my strokes of strength

Picking the right people in one's life is so important. These people shape us, shape who we are, our experiences, our perspectives, and how we feel, about ourselves, and about everything around us. Rather, surrounding ourselves with the right people, is so important. It starts with the feeling of need for these people in our lives. The need. Without them, the self is incomplete. Like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, waiting for its surrounding partners, to complete its identity. But when we are truly connected, I feel, we don't feel we need them, but that they need us. Because needing someone for one's own self solely, would be selfish. And that the relationship needs both, in their grounded states of mind.

I feel that artists are truly courageous. While some may merely float in their thoughts, and disappoint themselves when they see that reality is cruel to their dreams, artists make their fantasies come alive through their imagination and words. Their art is beyond just a bunch of letters and pencil markings. It possesses a divine power, and yes, it is divine, that keeps them in a world, that is cushioned by only the plushness of their own imagination. Because we can protect ourselves, if we believe in the self within us. Because while all things can't be real, the mind and heart are. And when they become one, I become indivisible, by any blunt edges of, what people mean when they say "reality." Because it may be the only thing I have, within me, that will give me strength. Because this may be the only thing I have, which will protect me from being pulled back into an ocean of hesitation, drowning in doubt and suffering, sputtering my arms around in the viscous, dark waves of sadness. Afraid to open my mouth to speak any words, for I might not be able to breathe. Afraid to shout out for help, for uttering those words may only choke me.

Families, friends, all relationships are like artwork as well. Intricate and beautiful, while simple and vague at the same time. But if created with great patience, love, and imagination, they bud into flowers which make us feel lighter and happier, and at the same time, build onward to become pillars to something greater, stronger, and resilient, within each person.