Becoming an Artist of Life
Everyone has their philosophy on life. There are countless ways to go about making our lives more meaningful or easier to make purpose of. Most of us hear them growing up, yet never find a place for them to fit in our lives. Some of us learn of them through our own journey, never really understanding them until later in life. They can be found through stories, books, movies, music, and poems. You hear of great philosophies everywhere, some we can even quote. But are we stopping to really think about how they can be used for ourselves?
Let's take a look at some of life's philosophies according to others:
"The meaning of life is to give life meaning. Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John Wooden.
"You can't make someone else's choices, you shouldn't let anyone else make yours." - Gen. Colin Powell
"When affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you or you defeat it." - Rosalind Russell
"You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action." - Anthony Robbins
"Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life." - Harvey Mackay
"I have a simple philosophy: Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. Scratch where it itches." - Alice Roosevelt Longworth
These are just a few, but great reminders that can be read over and over. I happen to have a craving for inspirational words. I've recently found my interest in reading once again. And besides all of the great writing that can be found on Hubpages, I've found myself drawn towards books of inspiration and encouragement, words that can point my thinking in a direction of growth, and enlightenment. Reading or listening to anything or anyone who can turn my brain towards an unnatural way of thinking. Not in any way that is delusional or phsychotic. Yet, can turn me on to simply thinking in a way that takes more than just a mere thought that once read can just drift away. Thoughts that can continue to grow after they've initialized in my head.
The thought falls upon me today that our mind is a canvas. Now, once you can wrap your mind around that simple statement, it kind of all falls into place. I believe that through all of life's philosophies, there remains a constant idea, and that's brain power. Just imagine, with all that we know in recorded history and knowledge from brilliant minds such as Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Mozart, Michelangelo, Sir Isaac Newton, and more. We as human beings compile all this knowledge with the fact that we only use 10% of our brains! That should be enough information alone to push us to put our brains to work even more for ourselves everyday. And do we? Some of us do, some of us don't.
My idea for writing this is just to share my thoughts with you. There's nothing more inviting to me than the idea of putting our minds to work for the sake of bettering ouselves therefore enabling us to help others do the same. This world is filled with and infinite amount of grief, suffering, pain, loss, and heartache. I believe the biggest obstacle and most rewarding in life is learning how to use our brain power for overcoming any of these and more. This is HUGE! Once we learn of the power we hold in choosing our thoughts and deciding what we feed our brains, there is truly nothing that can hold us back in life.
I believe that the most simplest way of discovering a more genuine everyday life is to use our minds as a canvas, becoming an artist of our lives. Making the decision to "think" about what we're thinking about is the first step. Don't just let thoughts easily appear into your head. An artist doesn't just wait for someone to splash colors onto the easel and then use those colors to paint. He prepares in his mind what he wants to portray, whether using watercolor, oils, paint, etc. Same with us in our everyday lives. We should go about our day with thoughts in our minds that we choose to think of. It's human nature that we all have random thoughts entering our minds. But if we become more conscious about these thoughts, we can learn to be more controlling of where they go. The random things can be displayed as creative works of art, the petty negativity that sometimes strays in can be thrown in the trash, rather than all of these things linger around together causing a confusing work of art. Think of an artist, he doesn't throw up purple, red, and green on the canvas and then decide which one would look better. He takes a step back, maybe tilts his head and thinks about the color he feels would fit best to his liking.
No, this isn't an attempt to make your life a living perfection. But! Merely a thought that became a result of thinking about how I've come to the point in life where I am right now. I contribute much of my happiness, joy, and fulfillment in my life to the simple fact that I had slowly but surely made this change in my thinking. My mind is a canvas. And I am life's artist. I choose everyday what my work of art is comprised of, and will result in. I don't get it perfect everytime, but at the end of the day I know I've made a conscious effort to make my work worth signing. We have the ability with our minds to find the positive in any negative, and ironically any negative through any positive. This is where we as human beings get caught up. We sometimes let our emotions rule in places where they shouldn't, and by becoming an artist of life, we can train ourselves up to the expert level of being able to live an everyday life that just shines! We need to take charge of our thoughts, they become who we are, what we say, what we do, and how we feel. Equally important, we need to learn how to continuously focus on our priorities in life. We get off track sometimes, but if you keep your focus knowing your goals, and your personal reasons for attaining them and just be honest with yourself, you are bound to create a masterpiece. One where others can see clearly your passion and love shine through as a result.
We all have our own journeys. But I felt that it was important for me to share this thought. For those out there that have crossed the same paths with my thinking, then great! We have something in common. But for anyone who may have not contimplated this idea, I felt could benefit at the very least of seeing another avenue towards simplicity, or clarity in their life.
May this thought find you in peace, with you emerging into becoming an artist of your own life, which in turn can aide in the enlightenment and inspiration for yourself and others.
