This piece just makes me smile and I wanted to write a post about it and share some of my thoughts about it.
This is one of my daughter's bath toys, it's a cute little crab that squirts water out of his claws. The holes are perfectly spaced to spray water out of both sides of the tub at once. Extra wet floors, hooray! Hahaha. But I just love his expression. The eyes are soft, body position relaxed, smile calm. Is it weird to say that I want to be like this crab? Or that the title of the painting is inspired by a meditation I like? It's interesting the things that prompt certain ideas and thoughts. A cute crab, who would've thought?
So for some context I've been working on processing the loss of my dad. He passed away in 2021 in a pretty awful way and I was there to witness it. It was evident almost immediately that I had to find a way to manage my thoughts and feelings about all of it because it was affecting my body physically. I found Dr. Joe Dispenza's work a few months before my dad passed and I knew I had to use this tool for myself to get out of the bad thought loops. For those who haven't heard of Dr. Joe, his work is worth a quick search. It is based on meditation and people with all sorts of diseases are healing by doing his work. I had never learned anything about meditation in my spiritual practice before but this just made a whole lot of sense to me and I knew I had to find a way to change my state so I was no longer suffering. One meditation that really helps me begins with Dr. Joe instructing to put your attention on your heart and to breathe life into it. After a few minutes he says to feel the love of life within you and all around you. It sounds simple but it always brings me to tears, even as I write this.
So when I was thinking about this crab as I was painting him and putting him in this wash of bright pinks like a sunset sky, I kept hearing the meditation music in my head, and the instruction to feel and experience that love within and around me. It's funny, sometimes a painting of a toy crab is just a painting of a toy crab because it's a cute thing to paint. And sometimes it has a lot of feelings and thoughts behind it. I'm sure no one would ever know or read into this image in that sort of detail but for my explanation. And that's kind of the cool thing, this painting doesn't have to be about that for anyone else, but the context of my life allowed for this painting to be created, and I love this little painting. It's hanging in a new home and I hope it brings the owner good feelings and happy thoughts. It certainly does for me. It makes me think of that love that saves and heals all, that is permanent and constant. Enjoy your adventures, little crab.