{"id":968,"date":"2015-11-02T09:38:49","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T17:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/?p=968"},"modified":"2015-11-02T09:39:58","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T17:39:58","slug":"the-edge-of-death-10-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"the edge of death&#8230;10 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/artist\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-969 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/dancing-death-fb-image.jpg\" alt=\"Dancing with Death\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/dancing-death-fb-image.jpg 600w, http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/dancing-death-fb-image-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/dancing-death-fb-image-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It can be difficult to talk about death. Or pain or sickness; or loss or grief. When I first healed from heavy metal poisoning in 2006, I wanted to run and run and run and live. I wanted to live like mad. I didn\u2019t want to remember 10 years of sickness, the last 3 years of it spent totally housebound. I didn\u2019t want to talk about it. I didn\u2019t even want to talk about Master Hai and the miraculous healing! I wanted to dance off the ridiculous horribleness of all of it, even the mystery and beauty of it. I wanted to become strong and create a new life, and I have. These last 10 years have been the best in my entire life, which is not to say there haven\u2019t been challenges.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know how to articulate what happened when I realized that 2016 is my 10 year anniversary. 10 years sick. 10 years well. I used to think I\u2019d be dead by now. There is a softness in acknowledging that. A big large eternal sunset kind of perspective of compassion and genuine kindness toward myself and the hard lessons I\u2019ve learned. I\u2019m living a new, backdoor life. I\u2019ve stepped outside of the life I once lived, even the person I once was. I am free. I used to feel trapped. In my body, in my life, in my thoughts and even the life I had been given. Now as I look at where I\u2019m at and where I imagine I may be going, everything makes sense and I can see how healing from such a powerful experience literally redirected my life and healed my heart.<\/p>\n<p>It still feels hard to talk about. There was fabulous emotional and physical discomfort for so long, but when I look at the art, there is something else too. I was never alone. My ancestors were a constant part of supporting me in aligning with my deepest work and pushing me toward my own greatest good. I believe throughout my life I have been on a path of healing that is at once my own and is always a part of a greater lineage. I feel that more than ever as I am 10 years into why I am still here.<\/p>\n<p>I feel like I can begin telling the stories of my healing journey and the art I created during that time, much of which has never been shown. I\u2019ve spent the last few years investing deeply in my curricula and teaching everything I know about children\u2019s books. With Reflection Press and School of the Free Mind becoming more solid, I can take the time to celebrate the creative power that kept me alive and taught me that I am my greatest work of art.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">A new life begets a new look.<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I may always and forever think of myself as an artist above all else. It still feels like the word that best describes me!<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">So here\u2019s my gorgeous updated fine art website:<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/artist\/artwork-gallery\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-970\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/new-art-website.png\" alt=\"My New Art Website\" width=\"500\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/new-art-website.png 500w, http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/new-art-website-300x281.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a>Matthew is a magician!<br \/>\nComplete with artwork gallery, specific time periods, an art timeline, ability to search by artwork themes, symbolism and medium, and more! We&#8217;re still putting the finishing touches on it, adding more art, and updating my bio and such but felt that Day of the Dead was a perfect day to release it. And if you want to test out it&#8217;s functionality, here&#8217;s an example of searching by symbolism to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/artist\/tag\/skeletons\/\">see all my artwork with skeletons in it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll also be offering giclees in my new online shop that should be up and running in the next week.<br \/>\n&#8230;and we&#8217;ve been making updates to my main site as well (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\">www.mayagonzalez.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Sending love to everyone as we celebrate Dia de los Muertos. xomaya<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It can be difficult to talk about death. Or pain or sickness; or loss or grief. When I first healed from heavy metal poisoning in 2006, I wanted to run and run and run and live. I wanted to live like mad. I didn\u2019t want to remember 10 years of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[30,48,15,25,28,52,46,14,34,49,55],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.12 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>the edge of death...10 years later - Maya Gonzalez Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"maya\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/\",\"name\":\"the edge of death...10 years later - Maya Gonzalez Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-02T17:38:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-02T17:39:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9bf80b025f4f2fcc8bd3d80511c259d7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"the edge of death&#8230;10 years later\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Maya Gonzalez Blog\",\"description\":\"Life ~ Art ~ Activism\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9bf80b025f4f2fcc8bd3d80511c259d7\",\"name\":\"maya\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89bbca59c50d46d7399ac58cdfd3027e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89bbca59c50d46d7399ac58cdfd3027e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"maya\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/author\/maya\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"the edge of death...10 years later - Maya Gonzalez Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"maya","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/","url":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/","name":"the edge of death...10 years later - Maya Gonzalez Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-11-02T17:38:49+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-02T17:39:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9bf80b025f4f2fcc8bd3d80511c259d7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/the-edge-of-death-10-years-later\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"the edge of death&#8230;10 years later"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/","name":"Maya Gonzalez Blog","description":"Life ~ Art ~ Activism","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9bf80b025f4f2fcc8bd3d80511c259d7","name":"maya","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89bbca59c50d46d7399ac58cdfd3027e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/89bbca59c50d46d7399ac58cdfd3027e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"maya"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com"],"url":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/author\/maya\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=968"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/968\/revisions\/975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mayagonzalez.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}