Thinking of life as art, believe serves as a powerful guiding metaphor for us as we lead our lives.
As the artists, that is the creators of our lives, we realize certain maxims or truths.
Some of those maxims are:
Artists take responsibility for creating their art.
Artists are on a quest to continually perfect their art.
Artists know that they are always free to create again in the moment.
Each of our lives is overflowing with potential and possibilities. Let’s see how we can use that metaphor of life as art to create the best possible life that we are capable of creating. Looking at the first maxim that artists take responsibility for creating their art, simply means that the power to create lies with the artist and their vision. In other words, each of us is ultimately accountable and responsible for our lives. On an intellectual and intuitive level, we know that this is true. Yet at times, we tend to forget or blatantly disregard that the power to create the best life possible resides within us.
We blame external circumstances, our upbringing, other people and our past conditioning to abdicate taking responsibility for how our lives have turned out so far. Real maturity in life means accepting the fact that if we want to have or continue to have a great life, it starts with having a vision and a purpose. If you can consciously be accountable for your choices and actions, you will see a change in your attitude. You realize that you are responsible for your own happiness or…. the way that you react to your own challenges in life.
Now not totally life is not very challenging or difficult at times. Bad things do happen to good people and each of us have had our share of loss and heartbreak to contend with in life.
And sometimes through no fault of our own, we are forced to deal with the bad choices and actions of other individuals that have long lasting repercussions on our lives. What matters is that if we ever hope to create or continue to create the type of life that our heart truly desires, a life that is meaningful, the difference is the accountability factor. Be a true artist and take responsibility for the art that is your life that you create.
Art can and does mean so much more than that, to so many people. Art is a way of seeing the world, a way of expression, oftentimes a compulsion: we simply must create!
Art may be a way to explore your world or your imagination. Art may inspire a beginning painter to take steps into learning a new medium, or an accomplished artist to experiment with a new technique. Art is teaching, art is learning. Art can be exciting, empowering, and an expression of love.
Art can be a challenge: both frustrating and rewarding at the same time, leading to a sense of accomplishment — or a determination to do more. Art can be a message: of politics, of peace, of brutality or beauty. Art can be an escape, an idealization, or simply a means of play. Art can be anything and everything you let it be!
Every artist plays a different and necessary part in contributing to the overall health, development, and well-being of our society.
Creative thinkers and makers provide their communities with joy, interaction, and inspiration, but they also give thoughtful critique to our political, economic and social systems — pushing communities to engage thoughtfully and make steps toward social progress.
Art is about connecting with people’s emotions. It’s personal and at the same time, universal.
It’s a human urge to express emotion through the medium of mark-making. We all carry with us memories of our past experiences.
An artist has the ability to ‘feel strongly’ to be ‘sensitive’ to things and express this in the paint, gesture, or color. The artist ‘absorbs’ the atmosphere of a place or the memory of a feeling. Sometimes, it’s a burden for the artist to carry all this emotion – to be so sensitive.
Art is genuinely a gift to the world. It’s what we crave in the human experience. Art gives meaning to our lives and helps us understand our world. It is an essential part of our culture because it allows us to have a deeper understanding of our emotions; it increases our self-awareness, and also allows us to be open to new ideas and experiences. Art therefore continues to open our minds and our hearts and shows us what could be possible in our world.
ART ALLOWS US TO CONNECT WITH OUR INNER SELVES
Art can transform our lives. When we connect with art, we are ultimately connecting with our inner selves. Art enables us to look within and to listen to ourselves, realize who we are, and what we care about. It connects us to our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and our outer realities and experiences.
When we connect with a work, it is possible to encounter a rise in emotions because it introduces us to new experiences, provides us with a deeper understanding of our emotions, and shines light on questions we never knew we even had.
But as humans, it is essential to surround ourselves with art created by others. Art introduces us to a whole new set of experiences and ideas that we may have never witnessed before.
These experiences allow us to look within because as people, we decide what we’re seeing and feeling based on the emotional connection that we have with that work of art. As people, we tend to make emotional choices that are passionate to us, which allows us to realize what we care about and what we stand for.
When we are aware of this, we tend to be happier and healthier as individuals because we are able to figure out our purpose in life.
ART CAUSES US TO HAVE AN APPRECIATION AND GRATIFICATION FOR WHAT WE HAVE IN OUR LIVES
We tend to be happier when we are able to look at life through a standpoint of appreciation and gratification – when we are able to view all of the wonderful details that are going well in our lives instead of focusing on the alternative.
When we give ourselves the opportunities to connect with art, we are able to take a step back, reflect what’s going on in our world, evaluate our lives, and reflect. That is why I believe it is so important to gift yourself with opportunities to incorporate art into your life on a daily basis. This could be through visiting an artist’s studio, a museum, seeing a live show, watching a movie, or even reading a great book.
ART BRINGS MORE CREATIVITY, SATISFACTION, AND HAPPINESS INTO OUR LIVES
Have you ever had an emotional connection to a work of art? Have you ever experienced a wave of emotions while standing in front of an amazing painting?
Have you ever experienced a work and could not seem to explain the feeling that it gave you? This experience ultimately comes down to intuitively connecting with the artist’s story, their voice, and their experience. You are being welcomed into the artist’s world.
Art gives us meaning and helps us understand our world. Scientific studies have proven that art appreciation improves our quality of life and makes us feel good. When we create art, we elevate our mood, we improve our ability to problem solve, and open our minds to new ideas.
Art is a testimony of the human condition. It encompasses all of our hardships, emotions, questions, decisions, perceptions. Love, hatred, life, death. Essentially the way in which we perceive our world, every aspect of humanity can be expressed through art.
These times lay bare why art can’t be dictated nor contained by anything.
Creativity isn’t limited by its resources.
Creation is a primal source.
The authenticity in a painting or a piece of music is felt universally, because it resonates with the same essential being in the creator and the creation. The artist is often referred to as a magician, whereas her art only lays bare the heightened capacity to channel the universal truths.
The common story of life, love and death is what connects us humans.
Art is important because it functions as a holistic portal to a deeper understanding of humans and the self.