leaning in instead of pushing away

I recently had a family member who saw some of my paintings feel very concerned about me. The snakes and intensity of some of the paintings was disturbing to her.

It's funny how the mind has so many labels of what is good and what is bad and snakes fall under the bad category. But what I love about the painting process is that it challenges me to go beyond the small minds interpretation of life. When I can let go of the mind's stories and judgments in a painting then I am free. Free to just lean into the experience. Free to let go of resistance and just trust the creative process. Free to let snakes or whatever else wants to come into the painting. I move beyond my personal preferences to allow a greater wholeness to move through me. What I have found is that my creativity has an incredible intelligence and all the images that are given to me in the creative process are for my greater good. Even though at times they may feel scary or embarrassing. I have learned that if I can detach from the minds incredible judgements about everything and just keep painting that something amazing happens.