I think nothing is more difficult than maintaining a positive outlook when surrounded by negativity. When the negativity gets too bad, that's when I drown my thoughts in my virtual bench. I'm sure that many of you also have a virtual bench - the place in your mind where you think over new projects, analyze project problems, think of new techniques, and allow the Spirit to talk to you. There are projects that I would love to see in real life that will probably only exist on my virtual bench because I simply do not have the skill sets to make them reality. There are others that I am still rounding out with the possibility that some or all of them may make it past the virtual barrier into the real world. And then there are the evocotive.
One of the things that I love is when an author or poet evokes internal imagery in my head that I wish I had the time/skills/etc to put onto paper/canvas/metal. Although I am not a major poetry fan, there are some times when the visions are so amazing that I can see them, completed, in my mind's eye. For instance, these few lines from "Spruce Street, Berkeley" by Naomi Shihab Nye:
..."the people are leaves drifting
downhill in morning fog. ...
...Now the cars sleep against curbs..."
I see this piece done in goache on board, in a rather Southwestern/Hispanic style of bright colors, stripes of color rather than blending, it's such an evocative word-soup. I look for things like these to pull me away from the daily negativity that is impossible to completely eliminate from my life. I'm sure that you also have things that allow you to stay positive in a world that is crashing. I hope that your virtual bench is well populated with both projects and inspiration. (The painting above is by Diego Rivera, one of Mexico's premier artists. Check him out on Google and Wikepedia.)
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