Weekly Food for Thought - If life were a canvas and you the artist – what would you paint?

Dear Friends,

Are you the Artist or the Observer?

These days, everywhere I go I notice that we live in a mass culture where meaning is centralized, and we are used to having others interpret our lives for us. We are largely becoming passive observers of our own experience, waiting for other people to tell us what it means.

More and more, we allow outside influences to direct our attention to what we should care about or strive for, that the truth of our own power to choose very often escapes us.

I would very much like to propose another way. A way I did not invent, however it forms a basis for the spiritual teachings of most cultures.

Instead of the notion that there is an absolute value and meaning to reality, a some kind of ‘reality matrix’, we all must learn to decipher as young people; I would like you to consider an alternative stance: that you give your world – and each event that happens in it – any and all the meaning it has. There is no intrinsic meaning to anything!

However, while we give everything whatever meaning it has, in most cases we do not consciously choose these meanings. Rather we learn them, inherit them, probably unconsciously, according to the conventions of our family and our environment.

These pre-chosen and pre-packaged meanings can have a huge influence on how we experience the world.  As, how we feel about any given thing, is directly related to the meaning we assign to it. The good news is that we are not stuck with any particular meaning. We can consciously choose the meaning and value of our experiences.

This, I believe, is exactly what people who are continually happy and peaceful have learned to do.

This means, of course, that you are the creator of your own reality. In contrast to how you may have been conditioned to think, you give meaning  and significance to whatever happens to you, though the whole process  may appear to be unconscious. Then based on that meaning, usually unconsciously, you choose what your response will be. This will further imply that you will make wise and resourceful choices, as you will be living consciously rather than unconsciously.

If like most people, the part of you that assigns meaning runs on autopilot, it will choose meanings and responses based on the filters installed by your family and environment. In this case, I am sorry to say, your creativity and individuality will be stillborn.

If, on the other hand, you uncover what moves and motivates you, you will soon notice that you have picked up the paintbrush: suddenly you are painting the shapes of you your feelings on that blank canvas.

After all, you are the artist, you can paint anything you like!

What you are painting is as ephemeral as anything else in life, but the lines you draw, the shapes you form, and the colours you choose are what gives your life a meaning.

So loose the pre-written script, take a blank canvas and start painting your life!

With this in mind, I wish you a wonderful week and sending you oceans of love,
Lidija

© Momentum Strategies 2012