“Turn your wounds into wisdom” Oprah Winfrey

The night was a difficult night. Pain and anxiety and fatigue keeping me awake. Yes, fatigue. It is a weird kind of exhaustion. My limbs feel as though they are surrounded in lead. extremely heavy, difficult to move. And you are so exhausted you don’t have the energy to sleep. The nerve pain in my legs become almost unbearable. As if thousands of fire needles are being stuck in my skin. And then there is an itch within my body. It is not an itch you can’t actually scratch because it feels like it is coming from inside. It is also a part of the neuropathy. Then there is string wrapped around my chest squeezing tighter and tighter. It too is a sensation from neuropathy.

How do I get through? How do I find some solace and comfort? How do I find peace like the painting here. I stop and become still. I say a prayer asking for the universal energy to enter my body. I visualize this energy entering from the crown of my head and slowly it moves through every part of my body. light enters and emanates from my hands as the palms of my hand become warm like hot chocolate on a cold day. I imagine it as lavender flowing through freeing any blockages in my body and unstuck the stuck energy. pain and anxiety flow out from the bottoms of my feet and are healed deep in the core of the earth, moving through the roots of trees, down into the soil, and deep into the crust, moving in the sway of the outer core, and coming to rest in the inner core.

She is a brightness healing through the universal energy flowing free through her body.She shares in the infinite love of the universe. She calms my soul. I smile when I look at her. I exhale deeply. Maybe she is the embodiment of the universe healing energy I invite to flow through my body and heal my body, mind, and soul.

She is not typical in that she is mixed media on unstretched canvas instead of on paper.

It is the last of cloth I used many years ago from an exhibition I did at Grace Episcopal Church where I was an artist in residence. I then used the cloth as drop clothes. And then recycled this cloth into paintings. Most of the cloth went into a series called “Dancing in the Sacred Spirit”. It turned out to be a completely abstracted series with a lot of color and movement within the paint and materials I used. She, Finding Peace, is the last of it.

I suppose it fits. She found peace. And resting there eases the anxieties of the soul. She found trust and allowed herself to fall deeply in love allowing the universal healing energy to dance in her body.

Her eyes gaze on the forever.

I hope you enjoy her,
paint much love, always,
Connie Karleta Sales
a.k.a. This Crooked Little Flower