Dawn’s Bountiful Harvest 2018
Lisa Leigh Payne
Dawn’s Bountiful Harvest done in 2018 in the midst of a terrible bout of fibromyalgia and these few days I had help coping with the pain. Then, that was over. And back to misery and little to none production. Fibromyalgia, and pain in general, have a way of stealing everything away from your life. The simple joys of dishes and sweeping are impossible, and a smile might actually hurt your face.
My best friend, also with fibromyalgia, says the pain reminds her that she is alive and she is grateful for another day. Finding gratitude in the small things. Sometimes with fibromyalgia, that bountiful harvest is very hot water in a tub or shower. Whatever are the little things to be grateful for, recognize each day for the new things it brings: HOPE.
Perhaps Dawn’s Bountiful Harvest is HOPE? HOPE , a feeling of expectation and desire. Optimism is the positive and Pessimism is the negative, being expressed with the word “dread.” So, with whatever expression we define our intention for the future, we are either hoping or dreading. And, the middle is apathy, what is that?
Here is an article on Apathy, and just the consideration of Apathy has made me do a sketch.
Here is a quote from the article. “But independent of etiology, the ultimate consequence of all these conditions—and others, too—are pretty much the same. That is, for all who suffer from apathy, what’s lost is the fundamental hope that personal happiness or fulfillment is possible. ” That means that a person who is apathetic either does not care at all for a particular issue, or they do not care for themselves. One is self-centered, especially if apathetic on certain issues like racism, greed, and exploitation, this is the outward apathy. (Narcissism?) The inward apathy is almost a non-recognition of the needs of self, the loss of interest in things to come, either good or bad. Neither hoping, nor dreading. Like in a sensory-deprivation tank where the water is exactly 98.6 and there is no (external) stimulus. Perhaps the (internal) stimulus*, the person inside, has been so battered that they fear coming out, so rather than admit they have needs, because asking for those needs to be fulfilled resulted in abuse, they hole up, and refuse stimulation at all. So, is apathy really a deep-set fear? That person is afraid to acknowledge their own needs to themselves. I think I have been there. (*The stimulus is our being, existence, our spirit what have you, the conscious.) This, touching your inner peace. Your being.
Dawn’s Bountiful Harvest 2018 mixed-media collage, is composed of recycled jewelry, ephemera, beads, buttons, found objects. https://www.etsy.com/listing/662496124/dawns-bountiful-harvest-2018?ref=listings_manager_grid