Surrender
Projekt Rattloch — Week 3 🐀🕳️ Walking The Line of Action, Faith and Surrender.
“Surrender is the highest form of control. It is the willingness to let go of the attempt to control life, so that life itself can carry you.” Michael A. Singer
Now that we’re this close, it’s time to surrender.
To yield.
To stop shaping it and start receiving it.
The exhibition isn’t mine anymore; it’s something I get to witness.
And maybe,
if I’m lucky,
be surprised by.
It’s feminine energy in motion:
not controlled,
but
deeply
held.
“Boost the feminine in every way you can imagine.”
Rob Brezsny: Gemini Horoscope.
I’ve been engrossed in this art catalogue all week…obsessing, second-guessing, restarting entire layouts at 5am. But it’s finally coming together, and it actually feels… professional. Like it’s saying something true (It is my true expression, but as a mirror, it’s making me feel like a ‘true artist’).
Gabriel Fine Arts just featured Memento Vivere in their newsletter. That phrase ‘remember to live’ makes sense when you’ve spent hours staring at work that’s trying to make sense of death, memory, and everything in between.
Here’s a peek at the newsletter:
Everything is unfolding exactly as it is. Right now, I'm just crossing the I's and dotting the T's, handling all the little details, and mapping out the physical layout of the exhibition.
I'm moving forward with a lot of faith, fully believing this art exhibition will be wildly successful.
My attention has returned to the work of Florence Scovel Shinn, sparked by something intriguing I read in my horoscope (more on that later). It hit me clearly: I've been taking plenty of action, but deep down, I wasn't truly believing in my own abilities.
Then this quote stuck out like a sore thumb, it resonated deeply:
"Faith without nerve is dead." Florence Scovel Shinn
What I got from those five words was that it is a mixture of doing and having faith, in it working out in your favour, what you are expecting or better. Having the nerve to be bold, not just get by on blind faith.
It's about genuinely trusting the process and the universe, not just that, but leaving space for things to happen. Faith alone doesn't build an art exhibition. Either you create it yourself, or you delegate clearly to someone else. Surrender isn't passive. It's actively working toward your goals while believing wholeheartedly that something bigger is aligning everything perfectly.
It's like leaving a little gap for magic to happen, rather than trying to control every little thing.
“Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life.” Eckhart Tolle
Now, today’s exciting, photo-laden section…
Random Acts of SLART + News from Elsewhere
It appears I’ve set up a monthly shipment of Oreos to Adam Buxton and Edith Bowman by accident. Oops. I wonder if they’ll ever see the message or get to enjoy the biscuits?
I decided to be a photographer for the day, giving
a run for her money, just having some fun with my walk along the River Thames, in London.
Yes, I went to Adobe Summit in London. No, I can’t be bothered to share about it. The nerdy-techy part of me found it all very exciting, but the artist found it quite depressing. A lot of talk about content supply chains (using AI to create content so designers and copywriters are no longer needed on the scale they’re used to currently, lay-offs are coming, etc)
talks about this a lot, well, it’s their whole thing.
Above: Tesco CEO (charming and calm) did a talk, Premier League partner with Adobe, blah… It made me thing about what it takes to be a CEO, you have to want to do it first and foremost, it’s really only for a small percetage of people, isn’t it? If anyone knows a CEO, please post your experiences with them below.
Consequently, I was back in London and in the same area of the conference a couple of days later, walking The Line sculpture trail with a friend.
And finally…
Thanks
, My horoscope from Rob Brezsny: (Yes, I know, horoscope may not be on the lines of a “solid plan” but there’s more to it that we realise.)♊ GEMINI
(May 21-June 20)
I predict a future when women will hold half of the leadership roles, when their income and time devoted to childcare will match men's, when women's orgasms are as common as men's, and when most guys know that misogyny is perilous to their health. Until the bloom of that wonderful era, I invite Geminis of all genders to invoke your tender ingenuity as you strengthen female opportunities and power. In my view, this work is always crucial to your maximum spiritual and psychological health—but even more so than usual in the coming weeks. Boost the feminine in every way you can imagine.
It got me thinking about the balance between doing and receiving, sowing and reaping, it can’t be all do do do, because that would be doo doo. And it can’t all be have have have without the doing. Food for thought… I know Beth has a lot of great writing about this.
Most of what you read, watch, and repost was made by men. You just don’t notice it.
I didn’t either. Then I did. The default in this male-dominated world is male-created content. Especially in tech and AI, it’s all tech bros in different shades of Patagonia fleece or Navy blue hoodie.
Since the horoscope, I’ve been shifting. I’ve started deliberately seeking out work by women. That’s how I found Florence, again.
Here’s something you probably don’t know: Florence Scovel Shinn was teaching spiritual principles twenty years before Neville Goddard. She was also more well-known at the time.
Guess who history decided to remember?
You don’t need to swing to an all-female echo chamber. Just start noticing the imbalance. Start choosing differently. It changes how you see everything.
History forgets women. Don’t repeat the mistake.
Best wishes,
SLART
stan.store/slart
P.S.
Tell me, what’s your horoscope for this week? Check it out and post below with your thoughts.
P.P.S. Artists in 2025: You are doing six jobs for the price of zero
You paint. You post. You market, caption, caption again. You hashtag (is that even a thing anymore?). You edit reels, study algorithms, learn SEO, finesse your tone, build a brand, burn out, and come back.
Now you're an AI prompt engineer too, because apparently art isn’t real unless it ‘trends’.
This isn’t a career. It’s content creation cosplay with a side of existential dread.
I’ve put in a lot of work since I got my studio in 2021, but often, I still feel like I’m sprinting in circles, trying to keep up with rules that change mid-run.
So I’m building a system. Not some perfect, polished blueprint—just something real that helps me make and sell art without losing the plot. I’m tired of following the art gurus who charge you $2000 on how to fart into the wind.
I’ll share it soon. Not for likes. Just because I’m tired of figuring this out alone. If you’d like to join me on this journey, comment “I’m in” in the comments.
The best way to learn something is to teach it, as they say.
I LOVE THIS! (Am I predictable?) You look like Fidel Castro in that one photograph. I love this photo-heavy post, a nice change-up. I hope lots of people type "I'm In"! Breszny's horoscopes are the BEST. I screenshot them and set them as my desktop each week. Last week, though, I put up the affirmation your friend shared with you: https://www.creamofthecropbyslart.com/p/three-atomic-habits-zero-excuses/comment/133814142 I surrender to death often. Surrender is a kind of death--of what limits us, most often. https://thejoywithin.org/meditations/how-to-die-before-you-die-meaning-and-meditation