True Friendship

 

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anais Nin.

In regards to creativity, and in her case writing,  Anais Nin  also said – “You must not fear, hold back, count or be a miser with your thoughts and feelings. It is also true that creation comes from an overflow, so you have to learn to intake, to imbibe, to nourish yourself and not be afraid of fullness. The fullness is like a tidal wave which then carries you, sweeps you into experience and into writing. Permit yourself to flow and overflow, allow for the rise in temperature, all the expansions and intensifications. Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them.” – Anais Nin.

…I would like to add that great art could also be born out of great joy, and the excess of goodness. It can come forth just because it’s bubbling out of you. It can be created to be shared or created for oneself. I don’t believe there are hard and fast rules about where art comes from other than it is most likely inside that person, and needs to be expressed. It’s as individualist as the person, the artist, who is busy forming it. However, I DO agree with Anais Nin, creativity often happens when you “Permit yourself to flow and overflow, allow the rise in temperature, all the expansions and intensifications.” 

My inner circle, my community, myself, lost a very dear friend today-she embodied ALL the above. A wonderful woman. A very full spirit filled to the brim with amazing creativity and art. A true lifelong wonderful friend. She will be missed terribly by many, and will always be with me in my artwork and spirit. Here’s to the life she shared with those of us lucky enough to have been in her circle. Here’s to Deidre.

Deidre Artwork
Artwork by my great friend, Deirdre.- a.k.a. DDKW.

 

 

Friendships, DNA, Love, Life and Science- WHAT!?!?

4FriendsOxygen

Where would we be without our friends?  I don’t know about you, but I would definitely be a little lost. I have long time, well established/embedded into my life and heart friends, and newer friends who are also “very near and dear.” Time evaporates when I am with these “tried and true” wonderful people. Years slip away, and memories often flood. I recently read your DNA may be able to hold some memories!

“New research from Emory University School of Medicine, in Atlanta, has shown that it is possible for some information to be inherited biologically through chemical changes that occur in DNA. During the tests they learned that the mice can pass on learned information about traumatic or stressful experiences – in this case a fear of the smell of cherry blossom – to subsequent generations…This suggests that experiences are somehow transferred from the brain into the genome, allowing them to be passed on to later generations. ” (Whole article here)

How amazing, and wonderful, if ones DNA was to somehow “know” a little about some of the people I love, and have loved, in my life! It gets a little Science Fiction like and a little weird…but, I do know there are experiments going on about stuff just like this! That is not what the above article is about-but this blog, today, is. It’s about friendships and the amazing value they add to life. Those really close friends are imprints – their words, their expressions, our shared experiences are indeed part of the fabric of my personal DNA. How could that not be true? For myself, it seems as if it must be true. Those that we love are in our systems, in our minds, and in our hearts. Maybe that’s the (or at least mine) definition of a friend? Websters Dictionary defines a friend as-

: a person who you like and enjoy being with
: a person who helps or supports someone or something
: a favored companion

I think that’s all true as well, but I like my definition better! Websters is more like what I would define as a close acquaintance- maybe a friend “to be.” My definition (and my friends) all seem to have much stronger legs, more heart and much more soul than Websters words.  How about you? How do YOU define friendship?

Thanks to all my friends- you all know who you are. This is pretty much how I feel about knowing you, and sharing our friendship(s)

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” – C.S. Lewis

and you know, I think Art and Philosohy are vital, and that Quality Survival is Where It’s At, and that’s what makes my world turn each day!
And so I close this blog post.