American Spirit

I like to portray the human form. This is a ceramic sculpture entitled " Native Spirit". Living in the southwest as I do, the Native culture is all around us.  I live next door to the Yavapai Apache tribe. I can drive to Navajo and Hopi villages.
 Is this figure a man or a woman? That is an interpretation I leave up to you.
Those beautiful blankets you can now  buy were wrapped around the body to keep warm from  harsh, high desert winds. Jewelry, well that was, and is,  something both men and woman  wear as adornment. That is nothing new. From the tombs of the Egyptians, to the villages of the ancient ones right here in America, we have always liked to wear beautiful stones. 
There are two words to this title, the second being spirit. Isn't that the essence of who we are? Our spirit; our energy; our inner core. What does that mean? Something different to us all I imagine. That is the part that I am most focused on, the person inside and how I relate to the outside world,  dealing with the good, the bad and the confusing.How to keep centered. As  when I am sitting at the potter's wheel, and  my body, mind, and spirit are focused on what is before me,  and so the clay follows. Focus on where I am going and what I want to create. Not so different from life. 
 I am heading out to my studio now to use the wheel. That will give  me a clue about where I am today, I imagine.
  How about you? Any thoughts on your personal journey?