I was standing in front of a huge bank of drawers labeled something like this illustration.  I was able to open and close the various drawers at will and things would stay magically in place.  Well, of course the absurdity of trying to do this wasn’t lost on me, but I had to create the visual about how “in relationship” all aspects of our lives are all the time.

Trying to get various parts of myself to NOT AVOID EACH OTHER other has required a fair amount of strategy.  It seems so obvious, however, when I thought about the reality of this…it wasn’t quite so simple.  Below is a more realistic illustration I think, at least for me.

I’ve really tried to integrate who I am in my studio with the woman I bring home to my family. My family would love the woman at the studio. She’s this creative, resourceful, innovative, free-spirit sort of person. And she has chocolate and beef jerky stashed everywhere.

The reality was that my poor family would get a tired, cranky, unresourceful woman who made everyone feel like they were an interruption and a bother.  So, now I’m making a real effort to bring my artist self home with me.  I might manage this only some of the time—but hey, t’s a work in progress & really isn’t everything?

I would love to hear your stories of successes or struggles in this arena.