A trip to the “Big Island” of Hawai`i is always exhilarating, and my July trip was over-the-top amazing!

Each of the Hawaiian Islands has its own personality. Like siblings in a family, no two are alike.

Hawai`i Island is the largest of all of the islands. In fact, all of the other islands would fit inside of it (as if that were possible).

Hawai`i is rugged, rural, majestic, and home to the most active volcano on Earth.

Two exhibits on the Kona side of the island prompted my July trip.

Tiffany DeEtte Shafto is doing a great job presenting my art to a wider audience. She hung my art at both The Four Seasons Hualalai and Henderson House at the Shops in Mauna Lani.

I stayed at the Four Seasons for one night and Ohmygoodness there are so many reasons it is consistently rated the BEST resort in the world!

The beauty, luxurious accommodations, sumptuous grounds, the happy, friendly people, the yummy food, much of which is grown on the resort and the island, are all top notch!

This is the view at dawn from our cabana at the Four Seasons Hualalai

It is paradise on steroids!

Teaching a watercolor class at the Four Seasons was great fun and very rewarding.

Me, Jeanette, & Mike in front of my painting, "Miles from Nowhere", at Henderson House

I am thrilled to have my abstract paintings hanging in the showcase design environment of Henderson House in The Shops at Mauna Lani.

Me and Rebecca Snow relaxing in the middle of a long, exciting day at the Four Seasons.

Rebecca Snow, my friend, fellow artist, and studio-mate, joined me on the trip. It was her first time to Hawai`i Island so we stayed a few extra days with my cousins Mike and Jeanette in Captain Cook.

Mike gave us a tour of their orchard of bananas, oranges, tangerines, mango, avocado, Kona coffee, Ulu, and Pamelo. Jeanette’s healthy meals gave us a delicious respite between the hectic exhibit schedules.

We rose at 2:30AM on Saturday so Mike could drive us to the southern tip of the island to see the glowing Kilauea caldera and watch the sun rise on Mauna Loa. It was breath taking!

The energy of life renewing itself is evident all over the world, in every backyard. That same energy feels amplified on the Big Island.

The contrast of birth/renewal and death happens simultaneously all around us. Our lives become that much sweeter when we realize it’s up to us to pick up the reins and make each path our own.

Putting things off does us no service. Living life is a verb. Creating a life that matters is actionable.

Let’s all take the action we need to take today to make the most of our time here on Earth!

We are meant to continue to grow, becoming more of our REAL selves here on Earth!

Sometime in the last month I reached some sort of limit and declared that I want more sweetness in my life.

That’s when I realized that I must be sweeter!

Be the sweetness you want to feel, right?

"Puppy Love" ©Patrice Federspiel

What does it mean to be sweeter in the world?

What does it feel like to be sweeter?

Sometimes sweetness is an overt action, like buying a coffee for the person behind you in line, or giving a driver easy passage to merge in front of you on the highway.

Other times it’s more an act of omission.

It’s sweet to be patient when the person in front of you at the checkout counter is counting their change.

It’s sweet to NOT roll your eyes when faced with anything you see as utterly ridiculous.

It’s sweet to not speak when speaking only serves as a volley in a useless, unnecessary argument.

It’s always sweeter to give everyone — including yourself — the benefit of the doubt.

"Seriously" ©Patrice Federspiel

Choosing sweetness isn’t always easy, and it certainly isn’t always at the top of my mind.

Still, sweetness is my new barometer; it's the antithesis to anger and resentment.

I want to live in a world of kindness and sweetness.

Just think, we get to choose sweetness with every breath, with every action, and with every non-action that we take.

I woke up at 3AM with this message in mind: Transformation Takes Time.

I got out of bed to write it down and wrote the following:

Shouldn’t I be further along in my career?

I’ve been at this for a long time.

Maybe I’m a slow learner or a slow changer or a slow beginner?

Am I “there” yet?

How much longer will this take?

Well, that depends on how much further you want to go.

Do you feel “cooked”?

Do you feel “done”?

There is no “there” to get to.

There is only now, and you’re looking pretty good from here.

Do you want to be “done”?

Do you feel complete?

What’s the rush?

If you stopped now, would you feel Satisfied?

Would you be Happy?

Would you be “good enough”?

Transformation is a process, a journey, not a destination; and it takes time.

Go back to bed. Go back to sleep. In the morning when you wake up, greet your new day with a renewed sense of self. Let the rest be up to us.

Trust. All is well. 

You’re on “target” (as if there was such a thing!)

Breathe In
Breathe Out
Move On
(The last three lines are Jimmy Buffet’s, but they came to me at that perfect time and place so I included them here.)

Paintings start with our urge to paint, followed by an inkling, a germ of an idea.

Give it some thought and, if you’re lucky, or in a good frame of mind, your idea grows.

Sometimes paintings begin with something seen on a walk.

As your idea grows, your excitement grows.

As your excitement grows, your sense of urgency grows, until finally, one day, you begin to take action.

Action Steps begin with an active imagination.

"Life" in progress - Patrice Federspiel

Action steps begin the process of bringing the painting to life.

Purposely imagine yourself starting that painting you want to start.

This builds momentum and gets the ball rolling.

More actions steps come to mind.

Take them.

Take enough action steps and before you know it, you are working on that germ of an idea you had hours, days, months, or even years ago.

STOP taking all action and ideas begin to fade.

You will forget a faded idea.

UNLESS …

IF the idea really strong, it will haunt you until you overcome your resistance (fear), and start taking action again.

OR it runs out of patience and finds another person to work with.

Yes, this can happen!

It’s always your choice.