Guest Posts

Blank Canvas. Guest Post by Mary Beth LaRue

May 10, 2012

Today’s guest post is by my friend Mary Beth LaRue, or as many lovingly call her “MB”. Mary Beth is a great source of inspiration to me and since the moment I met her a few years ago, I knew she was a sister soul. She and I share many of the same views of the world, both love a good glass of wine, the written word, and a lazy Sunday with our loves. I am thrilled with all the successes that have come her way lately. No one deserves it more. And, the best news? She just got engaged! 

You can see why I have posted her blog below. She also believes in our own power to create the life of our dreams. Day to day. Moment to moment. Brushstroke to brushstroke.

 

 

Blank Canvas by MB LaRue.

I think I was in college when I first read the Danny Kaye quote, “Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can.”

Since I was 18, I’ve filled up 16 Moleskine journals with my scribbles, passages that inspire me, bright colors, and cut-outs. They became my canvas, and my space to then begin to create my life. I’ve sat in tiny Italian airports with a box of colored pencils transfixed for hours, filling pages during a break from my desk job, cutting out photos from magazines and gluing them to the pages.

And you know what?

My journals were beautiful.

Sometimes I’d even show them to my friends, my brother. But in real life, I was playing a little small. What I was creating on the page, wasn’t necessarily translating to how I was living my life.

I was at a desk job that didn’t inspire me. I was in a relationship that had run its course. I spent my weekends at bars with friends rather than used bookstores and vintage shops.

My canvas wasn’t very pretty.

I was scared to throw any paint. What if it didn’t look good? What if no one liked it? Or even worse, what if it was magnificent?

Slowly, urged by the advice I’d written on my pages I quit my job, I broke up with the boyfriend, I moved into a beautiful apartment, I started doing more yoga, I filled my walls with collages and quotes, I even ordered a visitors’ guide to Santa Monica.

And you know what? I can honestly say that I am in love with the colorful, sometimes sloppy, canvas I’ve created. It’s filled with farmers’ markets, bare feet, avocados, candlelit yoga, bubble baths, a very lovable bulldog and extra lovable fiance, eyes wide open. It’s full of experience, and living from a space of YES. Of what makes me come alive.

In the day-to-day hustle, it becomes easy to overlook that in every moment we are creating our life. We are throwing the paint on the canvas, and in turn, are responsible for what that masterpiece looks like. Spend some time dreaming every single day. Take a walk without your cell phone. Spend an hour in silence. Go to a concert alone. No matter where you are in your life, it is not too late to create YOUR masterpiece. Throw some paint, and get dirty. Play.

Follow Mary Beth LaRue on Facebook

Visit her inspiring website here

In a fast-paced world, mary beth works to guide her students into a space of joy, mindfulness and compassion. forever a student of yoga and of life, mb’s mission is to inspire and elevate others to live their best life and to fully inhabit, enjoy, and heal their bodies and minds through asana, meditation, and pranayama.

A santa monica-based vinyasa yoga teacher, mb received her 200-hour yoga alliance certification from flow yoga studio in washington, dc, her pre- and postnatal teaching certification from inspired yoga in washington dc, and her 500-hour teaching certification from yogaworks in los angeles. she teaches group classes at two local studios she absolutely adores, yogis anonymous and studio surya yoga.


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6 Comments

  • Reply Wendy May 10, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    LOVED THIS! It was just what I needed to read today! I feel so overwhelmed chasing my tail and this just reminds me that God blesses you with great things you just need to stop and take it all in!

    Thanks!

  • Reply jamesvincentknowles May 10, 2012 at 8:24 pm

    INSPIRING~! ananda ~ namaste

  • Reply barbarapotter November 1, 2012 at 8:43 am

    Wonderful to hear great things are happening for Mary Beth.

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