Your life as fine art
4 Simple steps.
Not always easy.
(Scarty dude in my basement)
Have you noticed that we’re living in an increasingly rude society? Bad manners and even violence are rampant, given the green light by pundits and especially a former President.
Turn it off. I stopped watching TV news in 2001.
Too much anxiety creating fearmongering for me.
(I read and subscribe to newspapers and watch and listen selectively.)
My rule with news, “as anxiety goes up, press the button and say, “now shut up”. Breathe.
Who wants to live with all that negative nasty noise that does nothing but make me fearful and that sucks the energy from life?
Exhausting.
No thank you.
How about you?
Let’s start with you.
Want to Cleanse and clear off all that negativity, refresh, retool, rethink?
How do you approach life?
Do you approach it with an attitude? A bad attitude?
You vegetate.
You know everything and have nothing to learn.
Check your altitude.
Attitude =Altitude
“I’m talking to the man in the mirror.” Michael Jackson
What if You approach life with the attitude of, “What can I make it into”.
How might I be a contribution to family, friends and the community at large?
One kindness can and will have a ripple effect.
What can I do to keep evolving?
How can I choose happiness even in the face of chaos?
Happiness is a quality of living life as a work of art in progress.
“The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step.” -Buddha
(Bryant Park-NYC)
It requires love, courage, and a good sense of humor.
“Man plans, God laughs.” -Yiddish proverb
What if you were a sculptor and your life was going to be your masterpiece? What would you create? What would your life be about if you only had one chance to sculpt it?
(Alice In Wonderland-Central Park-NYC)
Would you go for self-expression? Possibility?
Your “creative self-sculpture,” a term borrowed from a 1934 now out-of-print book my mother gave me called,
“How to be Happy though Human.”
“Creative self-sculpture like all art forms is a process and you the sculptor must master “four-wisdoms.”
Wisdom Number One:
Know Thyself. Ask yourself.
What am I made of?
Who do I want to become?
What do I want to bring into my life?
What do I want to let go of?What am I grateful for?”
Write it down.
Keep journaling around this.
(Times Square, NYC)
Wisdom Number Two:
Ask for help.
Become a true craftsperson.
Craftsmanship will allow you to chisel and mold yourself into a sculpture that touches others and inspires.
Be open.
What do you see? Hear? Sense?
Be responsible for your work.
Learn all you can about what you are trying to do.
Enroll others in what you’re Up to and take action as you’re learning.
(Atlas holding up the world Rockefeller Center )
Wisdom Number Three:
Be tenacious.
Don’t give up.
Stay true to your design and when things do not work out the first time keep exploring new possibilities.
You will be glad that you did, no doubt.
Wisdom Number four:
Be courageous.
Do not allow circumstances to become convenient excuses.
Don’t take anything personally.
Enjoy the process.
Look at obstacles as opportunities, mistakes as lessons, and stay on your path.
Nothing is worth quitting over even if you want to. There’s a saying, “Fortune favors the brave.”
Keep writing. Even your shitty first draft.
Be brave.
Be like, Queen Elsa in Frozen, own your power and let go of whatever holds you back.
Simple. Not easy.
Excuses will hook you; I know they do me.
Pick your poison to get in your way: age, gender, the time required, money, weather, housework, laundry, pandemics, too much news-watching, fears, mothers, fathers, children, allergies, or judgments can stop you.
It is easy to get sidetracked (I sure do) since what you are creating is something new, something extraordinary and it requires focus and love.
And in the middle of a global pandemic and now a war the challenges seem insurmountable.
Patience pays.
Baby steps.
Begin. The rest is easy.
And you might just make another person’s day.
Kindness changes everything.
(Swarovski Crystal, NYC)
All photography by the author Nancy Mindes