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TAMPA BAY • FEBRUARY 23-24 2026

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When the Words Escape

Sometimes the words come flooding into my mind, and other times my mind becomes completely silent and fills with images. What I observe and perceive impacts me much more than any word could ever express. For me, the visual experience in life far outweighs anything that could be spoken. We struggle to find the right words when sometimes all that is required is a hug or a wink or some gesture that symbolizes that we understand, and we do care. It is those gestures that can be profoundly moving in times when words escape our grasp. Sometimes it is best NOT to use our words as they become misinterpreted and taken out of context.

Sometimes my words do not come. In those times, I have realized the world around me is not looking for what I have to say, it is looking for something to make it beautiful again.

It is looking for something to make the pain subside even for a moment by exploring something beautiful and peaceful.

When I have no words, I need to be patient that they will come when the world needs my words to be expressed, but right now, in this time of pain, anguish, and uncertainty of what the future holds, the world might just not need my words. It does need something to make the words stop. Someplace to escape the words and terrible images that flood our social media, TVs, and newspapers. It needs someplace that provides beauty and peace.

So instead of focusing on the bad, make an effort to focus on that which is good.

That is where art takes over and shows us that the world still holds beauty and that people do have a vision of a better future that is desperately trying to escape. That it is, in fact, looking for an outlet for its escape. So instead of focusing on the bad, make an effort to focus on that which is good. Browse images of the great artists that created before us and those creating for future generations. Concentrate on stories of when humanity succeeds instead of where it is failing. Maybe then we will start a movement to find the good and have it begin to overcome the evil. Every life, every voice, and every expression does matter, and there are far too many afraid to speak.

Raissa Urdiales
Raissa Urdiales
Raissa lived most of her life along the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. She currently lives in the quiet city of Tega Cay, South Carolina, just across the border from the very active art community of Charlotte, North Carolina. Raissa has not always considered herself as an artist. She spent a great portion of her adult life staring into computer screens and managing computer system implementations and upgrades in the traditional corporate setting. It was through a chance paint night that she discovered her passion for painting. On her 51st birthday, she treated herself to some acrylic paints and brushes and has not stopped painting since. She balances her passion for creating with her day job as a systems analyst. In the wee hours of the morning, you will find her painting before she immerses herself in the technology that is consuming the world today. Although Raissa does not have formal training in the arts she is very conscious of the benefits it has on the human psyche. She holds a Bachelor's of Science majoring in Psychology where she focused her studies on Organizational Psychology. Through her corporate career, she has learned how to strike a balance between that which provides monetary reward and that which fulfills us as humans. For her, this balance is obtained through painting, writing, and exercise. She is currently a member of the Guild of Charlotte Artists where she exhibits select pieces during the quarterly art shows in and around the Charlotte Metropolitan Area. She has also submitted and is featured regularly in the Light Space & Time online gallery. When she is not painting or working with computer systems, she is writing. She currently has a column with BIZCATALYST 360° named “Artful Being” where she writes on topics both in and out of her corporate life to help others gain balance on what it is to be human.

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2 CONVERSATIONS

  1. Centuries ago, the Roman poet Ausonius said: “whoever does not know how to keep silent will not know how to speak”. The truth is that in the world we live in, there are more and more people talking and fewer people listening. The almost obsessive desire to spend time always doing something also pushes us to talk, as if silence were an uncomfortable companion that we must get rid of as soon as possible. But many things more is communicated by remaining silent.
    People who talk a lot learn little and, eventually, monopolizing the conversation, end up being avoided by others when they realize that they don’t have a space to express their feelings and ideas. Sometimes, talking less means being more assertive.
    Therefore, to communicate more using less words, we give more hugs, we are not afraid of silence, we summarize our ideas, we pay attention to the reactions of others, we listen.
    Finally, we must never forget that a great person is the one who, in the midst of the crowd, preserves, with perfect serenity, the independence of solitude.

  2. I can absolutely relate to this post. Sometimes the words flow , other times they are like a morning mist where everything is in shadows. In the end the words demand to be writen, yet only when its time. When we write about the past we remember , when we write about the future we anticipate what might be.

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