Heart and mind tug of war

Heart and brain became more realistic by importing photos

Confusion and frustration sit in the middle of the knowledge and experience gap.

That’s the conclusion I came up with after I started to read about mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhism a couple of years ago when I participated in a week-long meditation retreat.

There were so many new ways of thinking that I desperately wanted to understand it more. It felt much easier to feel the progress I was making at the retreat where everyone had a similar pursuit: everyone was patient, happy, calm, emotionally open and genuine.

It’s a lot tougher out in the real world and sometimes applying the mindfulness technique made sense in theory (in my head) and although I wanted it to feel it in my heart, it’s not that easy sometimes.  It’s the fuel for frustration but if I was being mindful, I wouldn’t be frustrated – and this vicious cycle made the issue bigger and in a tighter knot than it probably should have been.

I had to break the cycle.

The solution often to me is drawing it out – literally, draw-it-out of my mind to visually represent what I’m going through. Drawing out my issues out of my mind often makes my issue tangible and hence easier to manage.

I actually enjoyed this process, especially it gave me an opportunity to play with my new iPad Pro where I learned that importing an actual image of a brain and a heart made this work look so much better than just drawing what I thought they looked like.

This small win was enough.

It was enough happiness to get the negativity out of my mind to rest my headspace so that I can deal with things from a better perspective.  I think this is how the knot slowly untangles and eventually, my mind and my heart will constantly be on the same side and not fight against each other.

Like this artwork? Own it!

Check out my society6 shop and you can hang it, hug it and decorate your home with this piece! View the full range in “Heart and Mind Tug-of-war” collection in my online shop.

“Heart and Mind Tug-of-war” collection on society6.com/yukariwilson

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