Taking Care of My Bamboo . . .

Ted Talks.

I love them.

A while ago a friend turned me on to a talk that was delivered in Portland.

It was called "Watering the Bamboo".

It's about twenty minutes

- but seriously -

take twenty minutes and watch it.

Go on - click on the link above and watch it.

Then come back and finish reading.

You will not regret it.

It will inspire you.

It will make you feel hopeful and full of purpose.

It will give you a new insight into this crazy thing called life.

 

So now . . .

about the drawing above.

This is not one of my best.

I get that.

But remember - I work an 8-5 job in an office.

I attend a lot of meetings.

I suffer from a little condition I call AADD -

Artists Attention Deficit Disorder.

I have a hard time sitting still during meetings.

I get fidgety. I get anxious. And then I miss everything that is being said.

So I doodle.

I am a bit of a joke around the office -

everyone wants to see my "meeting notes" because they are usually filled with all sorts of drawings and doodles with a few notes, words and reminders scattered about.

 

I was in a meeting the other day.

 I had just watched the Ted Talk on Watering the Bamboo the day before.

And it was still swirling around in my head.

This is the doodle that came out.

 

It was obviously still sitting in my sub-concious.

And I really spent some time thinking about my situation.

 

A few days ago, I received notice from my realtor that the deal on my house was nearing completion.

Where I thought I would be moving out of my home after the first of the year -

I discovered that it would probably be before Thanksgiving.

I hung up the phone and instead of happiness and relief I felt anger, panic and sadness.

I cried.

Where am I going to go? How am I going to move 16 years worth of stuff?

When am I going to get all of this done?

How much change can I person deal with in a short period of time?

 

But the words of the bamboo analogy came back to me.

Now - to understand what a profound effect this had on me - you will have to watch the video.

Just suffice it to say -

I was reminded, by my very wise father, of  all the things that had been taking place over the last few years leading up to these very important moments.

And it's good.

It's very very good.

And since the day that my life was thrown off kilter -

I have had some absolutely wonderful things take place.

Many that I can't even talk about here yet.

But dreams and wishes are beginning to come true.

And the thing is -

I don't think they would have happened if things had stayed the way they were.

 

So basically -

I have spent the last several years watering my bamboo.

And now - it has sprouted.

And watch out -

cause it is starting to grow!

 

Here are a few other silly office meeting doodles . . .

Nothing to do with the bamboo, but I figured I share them just the same!

A little Halloween doodle . . .

Patterns and designs doodle . . .