Painting-A Gift of Peace

A Gift of Peace

Today is Memorial Day, a holiday set aside to remember those Americans who fought and never returned to their earthly homes. When I think of warriors, I think of peace. In my decade-long social work career, I worked with children and adults touched by violence. I came to see warriors and survivors of violence as the greatest teachers of peace, because they have experienced the absence of peace.

How can we best honor the warriors who didn’t return to their loved ones? We can help create a more peaceful world where sons and daughters, husbands and wives, lovers and beloved have no need to resolve conflict with violence. Every one of us can help bring more peace into the world. Here’s my suggestion:

Offer yourself unconditional forgiveness and love.

No matter where you stand.

No matter what you experienced in the past.

No matter what others tell you.

No matter what conflict you have witnessed or inflicted.

Open your arms to yourself. Call a truce between all conflicting thoughts, feelings, and memories within you.

Begin anew with a minute or two a day. Dedicate it to peace. Just sit down and dedicate the minute to peace. Let all thoughts of conflict, struggle, hatred, blame and judgment leave your mind. Sit quietly and imagine peace. Meditate on it. Soon you will find it easier and easier to place your focus on peace. In this way, days add up to weeks and months and eventually years. Offer yourself the gift of peace.

I have taught meditation to abused children and adults. I have seen them make peace an active verb, a moment-to-moment choice creating home in their heart. 

This painting, A Gift of Peace, is my offering as a token of thanks for those who walked the warrior’s path, so that the rest of us could walk our own path. We can choose to return home. We can choose peace.

Mixed media on 10” x 20” cradled wood panel. Layers include mono print collage, acrylic, graphite, oil stick, oil paint and cold wax.

© Claudia Rose, Ph.D.

www.claudiaroseart.com

Eternal Love- Oil Painting

Eternal Love

I have richer relationships with my loved ones now that they have passed. I feel their unconditional love, which was often shrouded in human judgments, beliefs and fears. Now, I can feel their love clearly as if they stream a shower of love upon me.

All I have to do is think of them, not in a long meditation, just a thought or glimpse at their photo. That’s all it takes for a heart connection. I feel their love and support without judgment or fear. It is pure love—nourishing, sustaining, uplifting.

My love for them increases over time as the regrets and complaints fade. I feel only love. Whether human or animal, we are closer than ever—loved and loving, grateful and cherished.

Truly, love never dies.

Painting Detail

 Oil on gallery-wrapped canvas, 12” x 16”.

©Claudia Rose, Ph.D.

New Painting-Mother's Thanks

A Mother's Thanks

Thank you, God, for all the babies I held in my arms, for the tears I wiped off children’s cheeks, and the parents I comforted.

I hold these memories close. I have no children to call me mom or little ones to call me grandma, granny or nana, not even a niece or nephew. But I do have the memories and gratitude for the moments when I felt one with you. At those times, I felt like your emissary in the bullet-ridden neighborhoods, where gangs ruled the streets and stole bikes off children at play. 

I held hundreds of children in my arms. Some had just been orphaned. Others had been abused, abandoned or addicted to heroin while in their mothers’ wombs. Thank you, God, for the privilege of caring for them and making decisions that impacted entire families and possibly generations. I remember my social work days and give thanks for what I do have.

Because no child will call me mom, I could tell a story about loss and absence. Instead, I tell stories of gratitude. These are the only stories worth telling.

Thank you, God, for the cherished memories of feeling like mother of the world. I give thanks for the mother in me, who sees every stranger as a beloved child.

Painting Detail

Mixed media on 12” x 16” gallery wrapped canvas; original linocut prints, acrylic and graphite. Message embedded in the layers: “Love has found you. You are loved and loving always.”

©Claudia Rose, Ph.D.

Love Endures-New Painting

Love Endures

I have richer relationships with my loved ones now that they have passed. I feel their unconditional love, which was often shrouded in human judgments, beliefs and fears. Now, I can feel their love clearly as if they stream a shower of love upon me.

All I have to do is think of them, not in a long meditation, just a thought or glimpse at their photo. That’s all it takes for a heart connection. I feel their love and support without judgment or fear. It is pure love—nourishing, sustaining, uplifting.

My love for them increases over time as the regrets and complaints fade. I feel only love. Whether human or animal, we are closer than ever—loved and loving, grateful and cherished.

Truly, love never dies.

12" x 12" birch panel; mixed media- oil, cold wax, and charcoal

©Claudia Rose, Ph.D.