Thursday, April 17, 2014

The Art Life (cont'd)...

How to live a better life, be a better artist, and get happy:

1.  Approach everything with a sense of joy. Whether it’s cleaning your room, going to rehearsal, or working out at the gym. We always focus on the negative – we don’t want to do it, we’re tired, it’s stupid, you’d rather be doing something else etc. We never focus on the positive. There truly is joy in everything. Instead of sighing and trudging through you daily activities, take a deep breath and dive in… and find the joy. Let’s take cleaning your room for instance. No on likes cleaning their room. I think that’s a fact. But if instead of focusing on how annoying this task is, you focus on how good it will feel to have a clean and pretty room… there you go! You just found some joy! To learn to live your life with the cup half full is a difficult feat – but it makes life so much more enjoyable. Erase the phrases “I don’t”, “I can’t”, and “Ughh” from your vocabulary. Replace them with “I have”, “I will”, “I can” and “Yay!”. Last but not least, smile.

2.  Don’t let fear stop you. The best things happen between the intersection of “I’m scared s***less” and “I can’t do this”. Like I said before we always focus on the negative. We use fear as an excuse but it really should be a motivator. The whole idea that fear paralyzes is a load of BS. Fear causes a flight or fight response. Our heart starts pumping, we sweat, we’re filled with adrenaline… sounds like a perfect condition to create something amazing. I can’t really tell you how to conquer your fears. All I know is that you have to… Wait. Let me rephrase that. I don’t think you can conquer your fears. We’re always going to be afraid of something. But, the key is to accept them, not fight them. Learn to live with them and use them to your advantage. 

3.  Gratitude. In your work or in your life – as an artist or as a person (well it’s really all the same thing), you have to be thankful. No matter how bad things are, we all are so incredibly lucky, and we don’t even know it. This will sound corny (I’m sorry), but we’re a live. Life is a gift. If nothing else be thankful for that.

A part of this is happens to be… Stop complaining! We all do it. And I’ll admit it’s fun. But it’s the most toxic thing we can engage in. Wallowing in our own self-pity is never healthy. We don’t come to any solutions and nothing gets done.


4.  Last but not least – Just do it! We think way too much. Do you ever wonder why dreaming is enjoyable? I think it’s because we don’t think. We’re creating stories in our heads but we’re not worrying if they make sense, if they’re funny enough, if it’s stupid. You just let the ideas flow. Turning off your brain and all the second-guessing and judgment that comes with it will make everything a lot easier. Just do it, but better yet, just don’t think while you’re doing it.

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