How do you define yourself? I can give a list of “who” I am; a daughter, a sister, a mother, I was a wife and now I am a widow. Do these define me? I overflow the box they tried to put me in. I change as I grow. I am less. I am more. I am still working on who I am. I am a work in progress. I am a piece of unfinished art waiting to be unveiled.
What does the word art conjure in your mind? A painting? A sculpture? A piece of music? The face you see in the mirror? There are several definitions of art, and the one we usually think of first is the creative inspirations we see in a museum or hear in a movement of music. There is also the art of conversation; being skilled at doing something proficiently after practice. This is how you share the art that is you.
Skillfully becoming who you want to be through practice. We are used to people telling us “who” we are or “what” we should be. Trying to place us into a mold that will fit into their world. It is very difficult to break out of these molds, boxes, and ideas especially if you have grown up being told who you are. We learn to crave and thrive with the acceptance of others. However, we can never truly flourish until we accept ourselves for who we are.
Do you look in the mirror and see the beauty of you? The color of your eyes, the shape of your nose, the too large ears? It is easy to find a good thing about us and then fall into all the things we find wrong with ourselves. Yet, it starts with finding one good thing about yourself. A place to begin to practice learning to love and accept who we are. So that we can flourish, even when we are swimming against the current, going against the flow, being uniquely ourselves and realizing that this may not get us applause or kudos from others, but we will be happy within our own rights. The truth is, when you are happy with who you are, people can see that reflection and they want to be near you. To even walk in your shadow, just to feel that happiness you exude. Isn’t that the inspiration we often find in painting, sculptures, music and more?
When you study an image or listen to a piece of music, you may find yourself lost in the flow of it, wondering what inspired it. What inspired the emotional depth? We relate to that emotional depth, and not all of life is a wonderful upbeat drum beat. There are sorrow and sadness, loneliness, pain yet even in these things, we aren’t alone as others can see that pain and feel it as they too have experienced it. Without feeling the rain on our face and seeing the gray clouds above us, we can never fully understand the warmth of the sun and find appreciation in a clear, blue sky.
Perhaps you have already discovered the art of being yourself. Perhaps you are still working toward it or have never even considered it. The truth is in front of us, like in all things, it begins with a simple step to move forward toward a goal. One step at a time. One breath at a time. One positive focus at a time. Before you realize it you will have more positives than negatives you realize about yourself and your world will have changed as you rediscover the art of being.