Acceptance

This piece I created in 2019, although I had the idea back in 2016…

When I had my daughter in the Spring of 2016 I was struggling with my mental health and got back into therapy, as well as painting to process through my repressed emotions. One of the ways my therapists helped me was encouraging me to write a song or poem. Then I just kept writing, it always helps me come into balance in my life when it’s gone out of whack. During that time I started painting in the acrylic pouring style and wondered what would happen if someone used breastmilk with acrylic paint. At the time I was too scared and stuck in a lack and fear mindset, too worried to experiment. I had my son in April of 2019 and decided I had to try it out. I’m thrilled that not only did utilizing my breastmilk as part of my creative expression turn out really interesting and fun on the painting, it also helped me shift out of a lack mindset and produce more than enough milk for my son’s needs, while still having more to paint with!

I also wrote this while contemplating Acceptance both as a stage of grief and on a grander scale.

Acceptance

I am me

Who I choose to be

You are you

Who you choose to be

We are We

Human

Alien

Immigrant

Native

Western

Eastern

Northern

Southern

Left

Middle

Right

Center

Equally

Imperfectly

Perfectly

Weird

Different

All shapes

All colors

All sizes

All genders

All beliefs

Drop the judgements

Of self

Of others

And see

How free

And happy

We all can be

When we choose

Acceptance

Over hate

Love

Over fear

Words

Over weapons

Forgiveness

Over blame

Change

Over stagnation

Collaboration

Over competition

Equality

Over marginalization