into the area where the nurse would take my blood pressure and she had a mean mug and in addition, she was very curt.  So try as I might to crack jokes and be upbeat she continued on her diva attitude.  What took the cake is when she bid me goodbye with a matching, "you're all set" dismissal.

I could just as easily have been as curt to her but I was too happy with my initial expectation, now deflated, but did not want to let one person really steal my joy today.  It's bad enough that my blood pressure read a bit on the high side, so what the heck.

There will be days like these only because we are not in possession of magic wands to make life a bed of roses, so it really helps that I have this outlet to share my thoughts about it.  If I didn't have a blog, no biggie, I will probably have a journal.  It helps to let it out even to pour into words because one person's apparent problems is like a virus to all who they are in contact with especially when they don't really know how to just let it slide.  I am by no means perfect when it comes to this but when I happen to be a recipient of such a dismal attitude, I try to let it slip off me and refuse to get infected.  I post this artwork I did a while back because she reminded me of the face this girl made at me today. I would have rather gotten a smile instead.

Till my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

FIELD TRIP- JAPANTOWN, SAN FRANCISCO

We all need to wind down sometimes, even artists.  The creative bank should always be filled.  This is what I do when I run out of ideas.  Kill two birds with one stone.  I needed Japanese art brushes anyway, so why not make a field trip of it?  So, I want to share the day with you.  It was a sunny day about 60 degrees, which is really perfect considering the rain and cold weather we've been getting lately.

And good thing we did.  To see the progress of the new Bay Bridge and to share the last of the time of the old Bay Bridge.  The new one is going to be awesome but the old one will be missed.

 I like Japanese food but I stay away from the sushi.  I do like the California rolls, those are actually cooked.  I do know a bunch of people who love sushi and can pretty much live on them.  Not this girl, though.

I do love the Japanese cutesy stuff like this life size Pikachu.  Well, life-size is actually unknown because it is a fictional character!

 It's a pagoda, people.  And below is a zen garden.  Japanese people are minimalists.  So for my next artwork, I will NOT be a minimalist.  They will probably balk at that idea!

The dramatic poser strikes again!

I love this bumper sticker!

I could've spent more but thought I better not.  I love this store because it has everything and these paints were $1.50 each.  So I thought they would be crappy, but I was so mistaken.  They were actually very fluid, so SCORE!  The brushes were something I "NEEDED"!  :)  Love it, loved the day!

Till my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!!

CHERISHED

Imagine having a parent that is so powerful, influential, and loving who would never ever abandon you, will always be there for you no matter how good or bad you are?  Well, look no further but up. 

Oftentimes, we worry about what tomorrow brings.  It is innate in our us to do so because of what we have come to know all along, that we are meant to be workhorses or even the proverbial gerbil on a wheel.  I do not encourage idleness at all, please don’t get me wrong.

However, life is like a wheel, the soothsayers confirm.   Sometimes we are up and sometimes we are down.  Regardless of where we are on the wheel, we should always look to God for either guidance or thankfulness.   In Hebrews 13:5-6 we are reinforced, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can mere mortals do to me?”  Why wouldn't God do it for us when He does it even for the birds who He provides food for?

Wow!  God has confirmed that to me over and over in the past.  As long as I am obedient to him, walk in His ways, be in His will, He always takes care of me.  God “cherishes” each and every one of us.  Sometimes we are too concerned about discrediting the reality of God that we forget to surrender to Him and let him take charge of our lives.  In the past, I often wondered how it is that could be done.  So I literally pushed worries out of my mind, after I sincerely surrender my cares and worries to Him because oftentimes, I really couldn’t handle it.  God wants us to do this in a such a way that we don’t even think about taking it back from Him by worrying about it after we’ve surrendered it.  Doing so would only prove we do not have faith and take control of it again.  He will come through and when He does, it is with a bang!  He does it in such a way where there could be no other explanation for it except to accept that it did come from Him and we often call it a “miracle” or “divine intervention”.  Yes, there is such a thing.  Isn’t He jus simply amazing?

Till my next rant…. LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!!

The painting above was inspired by these two birds outside my window.

PIN-ART

What have I been doing the past few days?  These!  Oh they are available on Etsy right now! http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyHappyCocoon?ref=search_shop_redirect  I am also preparing to them for sale at Arts and Wine Festivals this year.  Watch out for updates soon!!! 

GET THAT MONKEY OFF MY BACK!

     Despite God’s unrelenting blessed assurance that we are made in His image, and we are beautiful and charmed, why do we continue to be so down on ourselves?  True we are the product of a sin we did not have control over but Jesus already wiped all that away when He died on the cross for our salvation.  All we really have to do is acknowledge Him as such.

     If we allow ourselves to wallow in the lies of satan, we will eventually succumb to a life of sin that most of us do not recover from.  God tells us we are better than that.  For me it’s like being on a diet.  You fight it instinctively because knowing that you won’t be able to enjoy the food that’s bad for you is unthinkable.  But after trying to fight it the first day, being successful on the second day, and then the third, etc. you start feeling better about yourself and start seeing changes in your body, you know, the good kind.  Then you begin to get inspired and the rest is history.

     Same thing with sin.  It is something more than a fight, it is a continuous battle.  But after that triumphant feeling, we begin to see how easy it really is to fight sin.  Not only will we open the floodgates to God’s blessings and grace, we begin to inspire others to follow suit.

     What a great transformation!  The monkey is off your back.  That same monkey that keeps telling you that you are not good enough, that you cannot fight the very thing that leads you to a slow death.  It really doesn’t have much to do with religion, but the success of living in harmony with other human beings.  Teach your children how to exist in this way.

Until my next rant… LOVE ONE ANOTHER.