Path of the Artist

All throughout history people have pondered the meaning of life. I for one particularly appreciate the perspective of the Toltec tradition

The word Toltec means artist, and in the Toltec tradition it is believed that our lives are the art that we create. Our experiences give us the colours, and techniques that we pull from, and we plan out our creation with our minds, and beliefs, but the tricky part is that we can't paint with our minds only with our hearts, and our actions

We may set out to paint a life of achievement, wealth, and success, and be confused when at the end of the day we've painted a portrait of greed, insecurity, fear, and envy

We may set out to paint a life of Justice, and compassion, and be confused when we see a painting of resentment, anger, betrayal, hunger, and oppression

We may set out to paint a life of love, devotion, romance, and companionship but end up with a painting of loneliness, isolation, depression, and grief

It takes introspection, self-awareness, humility, authenticity to learn how to align our heart and mind to paint life in an intentional way

I like to think of my art as a container that I fill with myself. If I fill it with truth, care, kindness, devotion, and love, then at the end of the day that's what my life will be. If I focus on what I can pull out of life, then my container will always be empty

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter what kind of life you paint. Galleries are full of beautiful paintings. Some with themes of loss, war, defeat, darkness, and fire, and others of love, beauty, mystery, magic, and divinity. Paint what you will. It's all art, and all tells a story. The only difference is that it's your story, your art

What kind of a life do you want to paint?