Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Aceptación, disfrute y entusiasmo
Saturday, July 25, 2009
No pude resistir publicar esto aquí!
To: Tanya Torres
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2009 4:18:34 PM
Subject: Re: July 22/Julio 22: María Magdalena
So we're on for the
Friday, July 24, 2009
La muñequita
Muchas de estas cosas son regalos, otras me han acompañado por muchos años, desde Mixta y antes. La muñeca en el centro es una de las más antiguas hechas por Mercedes. Es, como ella dice, una "Spiritual Doll". Yo se la compré como artesanía, pero para ella representa un ancestro. Thursday, July 23, 2009
Magdalena, en progreso, un poco más
22 de julio es el día de la Magdalena. Me la pasé pintando y también riéndome, acompañada de Yari y Raquel. Fuimos a bailar, pero no pudimos bailar por ser menores de edad ya que todo el mundo tenía de 50 para arriba. Pero nos divertimos comoquiera viendo a los bailarines con sazón y sabrosura entregados a la música. Luego Yari y yo nos fuimos al East Village a comer sushi. Cuando llegué, me habían contestado muchas personas al email del día de la Magdalena, así que me voy a dormir feliz y agradecida por un día ¡ESPECTACULAR! ¡Sonrisas y amor en el día de la Magdalena!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
"But love in its extensive meaning of the word and the peace, where are they?"

