Kindnessgirl

Whenever I read or come across the words Mondo Beyondo, I instantly hear this announcer guy with a huge megaphone shouting loud and strong…. “monnnnndoooooooooo, beyooooonnnndoooooo!” maybe like the voice of God or Buzz Lightyear, but lighter, and the earth quakes happily. It always makes me laugh and sometimes I even say it out loud.

Mondo Beyondo is a lovely e-course on dreaming cooked up by Jen Lemen and Andrea Scher. So after the very important work of dreaming has been going on for a bit, they decided that summer might be the perfect time to focus on rest, play and the power of kindness. This latest genius idea is called the Mondo Beyondo Dream Lab and I was stoked when they asked me if I would like join in on the summer goodness to lead a mission on kindness.

My girls and I decided to paint signs the other day on a hot Virginia afternoon. The porch was thick with junk and dog hair because all that is not necessary is discarded there in the winter. Once spring returns someone sorts through and finds a treasure or sweeps up to rediscover the wonder of porch magic. The old tired spot becomes a studio again, an escape to rest with a cool drink or a place to gather.

The girls started to paint, brushes dipped and moving across paper. Colors mixing, the motion of creating something new…and then just like that, the process started. Each moment calling us to more, to see the art, to feel art, to be the art…they started painting each others hands, their own faces and legs, standing in paint pans, rolling on paper…it is no longer enough to observe, we are called to enter in. The messier the better…kindness feels like that to me. Some days I dabble with my brush, then immerse my hands, spreading it to the edge of the paper, then I forget there are egdes at all…I’m so deep in my process when I finally look up it is all around, everywhere my eye can see…and what a beautiful mess it all is. It almost always starts with play and wonder…join us as we get totally lost in the play of creating kindness for each other, for ourselves…our mission is coming soon.