Isadora Duncan

"All my life I have struggled to make one authentic gesture."

— Isadora Duncan

American Dancer

1877 -1927

Have you been true to yourself?  Or have you spent a lifetime wearing masks?  Do you know who you are and why you are here?  Are you living an authentic life?  Or are you hiding even from yourself?  We all have struggled to find ourselves and to accept who we are.  For some, this struggle has taken longer than others.  And some may even go to their grave without discovering who they are.  As artists, writers and actors, it is easy to be attracted to wearing masks and disguises.   At the very least, we should not lie to ourselves.  Even if we don't let others see the true us, we must look inward with clear vision.  We must be true to ourselves.

Carl Jung

"We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life."

— Carl Jung

Swiss Psychiatrist

1875 - 1961

Have you ever felt that you have been here before?  That you have traveled down this road and met these people before?  Life is a path or should I say a series of paths leading us to where we are supposed to go.  Sometimes we come to a fork and make choices that lead us in directions we could not foresee.  Sometimes the path dips and turns in ways we could never have imagined.  Sometimes the path almost disappears and we feel lost and disoriented.  But we are all on a path that intersects with the paths of others.  And we even meet ourselves in various disguises and masks.  Where are you on the path of life?  At the beginning?  Nearing the end?  Caught in the middle?  Have you looked in the mirror lately?  What disguise are you wearing today?

Robert Bly

"I learned to trust my obsessions.  It is surely a great calamity for a human being to have no obsessions."

— Robert Bly

American Poet

1926 - 

What are your obsessions?  Do you deny that they exist?  What is it that keeps appearing in your paintings or writings?  In my art I am obsessed with masks.  I paint and draw masks.  When I did wood carving I carved masks.  When I doodle, I draw masks.  We all wear masks even those who say they don't.  We change our behavior depending on the people we are with? I bet most of you act different around your parents than your friends.  And you are probably different at work than you are at home.  We all don our masks and sometimes we even hide from ourselves.

What are your obsessions?  What drives you to paint or draw or write?  What is the message that you must deliver to the world?  Do you trust your obsessions?  Do you understand why you must pursue your obsessions even if it means putting yourself at risk?  Please take a moment and share your obsessions?  I would enjoy hearing from you.

Harley King

"May your heart be lighter today."

— Harley King

American Poet, Speaker

1949 -

One year ago tomorrow I wrote my first blog entry.  Today's entry is the last entry of that first year so this quote is my wish for those who have read my blog and stayed with me.  Life is challenging and difficult.  There are many events that can break our hearts and make us want to give up on life.  I don't know what is on your heart today as you read this — maybe it is a terminal diagnosis, a divorce, the death of a loved one or maybe something as simple as a spouse who said something that hurt you. My hope is that you do not let the negativity of the world around bring you down and that you will lighten up.  The world is not coming to an end despite all the doomsday prophets who forecast the coming of the last days.  The world will go on with us or without us.  So don't fret.  Don't worry about what you cannot change.  You are still above ground and there is still hope.  

Mask 15
Pen and Ink
(2008)

I have been teaching people about the importance of touching and hugging for over 20 years.  Experts say we need 8 - 12 hugs a day to be emotionally healthy.  Four hugs is minimum.  Have you received your quota for the day.  If not, go out and give someone a hug.  It can change your life one hug at a time.  And here is a blog hug from me. 


I also teach people about the importance of giving people compliments.  I teach the S-O-S technique of giving a compliment.  S = Sincere.  O = On-time.  S = Specific.  I challenge you to pay 10 different people compliments today.  About 5 years ago, I was in the hospital recovering from surgery.  My nurse was grouchy and grumpy.  I complimented her on her ring and she suddenly brightened up and said it was a gift from her husband.  She also shared that her husband had passed away five years earlier.  You don't know what is on the hearts of the people you meet, so give them a compliment and lighten their hearts.

Here is a poem that I wrote on my 62nd birthday.


A Visitor


Early this morning I opened
the front door to my home
to retrieve the daily newspaper
and found a bearded old man
asleep in a corner of the porch.
I shook him awake and
invited him in for coffee,
an omelet and buttered toast.
As he swallowed the food I had
prepared, he shared the story
of his life and I saw the years
slowly fall away until he was
young again.  In his blue eyes I saw
myself some thirty years earlier
when I too stood at a crossroads
and had decisions to make.
I gave him a thermos of coffee and
a few ham sandwiches before I bid
him farewell.  He shook my hand
and a tear rolled down my cheek.


