Give back to your World

We have to give back.  We cannot get to where we want to go if we are only focused on ourselves and what we want.  In order to succeed, you have to create not only for yourself, but also to give what you create to the world.  They can buy it.  But it is there for them, to learn from, to enjoy, to enrich their lives.

Your purpose on this earth,  is not only about you.  It is not only about what you have to say, or do, or be.  I mean that is part of it.  I get that.  But it is two-fold.  Your art helps others.  It helps you, but it is there for others.  That is what art is about. Art that is never seen or heard cannot do anything for anyone.  Even the artist who created it does not gain it’s full potential if she cannot share it.  

It is the same with life. Our lives are meant to be shared.  We mix with others and gain new perspectives.  We become different people because of it. We adjust and change in some ways, and we become stronger and more certain in other ways.  Our lives change because we connect with others.  

Think universal.  Think of a teacher.  Think of what they do everyday.  Yes they get paid, but that is not why a true teacher teaches.  A true teacher teaches to give back.  They teach because they care.  They know that it’s about the world.  It’s about unity.  Helping.  Giving.  Loving and living.  What you have to say in your art has to come from this.

Go Confidently

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams, live the life you’ve imagined.”  -Thoreau

It’s Monday.  Another chance to start again.  Today tell yourself that this week will be fantastic, and then go about believing it!  Go confidently today.  No matter what your day holds, do it confidently.  Be confident.  I’m not saying to be all proud and full of yourself, but I am saying be sure of yourself.  Even when you’re not sure, be sure.  Your body will follow your mind.  

School starts today.  Remember school?  Remember first day jitters.  New teachers, new boys, new friends, homework again.  You had to go confidently in school.  Even if you were afraid inside, you couldn’t show your fear or you’d look like a fool to your friends.  Then you realized that you didn’t have to be afraid and it was easier then you thought.  

So today, go confidently.  Even if you are afraid inside.  Even if you don’t know the outcome of your circumstances.  Go confidently anyways.  You are strong.  Plan your week and go forward.  Go in the direction of your dreams, and your life will follow.

Dwell in Possibility

“Dwell in Possibility.” – Emily Dickinson

Just try.  Sometimes I think about my grandma again.  When I feel old I remember her.  She never got old.  She did everything a kid would do. I find myself telling my kids, “You can do whatever you want, you are only seventeen and you have your whole life ahead of you.  But then I catch myself.  Did my time end?  Is it all over?  Am I no longer able to do fun things and dream fun plans like a kid can do?  

 I think of my grandma again and what she would say if she was here now.  She’d say, “You have YOUR whole life ahead of you, and You CAN do whatever you want no matter how old you are.”  My grandma is 90 years old and lives in heaven now.  I’m a kid to her.  So I hear my words that I tell my son, back to myself  like it’s coming from my grandmother’s mouth.  “When you are seventeen/thirty-six/fifty-four/seventy-two, you can do whatever you want.  You are only as old as you believe yourself to be.  Your body believes what your mind tells it.  (We can only stretch this so far) But it’s true.

Be young today.  Be young inside, but use your grown up and older mind to plan and be determined to set goals for your life, have fun, and go in the direction of your dreams!  Dwell in Possibility!  Live the your life you have purposed to live.  At any age life is full of possibilities.  Go out and make them happen today.

Study yourself

“Learn what you are and be such.”  -Pindar

Study yourself.  It takes a long time to understand who you are.  It’s something that we don’t even think about doing when we are young.  I mean, we learn about what we are good at, or what kind of job we should have, or what we like to do for fun, but do we ever really study ourselves for  who we  are deep down inside?  I’m talking about on the stuff that really matters.  Your essence.  

Everything shapes who you become.   The family you came from. The friends you have. Your schooling. What you grew up believing. Your blood.  Your genes.  Society.   Think about all of this stuff when you think about what makes up who you are.  

You might think, “Why is this important?”  I already know who I am. I want to know other people.  But you cannot truly know anyone else, until you understand yourself.  Don’t just go on…day after day doing what you do without taking time to ponder  who you are and who you are becoming.  Because time jumps.  It jumps in blocks.  You won’t realize it until you get older but it’s true.  All of sudden you are 50 and being 40 seems like yesterday. Being 32 seems like 2 years ago and being 22 seems like 5 years ago.  

It’s your life.  No one else can plan it, or know it, or do it.  No one but you.  Know who you are.  Learn to study yourself.

The best days of your Life are now.

Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind.  You are as old as your doubt, your fear, your despair.  The way to keep young is to keep your faith young.  Keep your self-confidence young.  Keep your hope young.  –Luella F. Phean

 Vigor is like frosted flakes that got forgotten in their bowl from breakfast and are now completely soggy and mushed up from the milk.  Every bit of crispness that was there in the morning is complete mush by the end of the day.  How do we regain vigor?  How do we get youth back into our bodies?

 I guess some people would say you can’t…that youth is wasted on youth.  I don’t believe that.  My grandma proved it.  At 82 should could dance circles around any 22 year old I know of.  She climbed mountains following mountain lion tracks with her 89 year old boyfriend Gordon.  She golfed everyday she could.  She fished off her own dock every morning and cleaned the fish herself.  She volunteered at the library.  She encouraged everyone to vote.  She traveled to Spain, England, China, Japan, Thailand, Australia, France, and Italy.  My grandma was never old. 

