The Magic Lamp, a book about the power of our imagination and the value of all our feelings,
written and illustrated by Deb Koffman. Published by Bellastoria Press. This is a video of the book launch at
Deb Koffman’s Artspace in Housatonic Massachusetts. With a delightful line up of characters from the book!!!
I make art (stories, poems, cartoons, installations, card decks) to understand, reflect and honor my emotions and thinking patterns. I write stories about choice, poems that give me advice, cartoons that remind me what really matters to my heart and soul.
I’m deeply drawn to Buddhist teachings and to the practice of meditation and mindful awareness. I practice paying attention to my reactions, my thinking, my speech, my physical sensations. My books, cartoons and card decks all offer me guidance, wise advice, reminders when I’m stuck or struggling, lost or confused.
My hope is that my work encourages your well-being, helping you navigate your emotional and mental life more easily.
There are so many ways to define what we see. The definition we use inspires a different response.
Seeing this as nothing I might dismiss it. Seeing this as open or available, I might use it to create something new. I think freedom has a lot to do with choice. Free to see and to choose what to see, in anything.
This is a cartoon about choice. How we use anything is really up to us.
Mindfulness is sitting with things. As they are. Without doing anything about them. Just noticing. Just feeling.
How can I simply BE with whatever is happening? With restlessness, loneliness, pain, bliss…as if each one is a unique pattern of energy, vital, interesting, not good or bad. Watch it, breathe, give it space, let it move on its own.
I love these handwritten feelings. Because of the graphic quality of the handwriting and because I care about each feeling. I am trying to remember that they change, and that each one deserves my love and attention, equally.
If I hold onto love, all the others can come and go and I’ll be fine, I think.
