Below were my first set of the Everyman Series. I've included my thoughts on a few of them so enjoy!!!
eman010 - Adrift In Blues
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eman004 - Betrayal-the Heart Pierced
Everybody wears the melancholy cloak of heartache from time to time, and it has been worn by me
on many a joyless period in my life. However real and intense it seems its roots are based in selfishness.
Regardless of what life throws at you, how you respond to it is your fault and responsibility.
It is very cliche to hear that as bad as things are for you, there are many people who are much worse off. It may be cliche, but it is true. To waste precious minutes and days feeling sorry for ourselves is to be
ungrateful for what we have. Cry, scream, grieve, rant and rage. Then be done with it. Help others who have less or who hurt more. Many times we will feel betrayed in life by circumstances and twists of fate, but by far the worst is if you betray your self with self pity.
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eman014 - Choices |
eman006 - Crossroads
"The trouble with taking a middle-
of-the-road position is that you can
get run over from either direction."
We often find ourselves at an intersection of choice which will change the direction of our lives. Usually the choice is between things as
they are or things as they could be. How do we choose which direction to take? What if we make a bad choice? We are paralyzed by the fear of making the wrong decision.
Well, the truth of the matter is we will make mistakes. However, the good news is that we can then try again, hopefully having learned from our error. Remember, the life you have now is the sum total of the choices we have made. If you don't like where you're at, start
down another road.
It is better to have to do a u-turn down the road than to spend wasted years idling at the crossroads.
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eman007 - The Great Depression
Depression is rampant in the world today, and people do all sorts of things to combat it. Drugs, therapy, self-help seminars and books, etc. I was taught that the spirit leads the mind, and that the body follows the mind. If this is true, the depression is a place we have taken ourselves. At first this sounds like a cruel thing to say, but if it is true, it actually is a portent of
good news. If we have gotten ourselves lost, we can
get ourselves unlost. You may need a doctor or drug to help you get back on the right path, but I firmly believe you can come back from the wilderness.
How, you ask? First, get your spirit right. Find a positive god, religion, or belief system which gives you hope and faith in the wonder of life and existence.
Believe in something. Love something bigger and better than yourself and your life. Next, discipline your mind. Will it to look for the good, not to expect the bad. Make it force your body to stand tall and to breath calmly and peacefully.
If you find hope, refuse to falter, and respect your body, depression will fall away like a dream forgotten upon awakening .
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eman008 - Drifting Away
Here is a poem and a thought about this powerful image
Drifting away
Sometimes
Bits and pieces of me
Drift outward towards eternity
As I numbly watch them fall
I'm aware of it all
But I do nothing...
Sometimes
Bits and pieces of me
Torn by fear and insecurity
Leaves me with less and less to hold
I'm left empty and cold
And pray for something...
Sometimes
Bits and pieces of me
My youth, my strength, my sanity
Spiral slowly to the ground
But as I look down
I don't see anything...
Sometimes
Bits and pieces of me
are all that's left of me
Somewhere, somehow I lost my soul
I wish that I felt whole
I miss everything.
If ever you find yourself feeling as if you've been cast adrift and are lost, look to family, friends, and favorite things to be your compass to guide
you back to port.
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eman032 - Getting Old |
eman026 - Good and Evil |
eman029 - Insanity |
eman019 - Happiness
A comedian once said, "Happiness is good health and a bad memory."
Happiness should not be some far off destination or some future time when things will be better. An enlightened life is one where your joy overcomes your pain, and your laughter drowns out your tears. Be Happy! Here are some sayings which help
remind me that we should always
strive to be positive forces in the world.
• Being content will bring you happiness, yearning will bring you worry.
• If you are poor but content, you will be happy.
• If you are rich but are not content, you will have anguish.
• Your house does not have to be the most beautiful, as long as it does not leak.
• Your food does not have to be the most fancy as long as it is nutritous and filling.
• Your clothing does not have to be of
the best material, as long as it is clean and warm.
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eman003 - Juggling
The juggler juggles
All of his struggles
Way too many to do.
A lifestyle so frantic
A self-made panic
Familiar to me & to you.
We all know the problem. Too much stuff to do and not enough time to do it. The solution is to find balance in our lives. I hate to tell you what
you already know, but you can't have and do it all. You must prioritize and simplify your life. Focus on what is most important to you, and spend the quality time to really immerse yourself in the length and breath of it.
Write or meditate on all you "juggle" in a day. Put them in order of importance, then drop as many as you can. Relax your body as you let each one go. Now ask yourself, "How can I simplify my life so that I can enjoy what is important to me?
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eman009 - Locked Away
Just as we create locks which keep our hearts closed, we also hold the keys to unlock it.
We keep a lot of stuff locked away. Emotions, loss, dreams, thoughts and words are just a few of the things we try to keep protected in this way. Soon we have accumulated an overwhelming assortment of locked rooms that close off our spirit and separate us from the world around us. In the end, we must open these locks, reveal and face them all, and search for keys to keep them open. The keys are everywhere, within and without. Sometimes the key is a passage from a book, a prayer mouthed in reverence, a smile from a stranger, or the comfort of an oversized sweatshirt.
The great thing about keys is the fun and adventure you will have in searching them out!
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eman035 - The Affection
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eman011 - The Meditation
It's hard to slow down or sit still, yet that is what one must do to defragment a cluttered mind and bring relaxation to a tense body. It really helps if you don't
live a lifestyle contrary to harmony in the first place. The following tenets will help you live a meditative lifestyle:
right view - try to view positive images, movies, tv shows etc.
right thought - replace depressing or negative ideas with positives
right speech - if you don't have something good to say, be silent
right action - help instead of hurt others, do good deeds
right food - eat healthy foods in modest proportions
right body - make time to stretch, exercise and respect your body
right mind - the mind leads the body, be disciplined to follow the tenets.
right spirit - the spirit leads the mind, have faith and belief that you will succeed.
