2 Apr
Before the Creative Process
A Call for BGP’s
What I am about to share with you here I’ve carried with me for quite some time, both literally and figuratively. It’s one of the secrets to success kind of things that people don’t like to talk about in polite conversations.
It’s an answer to:
- The need that we all have, sooner or later, to go ahead and make ourselves jump—with no net in sight.
- The knowing that this time we MUST take the road less traveled–the one that is so overgrown with our own desires that we can no longer ignore it.
- The fear that we might be rejected now fading in view of the overwhelming desire to fully live into all that we are designed to be.
Excitement —over riding any shred of common sense we might have left!
THE moment that call for us to don our BGP’s and go for it— no matter what.
I must warn you—what you are about to see may be seared in your mind for a very long time so if you don’t think you can handle it… now would be the time to LOOK AWAY
Superman had his cape.
Wonder Woman had her Lasso of Truth.
Me and you???
We’ve got…
Big Girl Panties come in one size fits all. When you put them on you assume the powers of a super hero. Able to ignore fears and push past it can’t be dones without even trying.
When I first went online with myself (notice I didn’t say with my art or my writing or Ed because all we really ever have to offer is ourselves) the mantra that I used was Lean Into the Fire.
The more afraid I was of doing something
(like starting a blog, posting a fresh painting, putting my thoughts out there for someone else to read)
the more sure I became that it was EXACTLY what I needed to do.
It helped me to move forward when most of me wanted to run like a nut for the nearest safe place. Coming out from under our fears and getting up on the tight wire to fully live takes courage. And courage as you know is not an absence of fear, but the ability to acknowledge the fear and DO IT ANYWAY.
The BGP mindset means that you go ahead and do what you intuitively know needs to be done.
You are more willing to accept the unknown outcomes of action taken rather than live with the status quo of what has always been.
BGP’s are what you don when life has backed you in a corner.
They are the perfect choice when you’ve been pressed so far down you’re ready to come out fighting.
It would appear that the Universe designs things to get us into the BGP mindset.
For me, it was a loooooong road that eventually narrowed down to watching my dad grow more ill until he finally passed AND working away in a family restaurant with no time for anything creative.
Keeping your head back in a pizza oven for years has a profound impact on one’s desire to own a pair of BGP’s 🙂
Once you start wearing them, you find they are a perfect match for lots of things in your life 🙂
This is my call for BGP girls (sorry guys, I am not sure what the equivalent is for boys).
Get out your BIG GIRL PANTIES……
and wear them proudly 🙂
P.S. Eddie gets excited when he sees me get these out—he knows it’s time for a leap of faith, the kind that calls for BGP’s…..
P.P.S. I’m packed, I have stocked the house with cat food/cat nip and I’m heading south to Louisiana. I have left Eddie Bill in charge of things. I am hoping this is not a mistake…..
More art, more workshop stories, and more fun coming your way soon 🙂 !!!
Thanks for sharing this, Dreama. It is just what I needed to hear (again and again), so I am bookmarking it and sharing it with friends.
Big girl panties it is! And perhaps there is (or can be) freedom is in the process of aging. I often say, “If not now, then when?” Life is too short not to catch on to the moments, and relish their unfolding.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, humor and journey with the rest of us dear Dreama;)
Your encouragement always comes in the form of such delight! I’m laughing and feeling empowered all at the same time. Shining that mirror of joy right back atcha gal!!! 😀
I think leaving Ed in charge is a mistake…..just sayin…..
I don’t know how I missed this..but I must not have needed it quite as badly then as I do now. Trying to overcome some family rejection and that is difficult..but this did help me look at other paths when the one I am on is going in circles…thank you Artist Dreama Tolle Perry, as always!
I would love to know where you got these. I’d like to buy a pair to hang in my studio as a backdrop for my red boxing gloves!
Here’s to BGPs. I have to wash mine out every night and put them on fresh each morning. Love my BGPs. Thanks for identifying them. xoxoxo
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Got mine on ! Thanks for the red inspiration!
Hi Dreama, I enjoy your writing so much. Thank you for sharing a part of your personal life. I recently lost my Mom. She was my best friend and biggest fan of my artwork. Always supporting me no matter what corner I was backed into. I did not think I would be able to paint again, but recently finished an old painting I started and I could feel her cheering me on. BGP to the rescue and looking forward to moving on. Thank you!
Dreama! Great post and helpful information for my chicken-little, nervous-Nellie self! Gotta get a pair of those and go BGP!
Hello Dreama, this is one of the few times you have given us some insite into your personal history. I remember you and I have in common being “Daddy’s Girls’. My Dad is still alive. I remember your Dad had passed and how hard that would be too think about. I didn’t know you had a Family Restaurant put in your lap too!
That would take bgp for sure!!!
To see where you have climbed too today is simply amazing and lift up for us all to aspire too! HUGS HUGS HUGS.
HAHAA! Wow! this made me laugh out loud, and inspired at the same time! Go get ’em, girl! LOL!
Thank-you Dreama! I needed to read this at this very moment…I have been so worried. The time for me to be Chairman of an organization has come..I knew it was coming and I wish I had not said YES! I am really nervous about it! At 52 all I really want to do is paint all day and have fun! I need to get my BGP on and stop complaining and worrying about it all!
I am signed up for your workshop this summer and I just hope I can find the time to keep painting from now until then. Thank-you for the laughter and the pep talk…I just need to make it happen! 🙂
Okay, I wish I lived next door to you. You are sooo hilarious! I guess the equivalent for guys would be bad boys boxers or boxers on the fly.
