“I think everything in life is art. What you do, how you dress, the way you love someone and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea, how you decorate your home, or party. Your grocery list, the food you make, how your writing looks, and the way you feel.  Life is art.”

I must have read thousands upon thousands of quotes (You may have noticed from my previous posts that I like to incorporate them in my writing). But when I came across this particular one yesterday, I instantly recognized it as the most special, soon to become one of my favorites.  Art may imitate life, but truly, life is art.

With this in mind, I am able to step back and view everything as a series of moving pictures. The world is your museum and each image is a reflection of you. The shadow, light, lines, and color are perceived according to your life history and the present moment.  You can ask for someone’s opinion on an image, but yours  will always hold to be the most true, because they are yours and others can only try to imagine to see what you see.

Our foundation may remain sturdy, but the rest of us is often built, torn down, and recreated over time with each defining moment, altering a unique life path and lens from which to view the world. This seemingly intricate maze is as simple or as complex as you make it, determined by each choice and step you make (and truthfully– also determined by so many things out of our control).

This attitude instantaneously beautifies everything while simultaneously moves me in and out of reality. There are times when I am so caught up in thinking that images are stable before I realize that I am the painter;  in that expands my ability to be creative.  It creates and reinforces the idea of perspective, because what is real to me may not be what is real to you.  As such, beauty, happiness, and life are all relative.

If no perspective is thought to be the same, than as a result life is a billion images of art; a collection of moments leading up to this one ifinite moment. It creates a palpable energy, an explosion of colors and sounds that swirl around each person, if you were to just open your eyes to see and feel them.

Real art doesn’t limit itself to “happy” and serene. Real art isn’t afraid to capture the raw moments, the ones that lie in our secret self. In the saying “life is art,” there is no discrimination between good or bad, for you cannot have one without the other. And in that lies freedom. All of it lies there before you, vivid, dancing colors (or pale ones, or dark ones) and images that eventually fade. And what a sight it is to see.

The art I find most beautiful is that which is honest. The energy of such a person or nature is authentic, drawing me in by an inner brightness they seem to reflect– Despite fluctuating states of being, there is a recognition of life  they possess that belong to those who aren’t bound by its limits.

I would imagine one of the saddest states of existence would be one where you are fortunate to be surrounded by art and beauty, but neglect to see it in everyday life. I challenge you to take the time, if just for a moment or an hour of your day, and appreciate your intimate surroundings; whether it is your innermost thoughts or the trees that change colors in the most nostalgic of ways.

Breathe it in. Be mindful of this single moment before you rush back into life. Breathe out art.