of thistles and paradigms

I selected my card/question from the Hidden Artist Quest Cards by spreading all 77 cards on the floor with the intention of not thinking and just choosing the image that called to me.  My choice was this image of a thistle.  Now, you might think that I would know the question I was choosing because after all I created the deck, but truth be told, I would totally fail a flashcard test of my own deck!  

When I first looked at the question I thought, “this one is too hard maybe I’ll pick again”.  But I resisted the urge, trusted the process and leaned in to explore it.  I’ve been marinating on this since the day I picked it on April 17th, my son Adam’s 28th birthday.  The question this card asked me to explore is “what’s beyond?”  So here goes, a bit stream of consciousness to start this one…

a surge of energy, visions, dreams, a spark of anxiety, discomfort, the uncertainty and the unknown, the freefall, having been thrust into a change, loss…what about the ethereal, philosophical… meandering thoughts of the wonders of the universe, quantum realm, spirituality, divination, those who see the unseeable, know the unknowable, nothingness, infinite possibility… two words and so many directions... where to go with it, get political, wax poetic, be heady, find my feet, stay in the artistry, in the moment of choosing an image and finding a question…all over the place, what to do, put it down, pick it up -- write.

The invitation on this card is to “find a spiritual place to sit, feel yourself sitting.”  In perfect synchronicity, I chose this card following a meditation in which the very first offering was to “feel yourself sitting”.  About 2/3 of the way through the meditation this was offered: “there’s only this moment”.  So what’s beyond?  Only the next moment and it’s not here yet,  so maybe it’s nothing, or it’s everything, or anything.  At that, a song popped into my head, Finale B,  from the musical Rent, the lyrics go like this: “There is no future, there is no past, thank God this moment’s not the last, there’s only us, there’s only this, forget regret, or life is yours to miss, no other road, no other way, no day but today.” (I encourage you to click on the link and listen to the song, it’s so moving)

We may not be able to see with certainty or clarity what’s beyond this moment we’re in.  So, what we do is we either make up some story based on experience, assumptions, some information or data we’ve collected, or a dream we have, some thing we desire it to be, or we freeze or panic feeling the overwhelm of the great abyss in front of us.  No matter which we do, it is likely the result of some habitual thought patterns; in its most simplistic form, are you a glass is half empty or half full person – is the moment beyond this full of potential and possibility or a one tangled web of never-ending problems and struggles?  Each of these paradigms results in an emotional feeling state that impacts the very answer to the question itself.   So perhaps the answer to the question, what’s beyond? Is that it depends on where you are right now.

What’s beyond this thistle? You can’t see it. Can you imagine it?  Is the glass half empty or half full for you in this moment?  Is this shot of a thistle along a path to a Greek Island beach or a hiding place for snakes in the Santa Monica Mountains, or perhaps it’s in a field outside New York City or lining an empty parking lot in some long forgotten western town? The actual answer to this question is available for you in the companion booklet to the Hidden Artist Quest Cards deck.  The thing is, our lives don’t come with a companion booklet with all the answers.  But the actual answer isn’t the point.  The answer is that what lays beyond may not be known, maybe it can’t be known, but it is yours to explore, to create, and to discover.  The place from which to really work with this question is the home where assumptions, emotional energy, mindset, perspective, paradigms, your truth, and choices that come from these live. 

If you want to explore perspectives and paradigms, open up to more creativity & art to inspire joy and lead more powerfully, if you want to have greater impact in your world by living a consciously created life from a place of wholeness, join me on May 18th.  Let’s explore what’s beyond, by marinating in art, creativity, conversation and community.  Hope you can join me!

photo & photo collage

©2023 & 2025

Lynne Harris Bernstein