On up the mountain (with Jakob Dylan)

Listening to this track tonight. Love the line; 'you'll get tired and you'll get weak but you won't abandon your masterpiece'.

I'm doing a lot of work on this at the moment; trying to figure out what the masterpiece is or rather what MY masterpiece is. What has it been so far? If I'm creating something amazing when exactly does it start taking shape? Masterpieces are not easy things to create (just ask Michelangelo) so I'm not sure why I'm perplexed when things are tough, painful or just plain bloody irritating (yes, indeedy and I don't just mean the bloody squirrel that keeps digging in my pot plants dagnammit)

What happens if in order to create my masterpiece there has to be a divorce, a nephew who got heartbreakingly sick for a while, a final decision to really move on, a mish mash of self help books, a varied group of friends, an irritating brother, a crazy early rising greedy labrador and a whole load of other stuff that gets randomly added and removed as the days pass by? What if I need this stuff because it's all part of the landscape, the structure, the journey?

What if I dont need it and it's only holding me back, keeping me stuck, giving me excuses. Ooh you gotta love a really great excuse. That's a whole other post though.

I reckon amazing artistic beings only keep the parts that really help to make the creation work, they let go of the other stuff no matter how attached to it they have become. Because the sum of parts has to be able to come together to create something beautiful (even if only in the eyes of the beholder). It must mean letting go of what doesnt work even if it's loved or was once longed for. If it cannot enhance the masterpiece then surely it cannot have a place less it detracts or distracts from what is being created. Who knows if Van Gogh decided that the cerise tulip in the middle of the sunflowers was never going to work and had to go (good call Vincent).

I'm coming around to thinking that in order for me create my masterpiece I need to lighten my load. I need to gather the bits that enhance me, empower me, make me kinder, stronger and wiser. Keep the people I love and release the ones I don't. Get light. Laugh. Pray. Walk uphill knowing I'm getting there, knowing it's ok. Knowing I will get tired and I will get weak but I won't surrender the masterpiece...(thanks for the lyrics Mr D Jnr).

http://youtu.be/Hk2CTLKffiE