Life is art

Pablo Picasso said: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up". This has always been one of my favorite quotes. As children we don't shy away from the chance to create and express ourselves. What small child doesn't reach for a crayon and start coloring when the opportunity presents itself? I love to watch kids dance and wiggle, their movements are so fluid. Sometimes they do it just standing in line at the grocery store. There is no fear of criticism or judgement. Play and joy are their natural state of being.

If we are all born this way, when does it change? When do we loose touch with the freedom to be ourselves in our natural state of joy? What initiates the fear, the criticism, the rigidity? There is some science behind the developing mind and when we become "self-aware", but I believe our society and our upbringing play the biggest part in the programming of our minds. And I call it just that - programming. For example, when we begin school we are expected to sit still behind a desk for most of the day. The 'wiggles' and our connection to our physical energy are lost; or worse, labeled with some diagnosis like A.D.D. Work is honored yet time for play becomes something we have to earn. I could elaborate more on the our social and educational systems, but I'll leave it there. Somewhere along the way the creative spark we are all born with seems to be lost.

Sunset at Cadillac Summit - Oil on Canvas

Can we get it back? If so, how?

I think we need to first establish what it means to be an artist. Drop the idea that you are either left or right brained. Drop the idea that you need to be inclined to music, drawing, etc. in order to be an artist. An artist is simply a person who uses their skills to create. Everyone uses both hemispheres of the brain. We all have the ability to be both logical and imaginative. We each have our own unique set of skills and put them to use anywhere along the spectrum of possibility. We have just fallen victim to the programming of left or right, black or white, scientist or artist.

Maybe we don't create in the traditional sense of the word, but everyday we wake up and make choices. We create our experiences and decide how to participate (or avoid participating) with life. We choose our thoughts, what to eat, how to speak, what to do and where to put our energy. To exist, to be human, is to be an artist and life itself is the art. We can choose to see things from the black or white program. Or we can open our minds to infinite possibility -the rainbow of life.

When we stop seeing life as happening to us, and stand in our creative power we can begin to re-program the fears and the self-doubt that holds us back from expressing ourselves. Our true selves - the ones that came here ready to dance and wiggle, the ones tuned into imagination and our intuition, the ones who know how to express joy and love openly. I reject the notion, the programming, that art is frivolous and you have to struggle to be an artist. I am living proof that re-programming can occur and I firmly believe everyone can and should do it. Why? Because we are a human collective. A group of artists co-creating our existence in this moment and the suffering in the world tells me that it's time.

Our natural state is love and joy. To return here we must do our part to create these things in our daily lives. Happiness is a choice. Love is a choice and we must start by loving ourselves. Yes, we have to move with the rhythm of life- ebb and flow with the ups and downs. We have responsibilities - we have to "adult"- feed ourselves, house ourselves, take care of our families and so on. However, it's time to drop the anger and resentment, drop the blame, drop the fear and the addictions. It's time we start living with intention and creating the changes we wish to see in our lives. Then sit back and watch how these changes ripple out into the world.

It's time we start looking for the rainbows in our lives. The ones that are always there, the ones we forgot to see.

---

ONE more thing:

Life is art and we're all alive

Emotions fan the flames

Everyone is an artist

Though we go by different names

Some of us are sculptors

Expressing with our hands

Molding different parts of life

We're found in all the lands

Cooking, fixing, or building new

Doing chores like raking leaves

Clapping to lift others up

Hugging those who grieve

Some of us are dancers

Energy in constant motion

Our body is our moving force

Like waves that move the ocean

Running here and twirling there

As we choreograph each day

Moving with the songs of life

Learning new steps along the way

Some of us are poets

Melodical musicians

Harmonizing sounds and words

Weaving magic like magicians

Sometimes rhyming sometimes swearing

Our sweetest songs are kind

Expressing feelings from the heart

Sharing what's inside

Some of us are painters

Light and color is our game

Its our vision that sets apart

But we can see we're all the same

Imagining possibilities

From an infinite perspective

We don't see in black and white

We know the spectrum is subjective

Creation is the gift of life

And we all must fill our role

Painting poetic dances

Sculpting the present is our goal

Living with intention

No matter what your part

Knowing that the life we live

Is our greatest work of art