At the end of this video, Jason Silva asks a great question: Why shouldn’t we turn our lives into a work of art?
As he says:
I can decide that I’m going to see the world through rose-colored lenses. I’m going to be optimistic. I’m going to look for the beautiful in every possible experience.
That INTENTION, that agency, coupled with action…with editorial discernment…it creates a self-amplifying feedback loop. In other words, the INTENTION to be optimistic makes me stumble upon all these things that make me feel more optimistic and so on and so forth.
But that requires a boldness of character.
Yes, we all view the world through our own particular lens–and the lens through which we view the world has an enormous effect on what we see. Once we recognize that what we’re seeing is not “reality,” but a limited facsimile thereof, we can alter our perception. But wishing it or wanting it to happen won’t make it so.
The magic starts with creating an INTENTION.
Got me thinking on this one, Joycelyn. Great job!
I don’t see the world through rose colored glasses. To me that implies judgment, and we can’t control the results of most situations, so I don’t judge results.
The fact that I can’t control the results does not mean it doesn’t matter what I do. What matters is my intention. I must be thoughtful, take what I believe is a positive action, and be committed to that action. Whatever the results, I learn, form a new intention (or restate the same one), then take the next action.
This requires, as Jason stated in the video, “embracing uncertainty”. As I am learning to love uncertainty, the more I am able to accept and not judge the outcome, the more I am able to see the beauty in every situation. The beauty really is there if you pay attention to the experience and not live or die by the outcome.
I could write for a long time about the problems of action without intention, but I’ll save that for another day
I completely agree with you. Intention is the key. And not judging the outcome is also really important. Action without intention seems to be the norm, however, just because of the way our brains are wired. Intention is conscious, while action can be automatic or autopilot. Judging is also automatic and requires a conscious choice to avoid.
There’s plenty of beauty to behold, if we intend to see it. 🙂
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. They are always a pleasure.
Just read this quote by the Dalai lama
“Choose to be optimistic, it feels better.”
So many great ideas here. The idea of thinking of my life as a work of art, coupled with the curating of space and curating of circumstances is a powerful one. When I think of all the time I’ve spent curating stuff, it is exciting to think about shift the curating skills to something that contributes to creativity instead of stifling it. Of course, this idea leads to many possible intentions to make it so. Great post!
Yes, yes…curating stuff gets old, I’ve found. Curating space and circumstances seems much more interesting. Thank you. 🙂