These words were spoken to me by one of my co-workers at the Disney/ABC Television Group when I had that six week job I talked about here. I was doing a lot of data entry on invoices and other forms that you really can´t screw up, and for me, when I see numbers all over the place, my mind starts to skip. I was forgetting certain things and inputting others incorrectly, and Ou told me to just, "take a step back and slow down." I don´t think he realized how much weight these words held with me, and I know he has no idea how many times I´ve thought them since.
I am the kind of person that moves quickly. I do things fast, I rush, and I am incredibly hyper-active. This causes errors that are completely avoidable, and was the reason I was so bad in math. Now, as I´m getting older, I´m becoming a much calmer person, but for a while, I was not. Having someone who was training me on a job tell me that I needed to just take a step back and slow down was very impactful. I use this as a reminder anytime I can tell that I´m getting frantic, over-worked, stressed, or overwhelmed. It helps me to stop what I´m doing, take a deep breath, slow down my thinking, and then return to whatever it is feeling stronger and more capable. And that´s what I have to do with this blog.
I want to tell you about all the adventures I´ve had, the places I´ve seen, the things I´ve done, and the foods I´ve eaten, but I also want to tell you about the realizations I´ve had, not-so-coicidental moments I´ve experienced, and about how perfectly everything seems to be coming together. As you can see, it´s a lot. The last post I dove into the spiritual side of my life and talked about the revelations that I had, so perhaps, this time, I will write about something else. But, the spiritual side of what´s happening to me seems to be the most prevelant and remarkable at this time, so I´m just not sure.
All I know for sure is that I need to tell you all that Sevilla is quickly becoming one of my favorite cities. When I visited it during Semana Santa (holy week, aka Easter week) in 2010, I didn´t appreciate it as much as I should have. I was here to party, see the tourist attractions, experience Semana Santa, and nothing more. I didn´t get a chance to really appreciate the beauty and culture this place has to offer, and was completely overwhelmed by the massive crowds of people, processions, and other celebrations. That must be why God brought me back -- He knew that this city and I would mesh well and love one another.
The city is like a canvas, everywhere, there´s art. Paintings cover the city, and although I presume their main purpose is to prevent graffiti, they result in the city being full of color and creativity. When stores are closed, they have, usually, metal doors that pull down or slide across to cover the glass windows and what-not of the store. These are down many hours of the day, since the siesta takes place from about 2-5, and all day on Sundays, so it makes sense that store owners would want people walking by to know what the establishment is, and also be drawn to it even when it is closed. Most of the paintings depict what the store is, and some are just colorful paintings of lovely, Spanish-type images.
And as if this wasn´t enough to make a girl feel creative and get the juices flowing, even the recycle bins around the city are all painted! It really is a wonder just to bike or walk around and see how many different illustrations I can find. It makes me feel so alive and happy to know I´m in a city where art is demonstrated everywhere. It´s not just a medium to express here on paper or parchment, but on things that we consider dirty, ugly, and only serving one purpose (recycle bins). It makes you think about art in a different way, and for me, love it even more than I already do.
I still have it on my list of to-take´s to take my camera and go out and take photos of the street art and graffiti here, but for now, I had to share this. I know many of you are artistic people, and I hope that this inspires you to consider art differently, more widely, and perhaps to take to doing more creative things more often. It feels so good to be this alive, with my brain working and thinking, dreaming and doing. I was so disctracted before by TV and media, but now, I´m freed from that hold and experiencing life with new eyes. I feel like my passion and lust for life have returned to me after a period of uncertainty and slight depression. I´ve always enjoyed my life, but I´ve always craved and needed more. Now, I am living the dream I created many moons ago, and feel like the most blessed child alive! I pray this for you all, and as always, MAKE YOUR OWN REALITY! <3
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