What would happen to your life if you surrounded
yourself with all things beautiful?
What does it mean to be beautiful? Beauty is something that we all recognize instinctively. Even three-month-old babies smile longer at faces that appear more attractive.
Most of us would agree that beauty is pleasing to the senses and to be beautiful means to possess qualities that give great pleasure to see, hear, touch, feel or to think about. In other words, these qualities delight our senses.
So seductive are the charms of beauty that we spend huge amounts of money with reckless abandon at the slightest hope of looking younger, fresher, more attractive. This has spawned a huge industry that is often criticized as shallow, self-indulgent and materialistic. Increased mental health issues are blamed on massive advertising spending that encourages an obsession with looks, youth, and attractiveness. Most religions promote a more austere, conservative outlook more focused on the life after death than the pursuit of beauty, seduction and aesthetic.
It’s all about personal quality of life. What good is it to have wealth, power, influence and yet feel miserable?
It is easy to rush through life, from meeting to meeting, event to event and not even notice the details. Small things. Important things.
Numb seems to be the new normal for many people. Is it any wonder that drug use is at an all-time high? The path from numb to joy of living is long, winding and often akin to playing snakes and ladders. “Back to square one” seems an all too often occurrence.
Unlike board games, in life we can never go back. No matter how it feels we can never unlearn an experience because every event, every moment forever changes us. What we can do is change our mind about what the experience means. Old experiences can offer new lessons.
Accepting emotions – all of them – is the “secret sauce” to experiencing joy in life. Rushing serves to deepen the numbness… lingering opens up the flavors of experience and allows the senses to activate. Feelings rise. Both wanted and unwanted.
Instead of crashing through life, designing a career, a certain amount of money… what would happen if one lived as if life itself were a work of art?
Become your own artist and infuse art into everything you do…
Art de Vivre: your smile… your hair… your clothes… your work… your house… your car… your cup of coffee… your expression… your posture… your writing… your cooking… your dinner setting… your afternoon snack… your hand holding… your conversation… your travel… your love notes… your attitude… your dreams… your nightmares… your lovemaking… your decor… your office… your voicemail… your entertaining… your values… your beliefs… your vacations… your expression when you eat… your hug when you meet a friend… your handshake when you meet a stranger… your desert… your nutrition… your hydration… your garden… your sunglasses… your shoes… your socks… your aging… your death…
Yes! All of life is art. Mastering the joy of living – in the moment – with people you love is what makes life worthwhile.
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