I have been searching for those answers, and the first words that come to mind in response are Ghandi's: "be the change you want to see in the world." In every reading I have come across in the last few years, from The Secret to A New Earth, and many, many books in between, they all seem to say: to achieve peace you must be at peace with yourself first. To encounter love, you must let go of your ego and fear. Easier said than done. But if this is our intention, it must be possible.
We must start... somewhere. Our goal is to feel peaceful and loving no matter what. But we grow up fighting, criticizing, trying to get ahead and above the crowd. We stop loving unconditionally as soon as we start fearing losing the love of others, and fear takes away our peace.
I think the main reason why so many of us never achieve lasting love and peace is because we really believe that it must be that way, that they don't exist. There is so much unhappiness around, it becomes really hard to even imagine long-lasting peace and love. Here in NYC, everybody complains ALL THE TIME. I became sick with this malady very early in my life and never even realized it until around 2007. The first time I was really happy after childhood (and not even in childhood was I happy most of the time) was when I recovered from cancer. It was not just that I had recovered, but that I felt like I had died and come back to life. I remember telling a friend that I had no fear. I really felt that way, it was heaven.(She dumped me right after that... and this created intense fear in me.) But little by little I let myself get back to my old patterns, even more intensely than before and by 2006 I became so intensely unhappy I was having thoughts of suicide. I can say this now because I know I would never have done it, and understand that low point was absolutely necessary in my evolution as a human being. Not even the sickness, the possibility of death, the loss of youth and beauty, the loss of friends, brought me to understand why I had never been able to be happy. I felt embarrassed at having such thoughts and would not see a counselor because I knew it wouldn't work for me. So I took it upon myself to find my own cure.
I had some clues. I remembered the happiness I felt when creating my book Battle Body. Each part of the book was a joy. Then I felt I was really contributing something to people's lives by telling my story and teaching bookmaking workshops. Part of my intense unhappiness was not able to do this anymore because I had taken a job that made it impossible.
I got so sick of myself. I stopped talking. I stopped complaining. I stopped sharing how I felt... an old trick that didn't get me anywhere before. But this time there was a difference. I also started imagining life as I wanted it. I got this idea from The Secret. It sounds silly, but it worked. I needed a little infusion of energy to get out of being stuck. I got the murals commissions, and a job in which I work about 1 hour a day and pays me enough for all my expenses. I also said aloud what I needed and made some practical adjustments in my everyday life. I let myself be helped by the people who loved me. I began to, little by little, face fear and learn to trust again.
But this was not all that made me happy. It was just the beginning. I continued reading (this is where it gets magical). You already know I paint Mary Magdalenes. Well, my friend María Mar says that when people believe in an idea, it begins to take form, and so Santa Claus and fairies exist. Well, Mary Magdalene exists too. My friend Raquel and I created her. We talked about her, and that led us both to create work about her, and ever since then we have followed the little clues that she pulls us to. Books, places, people... believe me, it was she who made our conversation possible at the Mexican Restaurant. Wasn't it magical? I get this energy and just let it flow and sometimes, when people listen, things happen. Our hearts open, we feel different.
So my heart opened. Instead of complaining, I try to understand why I complain. And when I "recur", I write a love letter. For real. I do. I write love emails. They are not romantic or passionate, but I tell people I love them. The first person who comes to mind that morning. I also say thank you for each thing that I can think of, just thank you to the Universe. I do this especially on bad days, when the world can get to me. Have you read my birthday poems?They are also love letters to make my friends smile.
I learned that you have to create your own happiness and your own love and your own peace. So if I don't feel loved or loving, I generate love by writing love letters and by being grateful. And if I don't feel peaceful, I do things that create peace, like help somebody or paint or write a comment in a blog. And if I don't feel happy, I try to remember to paint or go to the bookstore or talk to a friend who makes me laugh. I make sure I don't complain, but if I do, I am kind to myself and remind myself to stop and start over. I start over with my intention, even if I fail every day. 37 years of unhappiness don't go away in 2, so I have to be patient, right?
Well, I have to say though, that this "new state of mind" is not without its contradictions. Some people who were so close at the time when I was intensely unhappy are leaving my life. It is painful, but I know there is nothing I can do anymore. I have held on to them as much as I can, but now I have to let them go. This makes me feel like I have failed them, but even when I try to continue holding on to them, things go wrong. I have to accept it and trust that I won't be left completely alone. This has made me really think about the meaning of having a family and the unconditional love and acceptance that a family provides. I'm not good at letting go, but it helps to have people who love you and you love unconditionally.
I can no longer be atheist either. But I have met a different God. The one that is in my cells and talked to me when I woke up from the morphine in the hospital.
THE EXTRACTION OF GOD
I had a great idea.
Maybe God is not God,
But its creation,
Or what remains of it.
Maybe God,
Exists,
In some inherited place,
Among cells,
Full of history.
Maybe God,
Is what I give myself,
In bed,
Alone,
Feeling cold, and hot,
Afraid.
Maybe God,
Is the unasked prayers,
Those that do not bring you to hell,
The prayers that are,
Kisses to the spirit.
Maybe God,
Is hidden,
And only emerges,
When surprised,
When expired,
When it’s about to be extracted.
That’s why it is so miraculous:
It understands fear,
When it sees it coming.
I would write a different poem now, but this one is still meaningful because there are some truths in it that still stand. God emerges in your worst moments, when you find a little ray of light and believe that you can live one more day, and that if you live one more day, everything will be different. and may be, there will be another opportunity to love, and this time you will love yourself.
And when you love, you are loved, by yourself. And then you are at peace. Even if you are alone, all day like me, in my studio painting prayers.
Your soul and mine touched that day, and this is what I call God. Connection, trust, openness, believing that you are not alone, ever.
So we are love,
and we are peace,
when I let you,
and you let me,
just be.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Cuerpo de paz (Obras digitales)/Peace Body (Digital Art)


Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Welcome Contemplative Catholic!

Monday, July 13, 2009
Para Guariko en su cumpleaños
Friday, July 10, 2009
Comienzo la Gran Magdalena



Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Monday, July 06, 2009
El poema de Migdalia
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Sé feliz, parte 2
Gerard W. Hughes
- Sometimes when praying on Christ’s agony in the Garden, I have wondered whether part of the agony lay in seeing how his passion and death would be misused to oppress, coerce and dominate.