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eman036 - The Grief
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eman023 - Who's Pulling the Strings?
This was the first illustration in my "everyman" series. It was a simple sketchbook drawing I used to express how I was feeling while experiencing a long hard day where nothing seemed to go right.
Looking back, I am now grateful to have had that day which opened a doorway of new thoughts and visions for me. Maybe things do happen for a reason... I think some things we really should strive to control, but many events in life we cannot affect one way or another despite our best
efforts. Perhaps our time would be better spent just enjoying the chaos life pours into our teacup of experience. I've come to trust that God, spirit, fate, the universe, or even plain old dumb luck may be more qualified and able to pull the right strings than I am.
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eman038 - The Rebirth
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eman001 - The Burden
Sometimes the weight of the world seems strapped on our back, and like Atlas from mythology, we wearily try to hold up our whole world. Many of these burdens are very real, and we carry them with us as we make our way through life. They are the wounds and scars which identify us and mark us as we walk the journey of life. Many people spend fortunes and mountains of effort to exorcise this weight. The hard truth is that we can never fully remove the burden.
Now think of someone you know who heroically carries their heavy burdens through life with a smile.
What can you take from their example?
Remember, it is not our struggles which define us, it is how we shoulder the burdens. Vow to carry your burdens with grace, and to help others with theirs.
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eman005 - Shyness
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eman040 - The Angel
There are angels all around us, which have helped support, nurture, protect, and heal us as we have traveled our path. Think of the friend, the parent, or even the stanger who was there at a critical time of your life. The mentor who gave you advice, the teacher who gave you knowledge, or the person who gave you directions when you were lost. Angels do not have to have wings to teach you to fly, and you do not need to perform miracles to be an angel for others.
1.) Reminisce about an "angel" who was there for you in your life.
2.) Spend a moment in gratitude for their aid.
3.) Think about a time you helped others. How did it make you feel? Who in your life could use a smile, a telephone call, or some type of help?
4.)Vow to be someones angel, and to always be grateful for the angels you will meet.
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eman027 - The Artists
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eman030 - The Hunger
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eman031 - The Prayer
A prayer is a grateful submission to a force larger than us
Prayers are offered in moments of gratitude, in times of sorrow, in the depths of confusion, and in the throes of religious fervor. Prayers are said through tears, shouted above pain, and sung to the heavens. I think the most remarkable power
of prayer, however, is that it is the submission of ego. Prayer is an admission that we are not the center of the universe and an acknowledgement of something larger and greater than ourselves. By willingly giving our reverence to god, spirit, or universe, we become part of that which is so much more than we could ever be on our own.
Here are a few exercises to ponder.
1.)Take time to talk to a higher power, even if you do not believe one exists. What would you ask God? Have fun with it
2.) We are a bundle of thoughts we can't control, inhabiting bodies which age and fail us. Imagine what it would be like to be part of something more, the sublime and the divine.
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eman017 - The Questions
"What are the questions you need answered?"
The remarkable power of a question is that it helps define what you don't know. Once you know the question, you can go about finding
the answers. We all have questions we need to ask, answers we need to resolve. Anytime you cannot accomplish something, you have
not asked the right questions. The right questions will always lead you towards the answer which will solve your problem. The right question will focus you and give you direction. For example, how can you find happiness if you've never asked the question, "what would make me happy?"
Here are a few questions to ponder:
What do I want to accomplish in life?
Where do I need to make changes
in my life?
How do I make these changes?
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eman033 - The Sacrifice
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eman034 - The Shackled Man
If we must suffer, let us suffer nobly.
Victor Hugo
This illustration is one I did while working a long and boring day during which I felt the life was being sucked right out of me. Day after day of the same monotonous work, the same mind-numbing boredom. It was sad and scary to see the
workers around me without the spark of hope, the faith that a better day or happier fate would be theirs. I was young and didn't dare imagine that I would ever be free to follow my dreams. The road is long and hard when you cannot see its end.
This one is dedicated to all those who feel their voice is not being heard, their vision is not yet seen, and that their dreams will never be realized. Remember to have hope, or your shackles gain permanence. Never forget to dream, or their weight will wear you down. |
eman025 - The Thinker
Regardless of how much you have been taught or have experienced, you have to apply the knowledge you have acquired. Introspective questions are a way for us to make what we know more usable. It also helps us see what we need to further learn about ourselves,
enable us to come to the aid of our friends and families and to help improve the world we live in.
Think about these questions for awhile:
What makes a good person?
What are my strengths/weaknesses?
Who do I admire and why ?
What do I believe spiritually?
How can I be a better person?
What would my perfect day be like?
What would my dream house have?
How can I be a better friend, coworker, or family member?
Where would I like to live?
What would be a great job for me?
What hobby would I like to try?
What new experience would I like?
What other questions will help me
to get to know me better?
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eman020 -The Wave |
eman021 - Thoughts of Darkness
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Below are the new Everyman Fragments artworks. These new works are from a new "Everyman" book that is coming out called "THE EVERYMAN, FRAGMENTS OF ME", and that is what you are getting, a piece of my thoughts, musings and soul. These are my most personal works, my reflections and pondering of this journey we call life, and this is your chance to own one of my originals. Imagine how great these would look at home or at work!!! These are a must have!!!
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