V is for Viriya
What is viriya? It is energy married to persistence and giving birth to joy! I suppose it is like the way I described discipline earlier in the month. It is one of the Paramitas or ways of perfection and sometimes called effort. When viriya arises in us we feel joy, it is like what athletes might call being in the zone. Sometimes when I'm walking out the bay and it is cold, and my boots are heavy, I feel the opposite of viriya but maybe not, because I persist through my resistance and joy arises if I persist long enough!
We need energy to balance a life and art. We need to be persistent as most will tell us to give up, to go back to sleep, that it is hopeless. If we work - sit and write, paint, create sculptures, take photos, dance our feet bloody, clown through bankruptcy - we will achieve that rising joy. You know it and I know it. Here is me, back in the fall, a few days into my Labrador adventure, feeling it!
3 comments:
Great picture of you, Jan! And I think your joy is infectious. :) You're right--if we don't make the time for art, then we're really just cheating ourselves...out of the pleasure of creation.
Oh, Jan, I love that word!! Your 'photo radiates it, and you're so right about its importance. When we nourish ourselves, it's possible to have that powerful combination of energy and joy. Thanks for the reminder.
I think I've experienced viriya this week. Probably because the A to Z Challenge is almost over. This year it has energized and motivated me to accomplish more instead of less. And that is definitely joyful.
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