How are we supposed to know what the next step is if we don't know where we are going and where we want to arrive?
- Juna Franka
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
A mountain chain of challenges, uncertain how to approach it. The hills in front look manageable, but maybe they're misleading me. What if I don't have enough energy for the whole journey? What if the ascent isn't worth it or the path so dangerous I wish I would've stayed home?
Some people will admire you for going on this journey, but sometimes all of that takes a backseat, because you don't have a choice. You just go.
A guidepost would be much needed. Something that leads. Where do I follow?
Those are some thoughts I have when I look at the new painting "the guidepost within". It is one of those pieces that I created in no time and then begged me to explore it.
The guidepost was the first thing that caught my attention and of course the mountain chain. In between fields of color, making room for doubt and emotions, fog-like, but part of the path. Above the blue sky.
Who doesn't want peace? Morgan Harper Nichol's quote fits the question well: How are we supposed to know what the next step is if we don't know where we are going and where we want to arrive? Could peace be the guidepost? Not running away from constructive conflict, but avoiding conflict for conflict's sake, because peace can't coexist.
The body as a guidepost in keeping with the motto "the body keeps the score". What would that look like? It would need looking inward (like in the painting "allow yourself to heal"). And the realization that the mind is not everything we are. Screaming bodies in the form of chronic illness or mysterious symptoms are in fact guideposts, and so is tiredness that tells us to rest instead of having the fifth coffee.
And if I still don't know the way? Still don't know where I'll arrive? "Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up," says Brené Brown. Or as a friend once said to me: The path will slide under your feet. That's what I want for you, dear reader!
The guidepost within sometimes leads us in extremely trying terrain. Two years ago I hiked Mount Fuji. Read about what happened to me there and how that memory made its way into my series in the next post.
Thank you for being here and see you next week!
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I'm going to share detail pictures and fragments until it's time to reveal the whole series in July. I hope you'll stay tuned.
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