Beginnings

It is with great pleasure, curiousity and anticipation that I post my first blog entry on
this, my new creative works art website.  Beginnings abound,  as a new year
is briskly knocking at the door, eager to be welcomed and open an unmarked calender before us.

I am enjoying the energy and excitement of creating a new beginning in my art practice, and bringing it forward to be more visible and available. It has also been a learning curve as most projects are.

In my work as a therapist, people are often focused on endings, as they see it. Grief, loss, depression, tragedy at times, lost self, identity, peace of mind, anxiety and what it robs from us. We, all of us, can often forget that even within this pain and stretching of our being, there is also the seed of a beginning. A spec of hope in the dark night of the soul. A burning ember, in the ashes, waiting for the breath of oxygen to reignite its burning nature. Even crisis will always bring new opportunity and choices. New beginnings, however forced they may feel.

Beginnings and endings are seldom clear and separate, often mysterious, they are layered with mixed emotions and frequently overlap. The leaves turn colour and fall, but the tree itself hibernates to prepare for new life.

As we close the last days of 2014, witnessing the light of our day diminish as night looms long and dark, it feels like the year coming to a close...yet we are also preparing ourselves for the new beginning, the fresh slap of January, which is definitely what January can feel like in most of our fair, but tough Canadian terrain!

It is a nostalgic time of year for many, whether embraced or resisted, nostalgia itself is a heady mix of the past, present and longing.   December is a closing month, traditions abound among cultures and religions, and people are very  busy, social, and often travelling.

Still, I bring forward this new beginning of mine to share in this the darkest month of the year, because birth is like that...creative life chooses its own timing and allowing its organic wisdom, is how we learn to flow with grace. Beginnings, and endings, have a lot to teach about the energies of allowing and trusting, that no matter how we choose to shape things or try to control and influence, some things are meant to be respected on their own time and arrival.

Next week's theme: beginnings part deux: risk taking, preparing for the unknown, the power of rituals

As this blog evolves, I hope to explore multiple passions and interests, from art and creativity, style, wellness, health, fun, travel, places, animal wisdom and nature's playground.   A hybrid version of my own passions and explorations.

in gratitude,

Norma Hoeppner