When I found you on line, I began to get up my nerve to make the change from watercolor to oil. I put on my BGP and signed up for a workshop before I had ever opened a tube of oil paint! A lot of stress related symptoms can come from this… Yesterday I got out the BGP and finished my very first oil painting, “Daiseys” It was from one of your paintings, Dreama. If we still had antennas on cars I would attach my BGP for the drive to Shreveport!
Thanks Dreama, that’s just the perfect advice for me today!
Hi Dreama,
I love reading your words and thoughts for they are also my words and thoughts. I am right now spending most of my days with my 93 year old Dad, watching him slowly slip away. He is the one person that got me into painting as a young girl. Came home one day and said, Bethy, I have enrolled you in a painting class… Me? I draw a few things, I am not an artist? But he made me go anyway. He saw in me what I could not/would not see in myself and that continues to this day. I quit my drafting job I have had since the dawn of time, I just walked out one day… I couldn’t do that, ‘corporate thing’ anymore. My husband made me a studio in our house and I was so happy but of late I have been thinking I should go back to work even called them… but I see through your story, I need to dig out my BGP… I need to honor what my Dad, saw in me so long ago. Dreama, thank you so much for your writings. ((Hugs))
Dreama — I love your painting and your spirit! And I was interested to read that you encourage women to don BGPs. I may offer a related term that might also work for guys such as myself: “Autopoiesis”.
The following is paraphrased in part from Robt Genn’s blogs: Normally we start out a painting with an end result in mind and work towards that end, building upon solid steps along the way. In autopoiesis the creator lets the work itself determine the course of the end product and he/she builds upon steps (“platforms”) which not only didn’t even exist but were not even known prior to the last step. It’s the opposite of a car factory where each step is fully known before proceeding to it, and the final step is completely specified and designated before starting out. Autopoiesis can produce uniqueness, visual magic, and the breath of life in a work of art. “Quidem te est,” said the great Roman philosopher Kjerkius Gennius (36BC)–“It is in you.”
The following two quotes pertain to all of the above:
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.” – Goethe Ie., start out before you have all the intermediate steps in mind…
“When your painting starts having its own life and speaks to you…listen and don’t interrupt!” – Author unknown
You’re welcome to share any parts of this comment!
Keep up the great work!
Anthony
This is just what I needed today. Thank you. I am going to hang a pair of BGP in my office!!! (might invite some interesting comments)
Hi Dreama, all I can say is THANK YOU!!!
So love and enjoy your writings!
Perfect timing to read this – my Aunt Ruth reminded me to read it today….. I so wish Eddie could come and stay with me even if just for a few days, I know he would constantly remind me to just “jump” and go for it, I think he might love it here! Thanks for sharing Dreama! 🙂
These spacious panties need to come back and replace the tiny, tight, confining ones. I’m ready to move in my creative space. Yes to Dreama.
Oh Dreama, I love your writing almost as much as your paintings. Your post brought tears to my eyes, which continue to water as I write. I’ve always had no problem putting on my BGP’s for most everything in my life, except my painting, always fearing I’m not good enough and never will be. I hope someday to be able to put on my BGP’s and forge ahead with trying to get my work out there. Thank you, you helped me realize that’s what I need to do in this area. Until then I’ll just keep doing what makes me happy….painting (and playing with my grandkids).
VERY encouraging !Thanks Dreama !
On the road to Shreveport and loving checking in on the conversation here 🙂 !
No…I didn’t sew these babies myself—I have sources!
Rosemary—I think we need to go with LEAP and the BGP”s will appear 🙂
Judy–I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT ON THE INTERSTATE!!!!!
BIG HUGS TO ALL—and may the Panty Force Be with YOU!!!
d
Thanks Dreama, that was beyond helpful, because I’m definitely backed into a corner. One of my own making– I think I painted myself into it. Now to paint a door and go through it, like in old cartoons. Or maybe draw myself out, not sure which but thanks, this was great. So, did you sew those things?
Have you been in my lingerie drawer???????haha These look like mine!!!!!!hehehe
I have a little strip of paper in my studio that says “Leap and the net will appear” so I’m on your wavelength! My mantra has been to do the things we want to do because you never know what tomorrow will bring so do it now! Thanks for making me laugh this morning!
I just read this quote yesterday!!
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
Vincent Van Gogh
Drema, you put down on paper thoughts that I have had. Yes we need to be fearless in life and in our art and hope something wonderful will happen.
Continue to inspire us.
Thanks,
VH
This made me smile!
You are so right! The time has come. Getting out those BGP now. Thank you!
I am posting in hope that Lane Elizabeth Sheer reads this!
Just what I needed to hear! Perfect timing! Thank you!
Thank you! Just what I needed to hear today!
…and where in the world did you get those panties ? :0
love the story!
Oh, Dreama, you so make me smile. Love your humorous lessons for life. Thank you!
Bravery sure looks good on you, Dreama! Why am I always so skird to flap my little wings and fly?? 🙂 So many things I wish I had the courage to just DO. I will ponder your post and dig around in my undie drawer and see if I have the strength to put on my BGPs. I know there’s a pair in there somewhere. P.S. LOVE Maggie in the cat bed. That happens a lot around here, too, and it’s quite frowned upon by Lily Boots and Squidly. Have a wonderful workshop stretch in Louisiana! xo
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