Don’t Just Stop and Smell the Roses

Stop and smell the roses or even a flower from a weed. The beauty that surrounds you, offers the vitality that you need. Chapter 4 from my book - Live An Artful Life, is titled, The Beauty Creativity Brings. We are surrounded by all sorts of things. There’s just no shortage of visual stimulation, but all of it is certainly not healthy for us, or a positive influence.

We are brow-beaten by things on sale, sale, sale that we don’t need, need, need. We are battered by political messages which most often do nothing to affect the outcome of our day to day lives. We are blinded by celebrity nonsense, mostly made up of fantasy and shallow lifestyles designed to make us desire someone else’s life who is completely unimportant to us. We stare at our phones as if they held life’s secret to internal life. Meanwhile, people and things of true substance are left behind in a flurry of our often overburdened busy lives.

If you have the gift of sight, shouldn’t you want to use as much of it as possible on the quality of your own life, not watching someone else’s? I get it that entertainment can be entertaining, I’m not saying turn off and tune it all out. But learning to appreciate quality over quantity is truly valuable. I was walking through a big box store with Linda (that shall not be named), getting a few consumables. I looked around at the plethora of garbage, I mean junk, I mean silly stuff surrounding me everywhere as Linda and I walked along. I said to her, man, the Chinese that make all of this junk must really think we are crazy. Trust me, they know us better than we do ourselves. Manufacturers there, and likely the government itself, easily realize our insatiable consumption of meaningless crap.

Throughout the world, you can find inspiring examples of creativity and artistry. Things made one at a time and filled with originality and thought. These artful things are important examples of human thought. The best part about these gifts of sight is that if you desire, you can acquire the skill to make them yourself. You don’t have to, because to Live An Artful Life first simply means that you have an appreciation for creativity. But if that appreciation ushers in curiosity, the want to learn and grow through doing it yourself, you can! No one should be saying right now that they are not creative because we all are. Sure, a little fear might be there, but in my view, the only thing to fear is a better more fulfilling life. One which I believe you deserve.

Live an artful life,
Tom

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