What is it about the brush strokes of paint on a canvas that moves one to tears? What is it about a rhythm or beat that can elevate someone to a new level of confidence or leave a soul feeling held and seen?
What is it about the human condition that moves us to create? That insatiable whisper inside of our soul, urging us to become?
We are human BEINGS.
Not human doings. To be, or not to be. The age-old adage, the eternal question.
If living were an art form, what are you painting? What colors would make up the canvas of your daily life? What unfulfilled dreams and discarded desires would lurk in the shadows of your creation? What would be the focal point of the light?
You can see it forming, can’t you? There in your mind's eye—each brush stroke, each shadow, each highlight—painting the art piece that is your life.
It is the great paradox of life.
Perhaps it is a deep, subconscious realization that we are finite beings. Therefore, we long. We crave to leave our mark. Something more finite. So, we create. Or maybe it is that we, having been created, simply follow that creative footstep. That divinely creative genetic strand. Or perhaps there is simply no reason. We just create for the sake of creating. We create because (as many great artists have said) it is the only medium by which to transfer what is in our souls into the tangible universe.
Whatever the reason, master artist or beginner, we all crave creation to some extent or another. That little tug-of-the-soul is what I wish to address.
Let us call it the art of living.
It is one thing to exist. Many of us are well acquainted with mere existence. But to live? Well, that is an entirely different experience altogether. Let us explore the notion of livingness. What does it mean to be truly alive? And not just alive but to live well? What is a well-lived life?
My musings have led me to believe that to be truly alive, one must live with the thoughtful attention and intention of an artist. To come to the most humbling conclusion that we are but a speck of dust in an infinite universe, yet each day is a timeless masterpiece. LIVING art. But how to live as though each day were a piece of art? Such a beautiful question really. How does one come to the wonderful realization that every soft second, every tender moment is a living, breathing masterpiece to be worked and molded and enjoyed? Oh, to be alive—to feel the raw and beautiful breathings of life and the deep, pulsing heartbeat of existence.
Infinite. Microscopic. Finite. Boundless.
The expansion. The contraction.
The pulse of the birth and death of all living things.
And in all the vast expanse of an infinite, never-ending cosmos:
YOU
A being.
A human being.
Made up of stardust, and atoms, and intricately paired strands of a double helix.
Incredible.
Do you realize that you are a part of the living art of Being? Of existence?
It’s such an incredible feeling. Such an enormous, yet microscopic feeling. To be a part of the infinite. Isn’t that beautiful?
And in that beauty, may we reflect back on our canvas—our art. You are the art AND the artist. Do you ever wonder how to do more human-being rather than the human-doing? I do quite often. It’s such a loud world for soft souls made of stardust. So, how can we be humans in a state of being, rather than the endless degrading through the constant ‘doing’ of modern life. Let us muse. Let us explore…
My friend, you are the masterpiece. You are the Mona Lisa. The Taj Mahal. You are made of stardust and lightning. 28 trillion cells exist and work for you (and only you) every moment of every day.
YOU are the masterpiece.
YOU are the art.
But you are just out here existing.
Why?
Maybe it’s because you were simply never taught how to live. How to feel alive. How to be a human being.
Let me whisper a secret to you—
we will change that.
There truly is an art to living. It is an art that is learned with each sunrise and sunset. With every inhale and exhale, oxygen and carbon dioxide illustrate patterns and pulses of what it means to live artfully. It is like the homemade bread recipe your grandma gives you, but it never tastes quite right. Ever wonder why? I’ll tell you (because I’ve learned the secret from the 2 best grandmas in the world).
It takes time. It takes practice. It takes living.
It takes hands who have carried the world to mix each ingredient with care. It takes a heart that has learned to love and let go to measure each ingredient with resilience and grit. It has taken infinite moments of love, loss, hope, and sorrow to soften those old hands that knead each tiny air pocket out of the rising loaf.
There is an art to making the best loaf of bread, just like there is an art to living. Both are masterpieces that come with time and the loving dedication of practice.
So how does one practice the art of living?
That is the goal of these writings. My hope is that within the pages of The Art of ................................ ........ Living, you will find inspiration and challenge. I hope to ............... .........provoke curiosity and contemplation. Conversation and .......... creation. I want to prod and poke at those deeply human ....... parts of you and hopefully inspire you to let go of the
fears holding you hostage and to truly lean in to the
miracle and art that is LIFE.
You only get one.
Why would you waste it?
Maybe you’re content merely existing. But I doubt it.
Why?