 She used to tell me that these are the best days of my life.  She said that when I was in high school and then when I was in college.  She told me that when I had my first baby, and then my second, and then my third. And by the time I had my fourth baby, she told me I was crazy.  Every time something new happened in my life she said “These are the best times of you life.”

 I finally figured it out after my grandma passed away.  Just do life. Celebrate it. Daily. Every day is the best.  Be grateful for life.  That is the key to youth. Be joyful and exist.  Do what you love and do it everyday. Smile.

“Live the Art of Life” Open House Tomorrow

Art Show Tomorrow!

I am very happy to say that tomorrow I will be opening my doors

for the first ever

“Live the Art of Life”

Open House and Art Show.

We will be open from 12 – 5 Pm

hosted Champagne and Cheese

Know thyself.

         If I am not I, who will be?  -Henry David Thoreau

If someone were to tell you that you need to know who you are, you might think they are a total weirdo.  I mean, that is so easy, isn’t it?  Don’t we already know ourselves?  I mean it’s yourself, so what’s to figure out?  But I challenge you to think about this for awhile.  

We spend time getting to know others.  It takes time to figure out other people.  Why do we not think it would take time to understand ourselves?  We don’t come into this world with the knowledge of why we do what we do, or why we like what we like, or why we are naturally good at something.  We stumble in.  I mean no one gave us a manual to life or to ourselves for that matter.  It just takes experimenting and time to figure ourselves out.  It takes quiet time alone, journaling, experiencing things and people to begin to understand ourselves. 

Start with a clean piece of paper.  Just pull it from the printer and get a pen.  Write who you are.  Write what you like. Write what you need in order to survive in this world.  Write your dreams, your aspirations, your sense of humor, your personality, your goods and bads.  Realize that who you are is a blend of all of this.  You are so unique.  Some of what you write is changeable, and some is not.  Some is just naturally you.  Perfectly you.  Wonderfully you.  

When we begin to understand ourselves, we can better relate to everything in our life.  We have a greater understanding of our relationships with other people and we can more accurately understand job situations, work environments and social gatherings.  We see more clearly where we need to go and what we need to accomplish in our life.  Seek to know thyself.

Believing something in your soul

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” -T. S. Eliot

 We understand genuine art with our soul before we understand it with our mind.  Art is so profound.  Sometimes we don’t give art enough credit. It is easy to think of art as just a pretty picture, or a poem or a song, when really, it is much deeper then that.  We have to pay attention or we miss out on what the message is.  If we are just daydreaming through life, we miss life’s message.  

Humans are amazingly created.  We  can pick up messages with our senses before our mind can comprehend what really is being said.  Animals are geniuses at this.  That is because they don’t second guess themselves.  Animals sense stuff.  They have  the sixth sense.  People do too. That is what T. S. Eliot is saying. Our Soul is real.  It radiates throughout us.  Sometimes we need to slow down in order to listen to what our soul and our senses are telling us.  If we don’t, then we will be missing out on the messages that life gives us daily. Pay attention.  Watch for signs.  Listen and have faith.

Its a Monday

It’s a Monday.  

Why are those normally bad words?  I mean we should welcome Mondays, because as humans, we are always trying to restart. To begin again.  To fix our screw-ups.  And every Monday is another chance to do that.  

That’s a pretty cool way to look at Monday.  Instead of going into the week feeling like “Oh here we go again….”   I challenge you to go into the week telling yourself,  “Fantastic!  I get another week to start anew.”  Last week  is no more.   Be done with last week and move on.  The future is ahead of you.  Tons of fantastic new Mondays await you.

Change your mind to think of Mondays in this way, and I guarantee you that your week will be fantastic.  Expect the unexpected.  Believe in Mondays.  Welcome them, and the rest of the week will follow suit.

Live your dreams

“Judge of your natural character by what you do in your dreams.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s true that you control your dreams.  Maybe not all the way.  Some people say that you cannot control your dreams, that your sub-conscious has a mind of it’s own.   That is only part true.  It goes back to controlling your thoughts.  The sub-conscious mind believes what you tell it.  It does not judge a good or a bad thought.  It just takes in what you say.  If you say, “I will have a fantastic day.”,  and you continue to tell yourself this, your mind will recognize that and make sure you have a fantastic day.  If you tell yourself, “I am so stupid, I can’t believe I did that.”,  Your mind will find ways to remind you how stupid you are.  

That is why it is so important to remember that we feed our own minds.  What you tell yourself during the day, your mind will tell you at night, in your dreams.  If you are constantly believing the path you are traveling on, you will be successful.  If you are negative and destructive, your mind will conjure up those type of  dreams.  

Tell yourself good things.  Feed your brain with positive encouragement, joy, happiness, laughter, self-respect, belief and generosity.  Believe in your dreams.  Hope. Love and Give.

Your dreams will give back to you the same.  It is a circle how the mind works.  We tell it, it tells us in return.