Life As Art? Yes please!

Living Your Life As An Artist

Birds do it. Bees do it. I don’t know if educated fleas do it, because I haven’t done a careful inspection. I think more humans should do it; live their life as an artist.

So here’s the thing. All my life I’ve been a people watcher. This came in really handy in my acting days.  I discovered that if I listened with heart and great intent, I’d learn the most amazing things. One little insight could trigger an entire perceptual shift!

I always wanted to ask of the folks who succeeded in the ways I desired; how did you do it? What do you know that I need to know too? What path did you take? What pitfalls did you experience? What should I avoid… and which things should I always, always  do?

Above all… how do I wrap my head around the best way to manifest my own dreams? 

Because I learned that how you think about something determines your outcome. Every time.

I still remember reading a quote from an interview with 1940’s film star Loretta Young saying   that she never applied her makeup on in the same order every day. She felt that it was her job as an actress to be present and aware at all times; never doing anything by rote. Mixing up the order on an activity that for most people is “automatic” was simply one way she did this.

I thought it was genius. Ruts of thinking, acting or feeling kill; they make you numb and soon your life has dwindled away into nothingness. In one simple comment, she had shown me how simple it is to un-rut. I never forgot that lesson. And I never met Loretta Young.

Although she may have come back as this bird. Look at those lashes! Hmmm.

Living Your Life (As If It Were) Your Art

Living your life as an artist doesn’t mean that you necessarily ARE an artist, per se. It means being awake, aware, in love with your life; learning, thinking, creating, acting, not settling. After all, your TRUE art is you.

I’ve noticed that photographers – and also artists, musicians, singers, artistes of all kinds spend hours ‘n hours ‘n HOURS on their work. It must be just so, as the perfect expression of what they’re feeling. Nothing less will do! They seem to come alive, truly alive – only then. When ‘regular’ life returns, it’s something less luminous.

I think that’s crazy! Life is the greatest gift we have been given!! It IS an art form – high art. We should approach it as such! Suddenly my previous thought bubble of; “living your life as an artist” wasn’t encompassing enough. The vision morphed into: “Living life as if it WERE your art.”

I looked around and noticed a surprising number of people I knew doing just that… they just weren’t all over the news for it. Photographers, artists, singers, musicians, inspired business and finance people; I wanted to talk to all of them and share their insights, ask them to share what they do, how they think, what they’ve learned along the way… what do they know for sure? There’s gold in those noggins of theirs. And quite possibly, that one single tidbit – unexpectedly spoken at just the right time – that could be the Spark of Aha to ignite someone’s life of “settling” into a brilliant flame of “artistry.”

There is was. The concept for “The Chat”, ignited. AHA!!