Your work is your art and the world is your canvas.
Science is most often cold and calculated. Based upon hypothesis, testing and analyzing. There’s a time and a place for science. In fact, my very first book published in the late nineties was entitled The Science of Success.
While there’s a time and place for science; and it’s a necessary component of a full understanding of life; I now know that art is every bit as important as science if not more important.
Ultimate performing entrepreneurs know that skill is important,
yet you must have heart in your work;
and heart comes from inspiration and art.
Michelangelo invested four years of his life, hour upon hour, day upon day, seven days a week painting the Sistine Chapel. According to his journals he was miserable. Imagine spending 10-12 hours per day with your neck strained backward looking at the ceiling and your arm held high above your head.
Can you feel the burn in your neck and shoulder?
Again, his body was utterly miserable; yet his spirit and soul were inspired. He created a masterpiece that touches countless hearts and minds to this day.
When he carved David he spent 2 full years in a postage stamp sized apartment. He never left. He hardly saw anyone. He rarely even ate or slept. When he did sleep he slept with his clothes on, including his boots, so that when he woke up he could get up and at his craft.
I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free.
~ Michelangelo
Michelangelo had both, science and art. Yet there’s a greater point here still.
Stop chasing positive emotions.
If you chase happiness you’ll be eternally chasing. Seek fulfillment instead. Fulfillment can exist even when happiness is lacking. (Download Your 3 STEP WORKSHEET)
If you chase happiness you’ll be endlessly chasing.
Seek fulfillment instead. Fulfillment can exist
even when happiness is lacking.
Fulfillment can be present even when happiness is not. Understand it fully here.
I repeated the above point twice because it most likely rattled your cage. It certainly pushes your socialized programming.
The fact is that you don’t have to be sunny and smiley all the time to be flourishing.
Personally I think that people who are sunny and smiley all the time are either in deep denial or just plain scary!
Being happy is not the goal. Living a full, meaningful and fulfilling life is the goal.
And to do this you must embrace the ups as well as the downs. <reference Embrace the Suck> Both the light with the dark.
True artists embrace the dark; and when you speak with them they’ll frequently tell you that some of their greatest masterpieces come from the darkest of times.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil:
I the LORD do all these things.
~ Isaiah 45:7
The light of inspiration is most often birthed in the dark and tough times. For contrast is what gives life, and art, its color and flair.
Find something meaningful and fulfilling, find something full of purpose, even in the darkest of times, and commit to your art. (Download Your 3 STEP WORKSHEET)
Your work is your love made manifest in the world.
Get fully engaged with it.
Fall completely in love with it.
For if it doesn’t cost you your entire life, it’s most probably not your quest.
If it doesn’t cost you your entire life then it’s probably not your quest.
And always remember that happiness and fulfillment are two different things. There will be happy days and there will be not so happy days. Happiness, and all emotions, come and go.
Being happy is not the goal. Happiness comes and goes.
Living a full, meaningful and fulfilling life is the goal.
Stay Awake, Love Life and Be Epic,
James
