{"id":3333,"date":"2015-07-21T16:33:23","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T23:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/?p=3333"},"modified":"2015-11-07T11:07:12","modified_gmt":"2015-11-07T19:07:12","slug":"july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/","title":{"rendered":"July 21, 2015 – I couldn’t have dreamed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n \"Fb-Button\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>
<\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>

\"Twin<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to this post:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150721-Post.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n

This December it will have been eight years since my spiritual God Mother, Donna and I went to a day-long event at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, being given by the Buddhist meditation teacher Sylvia Boorstein and Sister Mary Neill – two spiritual teachers from different faiths who are great friends. After the event, Donna introduced me to Sister Mary as my spiritual grandmother. After meeting me, Sister Mary told Donna that I needed something from her and to have me come see her. This felt strange and also wondrous. Donna told me that she only sees ministers and therapists and other people who tend to a flock, so to speak. Then why me? What did she see in me, and what would I need from her? At the time I was a real estate agent who had taken some life coach training, and had just<\/em> that month been asked to show my watercolors for the first time the next spring. I went to see Sister Mary in January 2007 (check registers are great for placing things in time!) And I most recently saw her just last Wednesday. She\u2019s now my beloved teacher and guide. She puts my life, my struggles, challenges and blessings in the context of our faith tradition and helps me see and mark my own evolution.<\/p>\n

I could never have dreamed I\u2019d ever have such a deep and sweet relationship with a Catholic nun. But not only is she unlike any other nun I\u2019d imagine knowing, she\u2019s unlike any person<\/em> I know. She\u2019s spent her life studying and contemplating the psycho-spiritual elements of human life. Her foundation is the Christian path and she\u2019s devoted to Jesus, and<\/em> she brings in to our conversations Jung, dream work and archetypes, the Enneagram, Byron Katie, the Chakras and Buddhist meditation. She\u2019s wise and whip smart, but also funny, funny and silly and irreverent. She\u2019s always taking my hands in hers and dancing with me as she sings old love songs. She\u2019s fearless (sometimes so much she\u2019s scary) and seems more free than anyone I know. No one on earth affirms me and my journey in the way she does. I just adore<\/em> her. I pinch myself that I have someone like her who knows and loves me as she does. I cannot imagine the unfolding of my life without her accompanying me.<\/p>\n

She went crazy over my painting of Twin Dahlias. She has a large framed print of it over the table where she sees her clients\/spiritual directees. In our sessions, she\u2019s always pointing to it and telling me this is God living through me \u2013 it\u2019s my expression of God. My time spent with her has helped me come to know this to be true. We used to sing this chant at church: \u201cThe eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me.\u201d This is part of a Meister Eckhart quote that continues: \u201cmy eye and God’s eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love.\u201d At first I was puzzled by this. But she\u2019s helped me to understand that what and how I see – how we each see<\/em> – is unique to us, even as it an expression of the divine, of God. I go about my regular life and I\u2019m captivated by something I see \u2013 a delicate flower, a look in my dog Bo\u2019s eyes, the blue-lavender edge on the pinky-orange plums in a photo I took out at my parents\u2019 last Tuesday \u2013 all these things are little expressions of God \u2013 and<\/em>, my noticing them is God too.<\/p>\n

I have come to see that making art \u2013 and now teaching \u2013 creating the environment for others to create their<\/em> art – is my calling. And an important part of this has been to claim it as a real profession \u2013 to take the calling seriously enough, and to have the audacity to say that I will make a living at it \u2013 make it central to my life, not just a spare-time hobby. And it has been really, really hard. It\u2019s been an on-going negotiation in my marriage to re-arrange our lives so I can answer the call. And it has taken immense energy: the festivals, the emails, schlepping tables back and forth for classes, operating in the face of that critical voice that constantly chatters negative stuff about it all \u2013 while continuing to paint and FINISHING these paintings.<\/p>\n

I had a very freeing realization a couple of summers ago. I have lots of time to think while sitting in my festival booth. It\u2019s rarely so busy that I\u2019m talking to people all day. I\u2019ve spent hours<\/em> wondering why my art has not been selling while there are so many people expressing such appreciation for it. Then it sifted in: I\u2019m not in charge<\/em>. I have no say in who buys my art, when they do, how they will find me or it. If I were, I\u2019d never have any paintings to show! They\u2019d be all gone right away!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Summertime<\/p><\/div>\n

