Appreciate without panic

See the painting above? We saw it hanging in a gallery one summer vacation and were smitten but we left without buying it. After all, we were only there to look.

But we couldn't stop talking about it, so we returned to the gallery for one last look. And that was that. The painting became ours.

That was 2004, around the same time a powerful tsunami hit the Indian ocean. Remember? Heart breaking stories were all over the news. I remember turning away from a newspaper article, looking up at the new painting we cherished now hanging on our wall and thinking about how it could be destroyed in a fire, flood, or some other unfortunate event.

Oddly enough the thought wasn't troubling. In fact, it put me at ease.

By imagining the painting damaged or gone it suddenly became more precious. I loved it very much but I also in that very moment said goodbye to it, too. 

It wasn't about allowing myself to treat the painting with carelessness or neglect because it would someday be gone. 

It was about learning to appreciate it without panic.

Exhibition kitchen/The Rockpool experience by Elaine Coffee