I recently picked up a book at the library titled “Radically Content: Being Satisfied in and Endlessly Dissatisfied World” by Jamie Varon.

I had been thinking a lot about self-imposed guilt when I stumbled upon this book. Like most people, I find it difficult to escape the day without “should-ing” myself.  As in, “I should be… (lists every single thing I am not actively doing”.

Meanwhile, there’s a future of hopes and dreams that heavily depend on taking care of the boring line items and the ever-widening space between “should be” and “could be”. Getting from here to there feels like a rather intimidating endeavor.

Today, as I sat down to read another chapter of the book, my eyes immediately fell upon these words: “When you start something new, there’s a gap between where you are and where you want to go”.

After the recent death of musician, Glen Hansard I had been revisiting a lot of his songs and his “Song of Good Hope” had found its way on repeat between my ears these last few days. It stuck with me as this painting struggled to find its way to fruition and I was again reminded of the same theme regarding the “gap”.

“It's just some rivers and streams in between
You and where you want to be”

I found comfort in those words – and a title for this newest painting.