Chipping Away

Michelangelo spent a lot of time in the quarries choosing the stone that he would carve. He said that he could SEE “David” or the “Piata” or whatever it was he was carving IN the stone and he NEEDED to release it from the stone. 

Marble carving is HARD work. Marble chips fly in all directions; the dust lies thick. Modern stone workers wear goggles; Michelangelo did NOT. He needed to see the stone, to see each mark, to make tiny adjustments to the angle of his chisel and to the force of his blow. He could not afford one slip. One wrong stroke could break a finger, an arm, or worse. A figure comes alive only after thousands, thousands- tens of thousands- of perfectly directed hard and soft blows.

Marble carving is difficult & unforgiving. The marble for David was a huge block that had been abandoned 40 years earlier. Several other sculptors wanted the commission but Michelangelo was the only one to achieve a design of such enormous dimensions that used only this marble block, requiring no additional parts.

When we sculpt, we must take away the parts that aren’t needed, so that the vision of the artist can escape the stone.

Obviously I'm not here to give an art history lesson. So what does this have to do with me? With health and weight loss? 

There are things I must “take away” in order to become the "masterpiece" I hope to become.

Some of these things are oversized portions, straying from the health guidelines I set for myself, etc.

Just as in carving stone, it is not always easy to remove these pieces from our lives.

If Michelangelo made a wrong stroke, he could have broken a finger, or an arm, or worse.

If I make a wrong move, it is harder for me to get back onto the right path.

Fortunately for us, one wrong move does not ruin the masterpiece. We can get right back up and keep going. We get to make up for our wrong moves. The key is to learn how to stop making those wrong moves, and get to a place where we are always in control of that chisel.

Just as Michelangelo had faith to see his work in the stone and faith that he could release that art…we have to have faith that we can overcome our personal stumbling blocks, chip away all that fat, and become the masterpiece we long to be.



(Adapted text from here).

Juicing is going great! I'm getting a little (or a lot?) tired of it, but I'm not even close to ready to quit. =) Today's weigh in was 186, putting me at a juicing loss of 7 pounds and a grand total of 117. Fifty six to go!