Because you’re here right now, reading about the art of living. That .. tells me that you, like me, know you carry stardust in your veins. You know you were not created to simply EXIST. But instead to grow to your greatest potential. To flourish. To find deep joy and true purpose. To find connection, community, and soul-sweeping wonderment across this beautiful adventure we call life.
Finding the art of living isn’t a one-time discovery. Not a Polaroid snapshot to shake and sign “I FOUND IT!” (Although that would be adorable, and I implore you to please send me your Polaroids of the art of your life!!)
But no, finding the art of living—the art of creation—the art of BECOMING—is a dance. It is whimsical and elusive at times, and brilliant and bold at others, much like those cosmic whispers of the aurora borealis.
Dear friend, I used to exist—
Constantly chasing moments, counting away hours and minutes. Always hunting down the next milestone, the next moment. Believing that some future moment would be “better”, more “perfect”
But what I have discovered is that there is NO future moment that can be better than the now. That is the art of living. The belief that this moment is as good as it gets. That in agony or bliss you choose to feel. You stay. Stay fiercely present to your humanity and the humanity of the world around you.
Because when you choose to fearlessly remain fully present to whatever life throws your way, you will not just feel alive, you will truly be LIVING.
Welcome to The Art (of) Living.
This article is an excerpt from Issue No. 1 of our quarterly newspaper, ‘The Art (of) Living’, a physical newspaper shipped to your door on each Equinox and Solstice of the year. If you like what you’ve read, I’d love to personally invite you to start your own subscription. Find more details about what’s included in your subscription [Here].
What is it about the brush strokes of paint on a canvas that moves one to tears? What is it about a rhythm or beat that can elevate someone to a new level of confidence or leave a soul feeling held and seen?
What is it about the human condition that moves us to create? That insatiable whisper inside of our soul, urging us to become?
We are human BEINGS.
Not human doings. To be, or not to be. The age-old adage, the eternal question.
If living were an art form, what are you painting? What colors would make up the canvas of your daily life? What unfulfilled dreams and discarded desires would lurk in the shadows of your creation? What would be the focal point of the light?
You can see it forming, can’t you? There in your mind's eye—each brush stroke, each shadow, each highlight—painting the art piece that is your life.
It is the great paradox of life.
Perhaps it is a deep, subconscious realization that we are finite beings. Therefore, we long. We crave to leave our mark. Something more finite. So, we create. Or maybe it is that we, having been created, simply follow that creative footstep. That divinely creative genetic strand. Or perhaps there is simply no reason. We just create for the sake of creating. We create because (as many great artists have said) it is the only medium by which to transfer what is in our souls into the tangible universe.
Whatever the reason, master artist or beginner, we all crave creation to some extent or another. That little tug-of-the-soul is what I wish to address.
Let us call it the art of living.
It is one thing to exist. Many of us are well acquainted with mere existence. But to live? Well, that is an entirely different experience altogether. Let us explore the notion of livingness. What does it mean to be truly alive? And not just alive but to live well? What is a well-lived life?
My musings have led me to believe that to be truly alive, one must live with the thoughtful attention and intention of an artist. To come to the most humbling conclusion that we are but a speck of dust in an infinite universe, yet each day is a timeless masterpiece. LIVING art. But how to live as though each day were a piece of art? Such a beautiful question really. How does one come to the wonderful realization that every soft second, every tender moment is a living, breathing masterpiece to be worked and molded and enjoyed? Oh, to be alive—to feel the raw and beautiful breathings of life and the deep, pulsing heartbeat of existence.
Infinite. Microscopic. Finite. Boundless.
The expansion. The contraction.
The pulse of the birth and death of all living things.
And in all the vast expanse of an infinite, never-ending cosmos:
YOU
A being.
A human being.
Made up of stardust, and atoms, and intricately paired strands of a double helix.
Incredible.
Do you realize that you are a part of the living art of Being? Of existence?
It’s such an incredible feeling. Such an enormous, yet microscopic feeling. To be a part of the infinite. Isn’t that beautiful?
And in that beauty, may we reflect back on our canvas—our art. You are the art AND the artist. Do you ever wonder how to do more human-being rather than the human-doing? I do quite often. It’s such a loud world for soft souls made of stardust. So, how can we be humans in a state of being, rather than the endless degrading through the constant ‘doing’ of modern life. Let us muse. Let us explore…
My friend, you are the masterpiece. You are the Mona Lisa. The Taj Mahal. You are made of stardust and lightning. 28 trillion cells exist and work for you (and only you) every moment of every day.
YOU are the masterpiece.
