Bluebird Rules

©Theresa Grillo Laird - Canyon Trail - oil on canvas - 16x18
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When I joined the Campfire Girls as a 7 year old Bluebird, I was handed a 10 item list of Bluebird rules to memorize. Most of the rules didn't stick in mind, but the one that has always stayed with me is "Remember to finish what I begin".
As a patient and focused kid immersed in my own inner world, the rule mystified me. Why wouldn't I finish something I'd started?

Now, all these years later, that phrase has so many more meanings.

Remember to finish what I began for my life at 20? How easy it is to get off track with life's unexpected twists and turns! Some of those twists are opportunities. Some are deep canyons that you can spend years trying to find your way out of.

Remember to finish art projects that started with such enthusiasm only to feel like chores several months down the road? At that point, you need to pause to recall why you were so enthused about the project in the first place. Do the same reasons still apply but there were more obstacles than you expected? Or was the original impulse flawed from the start?

Remember to finish mastering that skill that you know you still need in your artist's toolbox? Well, daylight's burning! Get on with it!

Remember to finish walking the path you began on that feeds your soul and makes you eager for what each day will bring?
Sometimes it's beneficial to stop long enough to take stock, and remember where you were heading before all those beckoning side paths opened up before you. If your beginning still has any meaning, discard any accumulated baggage that's impeding your progress. Simplify everything down to your one personal most basic thing, and remember to finish what you began.

How about you? Do you need to remember what to finish? Or even what not to begin?