Author Archives: blchapman

About blchapman

Born with the soul of an artist and nurtured by my drive to explore the world and to know the human spirit .As a young adult I turned my attentions towards the culinary arts.It provided an outlet for creativity while providing for my material needs.As the years went by I came to realize that I was, in part ,denying the artist within due to fear and not wanting to be my mother's competitor.After escorting my mother through her end of life journey as her primary caregiver I came to realize that life is short and precious and I could no longer deny what and who I am. I am an Artist. An explorer . A lover of life .

Thrive Because of Sharing Our Humanity

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Love and acceptance , I  have thinking of these two things  recently .  As in love oneself enough so as to not accept being diminished  by someone else’s hurtful words or behavior’s .  As in feeling tenderness  or general love towards strangers  . The homeless person so clearly need in of support and kindness or the exuberant person driving the commuter bus for example .

WE are all in need of love and to feel acceptance .  That is simply universal . So that  having being said I am truly baffled by hostility   , coldness  and  harshness projected towards one another .  I am well aware of the fact that we , each of us , carries a story in our hearts .  Stories with wounds , profound  , life changing wounds and rather than allowing those wounds to separate  us could unite us in our shared humanity .  And while of us need a certain amount of time alone we thrive from sharing our selves and from exchanging kindness , compassion , laughter and tears .

Allow people in and thrive .

The Unspoken Wound

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Born lovingly then instantly removed .  Six weeks later in a home with a mother unaccustomed to affection and unconditional love .  Dear heart she did not know .  I loved her freely and as if she were my own .  The thought of a wound in my heart  from birth did not cross my thoughts . Ever.

Fifty years , and then some , have passed and It is now that I am choosing to cross a threshold into fearless exploration and acceptance of a wound in my heart from birth .

To know that a fierce and passionate love for my whole being is the means by which the empty space in my heart will be healed . The friend , the romance  and the adventure are magnificent  pieces of the whole and the only completion  of filling the space in my heart must come from the fiercest and most courageous  love imaginable  and it must come from me .

Going into the Silence

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The comfort of silence may be a very loving space . Beyond the fear , beyond the doubts  it will slowly welcome you and ease away the burdens of commotion  on the run . It becomes like  the stillness offered by a winter’s snow . A bit worrisome at first and then as you surrender to it’s beauty , it’s quietness  your muscles begin to relax .  Thoughts are calm and the desire to be cozy with our mind , body and spirit as one is welcome and , perhaps , a relief .

What do you hear in the quiet ? In the silence ?  Do you hear your dreams and remember  what love  means ?

Going into the silence is it’s own reward . A freedom as well as an exploration . One and the same .  The cage is fear and we easily build our cages out of noise . The fear of hearing our longings and of recognizing wounds placed upon us by others . We must love our wounds in order to free them and we only hear them in the silence .  I am learning to love  the silence as it guides me to learning to love myself .

The Freedom of Surrender

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I surrender to the passions and longing of the creative processes planted in my spirit .  The seeds planted long ago before I knew myself and before I knew the freedom of surrender .

She calls to me at all hours and asks only that I listen . And when I listen I am moved to create and to give and to explore .  Step outside of what you’ve grown accustomed to and outside of judgment  placed upon you  and travel inside the the infinite spaces of your heart .

See the stars and bright lights of planets set into motion before you were a whisper …or were you a whisper in the life of a star and now here you are .

The beauty in your  kindness echoes throughout the ages and the love that flows freely from your heart is felt throughout the world beyond any measurement  known to man .

‘Release’ soft chalk pastels 2012
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