YOU are the art.
But you are just out here existing.
Why?
Maybe it’s because you were simply never taught how to live. How to feel alive. How to be a human being.
Let me whisper a secret to you—
we will change that.
There truly is an art to living. It is an art that is learned with each sunrise and sunset. With every inhale and exhale, oxygen and carbon dioxide illustrate patterns and pulses of what it means to live artfully. It is like the homemade bread recipe your grandma gives you, but it never tastes quite right. Ever wonder why? I’ll tell you (because I’ve learned the secret from the 2 best grandmas in the world).
It takes time. It takes practice. It takes living.
It takes hands who have carried the world to mix each ingredient with care. It takes a heart that has learned to love and let go to measure each ingredient with resilience and grit. It has taken infinite moments of love, loss, hope, and sorrow to soften those old hands that knead each tiny air pocket out of the rising loaf.
There is an art to making the best loaf of bread, just like there is an art to living. Both are masterpieces that come with time and the loving dedication of practice.
So how does one practice the art of living?
That is the goal of these writings. My hope is that within the pages of The Art of ................................ ........ Living, you will find inspiration and challenge. I hope to ............... .........provoke curiosity and contemplation. Conversation and .......... creation. I want to prod and poke at those deeply human ....... parts of you and hopefully inspire you to let go of the
fears holding you hostage and to truly lean in to the
miracle and art that is LIFE.
You only get one.
Why would you waste it?
Maybe you’re content merely existing. But I doubt it.
Why?
Because you’re here right now, reading about the art of living. That .. tells me that you, like me, know you carry stardust in your veins. You know you were not created to simply EXIST. But instead to grow to your greatest potential. To flourish. To find deep joy and true purpose. To find connection, community, and soul-sweeping wonderment across this beautiful adventure we call life.
Finding the art of living isn’t a one-time discovery. Not a Polaroid snapshot to shake and sign “I FOUND IT!” (Although that would be adorable, and I implore you to please send me your Polaroids of the art of your life!!)
But no, finding the art of living—the art of creation—the art of BECOMING—is a dance. It is whimsical and elusive at times, and brilliant and bold at others, much like those cosmic whispers of the aurora borealis.
Dear friend, I used to exist—
Constantly chasing moments, counting away hours and minutes. Always hunting down the next milestone, the next moment. Believing that some future moment would be “better”, more “perfect”
But what I have discovered is that there is NO future moment that can be better than the now. That is the art of living. The belief that this moment is as good as it gets. That in agony or bliss you choose to feel. You stay. Stay fiercely present to your humanity and the humanity of the world around you.
Because when you choose to fearlessly remain fully present to whatever life throws your way, you will not just feel alive, you will truly be LIVING.
Welcome to The Art (of) Living.
This article is an excerpt from Issue No. 1 of our quarterly newspaper, ‘The Art (of) Living’, a physical newspaper shipped to your door on each Equinox and Solstice of the year. If you like what you’ve read, I’d love to personally invite you to start your own subscription. Find more details about what’s included in your subscription [Here].
What is it about the brush strokes of paint on a canvas that moves one to tears? What is it about a rhythm or beat that can elevate someone to a new level of confidence or leave a soul feeling held and seen?
What is it about the human condition that moves us to create? That insatiable whisper inside of our soul, urging us to become?
We are human BEINGS.
Not human doings. To be, or not to be. The age-old adage, the eternal question.
If living were an art form, what are you painting? What colors would make up the canvas of your daily life? What unfulfilled dreams and discarded desires would lurk in the shadows of your creation? What would be the focal point of the light?
You can see it forming, can’t you? There in your mind's eye—each brush stroke, each shadow, each highlight—painting the art piece that is your life.
It is the great paradox of life.
Perhaps it is a deep, subconscious realization that we are finite beings. Therefore, we long. We crave to leave our mark. Something more finite. So, we create. Or maybe it is that we, having been created, simply follow that creative footstep. That divinely creative genetic strand. Or perhaps there is simply no reason. We just create for the sake of creating. We create because (as many great artists have said) it is the only medium by which to transfer what is in our souls into the tangible universe.
Whatever the reason, master artist or beginner, we all crave creation to some extent or another. That little tug-of-the-soul is what I wish to address.
Let us call it the art of living.
It is one thing to exist. Many of us are well acquainted with mere existence. But to live? Well, that is an entirely different experience altogether. Let us explore the notion of livingness. What does it mean to be truly alive? And not just alive but to live well? What is a well-lived life?
