SherriJeanMcCulloch – Sherri Jean McCulloch

“The artist’s language is a sensual one, a language of felt experience. When we work at our art, we dip into the well of our experience…”
Julia Cameron

10 More Things to Be Grateful For During the 2020 Pandemic

“Even when we are feeling ravaged, we can dance if we choose to.”

Family. I mentioned my love for my parents yesterday but I have more family than that whom I am grateful for. I have my three beautiful children that give my life meaning, two of which have beautiful partners. Those couples are creating littles due in April and July. My partner who knows me, who tries to support me, who shares what he is with me. I have a sister and a brother and their beautiful families that extend past nieces and nephews. For these people I can truly say that my love is unconditional. When the shit rises to the top, love is still there.
Tribe. My chosen family. The friends I’ve had forever. The creatives. My mentors. Love them all.
Animals. Especially dogs. I love them and they love me. They have a direct connection to the human spirit and they know the importance of stillness.
Books. I love the way I can chose a book I’ve already read, open it randomly and within skimming of a few pages find a line that connects to my now poignantly. Books are my tarot cards.
Freshly Washed Sheets. I love slipping into the cool freshness of clean linens. Give me high thread count cotton on a quality mattress and I feel like heaven decided to meet me on earth. Seriously. I even moan a little at the intense pleasure of it, every time.
Time Travel. I’ve been doing this for years. I travel back through memory and forward through dreams. Sometimes the recollections and projections belong to me, often, they don’t.
Synchronicities. Those good things that feel like the stars have aligned happen all of the time. Opportunities. Noticing them is paramount. Knowing my desires is key, as is mindset, but asking for what I want and acting like it’s happened, that’s been paramount. The universe has our backs. Without time for stillness, a person can’t get clear on what they want.
Warm Water. Handwashing is ‘in’ right now. I’m doing it often. Imagine how uncomfortable and chapped we’d feel if we only had cold tap water. I feel very fortunate and grateful to have warm running water to accompany my locally made scented soaps.
Birdsong. It’s not quite spring here yet, I know this because the frogs out back are still quiet. However, this morning I woke up to the robins and another song I didn’t recognize. It’s the best way to wake up in my opinion. Music is soul food.
Fried Chicken. I don’t crave food like this. I don’t particularly like deep fried anything. I’ve added it to the list because I know how it tastes and I’m grateful for that. Funny, I’m time travelling right now, back to Lloret de Mar, Spain, 1979. The best chicken, rotisserie, I ever tasted. I am so grateful for my varied experiences. Life is meant to be lived before and after the periods of necessary stillness.

“Gratitude is always the right mindset.”

I’m number 32, as seen in the art edition; Home and Garden Magazine UK. When a ‘magical’ opportunity shows up in your life, what is your first reaction? For me, this is what seems to happen: 1. Joyful surprise and excitement. 2. I check it out quickly but thoroughly. Hello, Nancy Drew! These scammy days, everything needs a thorough checking out. 3. I pay attention to the possible winning details of the offering and then weigh those against what I’ve been thinking, wondering, wanting and, of course my financial means. 4. I say yes when everything lines up, without too much delay. 5. I wait in joyful gratitude without second guessing my decision because I did the due diligence groundwork and because I believe every ‘yes’ to opportunity opens my world just a little wider! I’m sharing this because, I believe the world is a much better place than it’s being ‘painted’ of late. Yes, there are huge, maybe even insurmountable problems, and yes there is pain, but the goodness and love I have seen in the people I’ve met in every place I’ve ever travelled to, and the beauty I can find in even the blandest of vistas, makes me think the lens we are living our lives through needs a thorough cleaning. The ‘human condition’ allows us to chose our ‘side of the sword’. What side have you chosen? I used to think we had doomed ourselves and most other species. It hurt my soul. It hurt my psyche. Thankfully, I was provided the opportunity to polish and shine my lens. Now, I completely understand Dostoevsky’s prophesy, a prophesy that has long intrigued me, spoken by the prince in The Idiot. “beauty will save the world” So ….be beautiful… love. Be loved. Beloved. Open to magical opportunities and say yes when you’ve done your due diligence. Buy art. Collect art. Train your eye.