While this is being posted, I\u2019m in Santa Fe, New Mexico sharing what I know about painting watercolor with a woman from Texas. In early 2013 she found my art somewhere on line – she can\u2019t remember where – and signed up to be on my email list. Then about six months later, I sent an email update with my latest painting \u201cSummertime\u201d (some of which I painted while on retreat with my Sister Mary that summer). She saw it and knew this was the one. She bought the original painting, after just seeing a picture of it over the Internet. Then she told me learning to paint was on her bucket list and she wanted for me<\/em> to teach her. There\u2019s no way<\/em> I could have dreamed this up. If I<\/em> were in charge, this amazing connection would not have been made and I\u2019d not be here this week.<\/p>\n

In the time that I\u2019ve been seeing Sister Mary, my work in the world \u2013 my reach – has grown immensely. There is an original painting hanging in Australia and I have a great fan who writes me regularly from, as she calls where she lives, the desolate mountains of Scotland. There are dozens of people who have come to paint with me and find inspiration from the environment I\u2019ve been called to create. And even with all the successes, we are still a ways away from my making a real living at it. I still need support from my husband. But I do<\/em> know that I will continue to be supported to paint and to teach. This support is part of the deal. I don\u2019t think we are given a call without it.<\/p>\n

I have no idea what else is in store. Just as I couldn\u2019t have dreamed up all that has happened; I cannot dream what is to come – or when. It never feels right to take full credit for the art I make and how I help artists with their paintings. My experience is that all this comes from the source of all that is, from God \u2013 and that all<\/em> that comes through us has some divine purpose. Our part \u2013 my part – is to listen for the call – and then answer it: Hello, is that you, God?<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Cara<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to this post: This December it will have been eight years since my spiritual God Mother, Donna and I went to a day-long event at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, being given by the Buddhist meditation teacher Sylvia Boorstein and Sister Mary Neill – two spiritual teachers from different faiths who are great friends. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJuly 21, 2015 - I couldn't have dreamed - Life in Full Color<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"July 21, 2015 - I couldn't have dreamed - Life in Full Color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Listen to this post: This December it will have been eight years since my spiritual God Mother, Donna and I went to a day-long event at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, being given by the Buddhist meditation teacher Sylvia Boorstein and Sister Mary Neill – two spiritual teachers from different faiths who are great friends. After […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Life in Full Color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-21T23:33:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-07T19:07:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Twin-Dahlias-web-1024x769.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/\",\"name\":\"July 21, 2015 - I couldn't have dreamed - Life in Full Color\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Twin-Dahlias-web-1024x769.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-21T23:33:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-07T19:07:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Twin-Dahlias-web-1024x769.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Twin-Dahlias-web-1024x769.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"July 21, 2015 – I couldn’t have dreamed\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/\",\"name\":\"Life in Full Color\",\"description\":\"Watercolors by Cara Brown\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393\",\"name\":\"Cara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cara\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/author\/cara\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"July 21, 2015 - I couldn't have dreamed - Life in Full Color","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"July 21, 2015 - I couldn't have dreamed - Life in Full Color","og_description":"Listen to this post: This December it will have been eight years since my spiritual God Mother, Donna and I went to a day-long event at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, being given by the Buddhist meditation teacher Sylvia Boorstein and Sister Mary Neill – two spiritual teachers from different faiths who are great friends. After […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/","og_site_name":"Life in Full Color","article_published_time":"2015-07-21T23:33:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-11-07T19:07:12+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Twin-Dahlias-web-1024x769.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Cara","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cara","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/","name":"July 21, 2015 - I couldn't have dreamed - Life in Full Color","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Twin-Dahlias-web-1024x769.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-21T23:33:23+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-07T19:07:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Twin-Dahlias-web-1024x769.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Twin-Dahlias-web-1024x769.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/july-21-2015-i-couldnt-have-dreamed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"July 21, 2015 – I couldn’t have dreamed"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/","name":"Life in Full Color","description":"Watercolors by Cara Brown","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393","name":"Cara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cara"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/author\/cara\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1uJKT-RL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3333"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3595,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333\/revisions\/3595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. The constant WPCACHEHOME must be set in the file wp-config.php and point at the WP Super Cache plugin directory. -->