My musings have led me to believe that to be truly alive, one must live with the thoughtful attention and intention of an artist. To come to the most humbling conclusion that we are but a speck of dust in an infinite universe, yet each day is a timeless masterpiece. LIVING art. But how to live as though each day were a piece of art? Such a beautiful question really. How does one come to the wonderful realization that every soft second, every tender moment is a living, breathing masterpiece to be worked and molded and enjoyed? Oh, to be alive—to feel the raw and beautiful breathings of life and the deep, pulsing heartbeat of existence.
Infinite. Microscopic. Finite. Boundless.
The expansion. The contraction.
The pulse of the birth and death of all living things.
And in all the vast expanse of an infinite, never-ending cosmos:
YOU
A being.
A human being.
Made up of stardust, and atoms, and intricately paired strands of a double helix.
Incredible.
Do you realize that you are a part of the living art of Being? Of existence?
It’s such an incredible feeling. Such an enormous, yet microscopic feeling. To be a part of the infinite. Isn’t that beautiful?
And in that beauty, may we reflect back on our canvas—our art. You are the art AND the artist. Do you ever wonder how to do more human-being rather than the human-doing? I do quite often. It’s such a loud world for soft souls made of stardust. So, how can we be humans in a state of being, rather than the endless degrading through the constant ‘doing’ of modern life. Let us muse. Let us explore…
My friend, you are the masterpiece. You are the Mona Lisa. The Taj Mahal. You are made of stardust and lightning. 28 trillion cells exist and work for you (and only you) every moment of every day.
YOU are the masterpiece.
YOU are the art.
But you are just out here existing.
Why?
Maybe it’s because you were simply never taught how to live. How to feel alive. How to be a human being.
Let me whisper a secret to you—
we will change that.
There truly is an art to living. It is an art that is learned with each sunrise and sunset. With every inhale and exhale, oxygen and carbon dioxide illustrate patterns and pulses of what it means to live artfully. It is like the homemade bread recipe your grandma gives you, but it never tastes quite right. Ever wonder why? I’ll tell you (because I’ve learned the secret from the 2 best grandmas in the world).
It takes time. It takes practice. It takes living.
It takes hands who have carried the world to mix each ingredient with care. It takes a heart that has learned to love and let go to measure each ingredient with resilience and grit. It has taken infinite moments of love, loss, hope, and sorrow to soften those old hands that knead each tiny air pocket out of the rising loaf.
There is an art to making the best loaf of bread, just like there is an art to living. Both are masterpieces that come with time and the loving dedication of practice.
So how does one practice the art of living?
That is the goal of these writings. My hope is that within the pages of The Art of ................................ ........ Living, you will find inspiration and challenge. I hope to ............... .........provoke curiosity and contemplation. Conversation and .......... creation. I want to prod and poke at those deeply human ....... parts of you and hopefully inspire you to let go of the
fears holding you hostage and to truly lean in to the
miracle and art that is LIFE.
You only get one.
Why would you waste it?
Maybe you’re content merely existing. But I doubt it.
Why?
Because you’re here right now, reading about the art of living. That .. tells me that you, like me, know you carry stardust in your veins. You know you were not created to simply EXIST. But instead to grow to your greatest potential. To flourish. To find deep joy and true purpose. To find connection, community, and soul-sweeping wonderment across this beautiful adventure we call life.
Finding the art of living isn’t a one-time discovery. Not a Polaroid snapshot to shake and sign “I FOUND IT!” (Although that would be adorable, and I implore you to please send me your Polaroids of the art of your life!!)
But no, finding the art of living—the art of creation—the art of BECOMING—is a dance. It is whimsical and elusive at times, and brilliant and bold at others, much like those cosmic whispers of the aurora borealis.
Dear friend, I used to exist—
Constantly chasing moments, counting away hours and minutes. Always hunting down the next milestone, the next moment. Believing that some future moment would be “better”, more “perfect”
But what I have discovered is that there is NO future moment that can be better than the now. That is the art of living. The belief that this moment is as good as it gets. That in agony or bliss you choose to feel. You stay. Stay fiercely present to your humanity and the humanity of the world around you.
Because when you choose to fearlessly remain fully present to whatever life throws your way, you will not just feel alive, you will truly be LIVING.
Welcome to The Art (of) Living.
This article is an excerpt from Issue No. 1 of our quarterly newspaper, ‘The Art (of) Living’, a physical newspaper shipped to your door on each Equinox and Solstice of the year. If you like what you’ve read, I’d love to personally invite you to start your own subscription. Find more details about what’s included in your subscription [Here].
