The Art of Living
January 11th, 2009
I’ve been harping on about “the art of living” to several friends now and haven’t really explained exactly what I mean. Truth be told I’m not entirely sure what I think on the matter myself. I have a general idea, enough to get excited about, and inspired from, but I’d liked to explore the concept a little more thoroughly.
First of, I’d like to thank Dustin Wax for making me think about living from this perspective. In his words, “There is, I believe, an art to living.” and I completely agree.
Again to quote Dustin;
You know the type: self-possessed, confident, the kind of person who energizes a room. The kind of person who is alive to everything around them, who makes everyone they focus their attention on feel they could do more, they could be more. A natural-born leader who brings out the best in everyone without any apparent effort. Apparently fearless, they inspire by example, making our deepest concerns seem petty in the face of sheer living.
I had really never thought about life this way, and I can think of many wonderful people I’ve met through the course of my life that definitely live their lives very artfully.
Life is like a canvas, on which throughout our lives we can pick and choose what colours and patterns we weave into it.
For me, it’s the way we engage with other people and everything around us. It’s the passion with which we carry out our actions, and the dreams we chase. It is the attention to detail we pay to the world around us, and the gems in our lives that we find and polish, treasure and make the most of. It is living in our spiritual nature and letting the virtues and qualities that shed from that manifest forth.
I feel each one of these elements I mentioned deserves a post of its own, its late and my mind is slowing, and I like the idea of exploring this in yet more depth. I think I touched on a part of it last year (nearly 2 weeks ago) when I was pondering the value of time.
Why not post comments on my blog, and we can explore it together.
What do you think it is that makes the life one leads an artful life?
