Our life is the canvas we work on. Our selves are the instruments we play. So I am here to encourage you to approach life with the fervor passion and skill of an artist.
Our first cool idea is Curiosity
Curiosity lies at the heart of passion and joy. It comes from the Latin cura which means to care. It is that emotion that drives you to explore. It is natural, empowering and fulfilling although it sometimes appears vacant in us as adults. Even if it is a generalization we can see that we get distracted from caring. It is hard to care and question when you need to pay rent but your £20 short this month. It is hard to be light an curious about life when your projects are due this WEEK! Hard but not impossible. Luckily for most of us, it isn't always stressful there is some down time to refine our art(living).To train for our next match.
So why bother become more curios?
It Feels great
It's Free
It is easy
It's Fat free
It is the key to problem solving
It is fundamentally important to life long learning
It is makes you more interesting
And so on...
So how do you develop Curiosity?
Care. Find people, things, ideas anything you care about and spend time and attention on it.
Pay attention in general. Just drinking in life awakens joy. As you next walk around your local, slow down, take deep breaths and pay attention. What are you seeing? What colour is it? What would it feel like if I touch it? What temperature am I? How humid is it? What is it Like? What can I smell? Where is it coming from? What can I hear? and so on. Paying attention is key element in all meditations and spiritual practice. So if your lucky you may find your self enlightened walking around Morrisons supermarket.
Keep Note. All artists keep notes of some kind. Diaries, sketchbooks, crazy scribblings etc. Maybe you kept a diary when you where you where a teenager and I bet you felt more intense and authentic back then. Sketchbooks/note books are there so you never lose and idea or insight or more importantly a question. It is place where you capture life and capture a part of yourself. Over time you get I stronger better more refined you coming through, and that is amazing. So do this in any way you wish but really do it. I Strongly recommend having a tiny note book that will fit in any pocket and a pen you like with you at all times. Leaving it at home should feel as odd walking out the house without clothes(or with clothes if your a naturist)
Ask Questions. This one is obvious but actively asking questions didn't occur to me until a wiser older figure suggested it. To start you off write out 5 questions a day in your note book. Any question. You don't have to care and your not looking for answers. Just habituating this behavior will make you more curious.
Take a word from the wise:
“The unexamined life is not worth living...”
“The only thing I know is that I know nothing...”
Socrates
“the greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity”
Anatole Franc