— Harley King

Harley King

Self-Portrait
Oil Pastels
(2011)

"Sometimes we fight who we are, struggling against ourselves and our natures.  But we must learn to accept who we are and appreciate who we become.  We must love ourselves for what and who we are, and believe in our talents."

— Harley King

American Poet, Speaker

1949 - 

I have struggled much of my life to find myself and my place in this world.  I have never been satisfied, always wanting to do more, to accomplish more.  I wanted to be a famous writer.  But instead, my success came through my speaking.  While I have published 14 books, my readership is small and my paycheck is even smaller.  Yet, somewhere a long the way I learned to accept who I am and to trust that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.  I touch people's lives with my words.  

I wrote the words above when I turned fifty.  Today I turn 62 and I feel that I have learned not to struggle against myself, and have accepted who I am as well as my strengths and limitations.  I have learned to hug myself and to love who I am.

Have you learned to love yourself and to believe in your talents?  Do you appreciate the life you live and accept your strengths and weaknesses?  None of us are perfect and the lives we lead are not perfect, but we are leading the life we have chosen through our thoughts and actions.  


Here is a link to my reading of my poem, Indecision, inspired by the Renoir painting, Umbrellas.  Click on Indecision and it will take you to a page on my website.

William Baziotes

"Each painting has its own way of evolving . . . When the painting is finished, the subject reveals itself."

— William Baziotes

American Painter

1912 - 1963

I know this is the way a poem happens for me.  I don't know what the poem is about until I'm finished writing.  The poem evolves as I write.  I know there are writers who outline everything they do.  They know what they are going to write every step of the way.  For me, it does not work.  I like not knowing.  The excitement is in the writing.  The same thing happens when I write a story.  Only at the end do I know what I was writing about.

Cyclops
(1947)

My drawing of masks is the same way.  I never know what a mask will look like until I am finished.  Art for me is also about discovery.  The joy is in the process of creation.  The joy is in not knowing where you are going.  

When I travel I am the same way.  I want to discover new places.  My wife and I once were on a trip with another couple.  They had everything planned down to the minute and became upset if we deviated from the plan because it put them behind schedule.  I can't travel that way.  The joy is in the discovery.

One of the things I have learned over the years is that writers have many different ways of working.  What works for one person does not work for another.  How do you work?  Do you map out your story in advance of writing it?  Do you know what your painting will look like before you start painting it?

Jackson Pollack

"Every good artist paints what he is."

— Jackson Pollock

American Artist

1912 - 1956

Painters and writers are attracted to the subjects they are supposed to paint and write about.  Are there certain themes that run through your work?  Do you paint the same type of picture over and over?  I paint, draw and sculpt lots of masks and it does not matter what medium I  am working in.  In my poetry you will find the themes of God, death and sex.  Pretty boring, right.  Every writer talks about God, death and sex, but what makes us unique is our approach to the subject.  I have never met a writer who talks about God in the way that I do.

Erica Jong

"Everyone has talent.  What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads."

— Erica Jong
American Writer

1942 - 

What is your talent and have you followed where it will lead you?  As a writer, it has happened to me.  When I get close to revealing the darkness within my spirit, I back away.  My mind finds some reason to get up from the writing table.  And I don't follow my talent into the dark cave of my imagination.  As a speaker and storyteller, there are places I don't go because I know others will be uncomfortable.  It takes courage to follow your muse —  to open yourself up and expose your secrets to a world that might laugh and make fun.  Yes, Erica, everyone has talent.

Henri Matisse

"The character of a face in a drawing depends not upon its various proportions, but upon a spiritual light which it reflects."

— Henri Matisse
French Artists

1869 - 1954

Like an artist or a novelist, we all need to see beyond the surface characteristics of the human face.  We need to see the individual person who lives within.  We have been taught not to judge a book by its cover, yet how many times do we still do it.  Inside every person, beyond the hair and the clothes, is something very special.  Sometimes it takes work to find that person because the person has hid himself behind so many masks that he does not even know who he is.  And the same can be said of ourselves.  How many masks would you have to take off before the light within you would shine through?