Instead Of Just Looking At Life, Try SEEING It

In order to get the most out of Life, you’ve got to be an ‘active’ participant. I suppose in rare circumstances passivity has its merits, but from my perspective, approaching Life as a compliant observer dozing listlessly on the sidelines is equivalent to flushing this wholly unique and truly remarkable opportunity you’ve been given - the one of being born human by the way - right down the proverbial cosmic toilet. 

I would guess that quite a lot of people in the world believe that because they: 

(1) Have a job

(2) Own a car or two

(3) Are making their monthly mortgage

(4) Perhaps raising a family, and maybe even

(5) Taking the occasional vacation to ‘get away from it all’

that these alone constitute being ‘actively’ engaged in Life. True, it takes an actual vessel - which in this case is your physical body - along with some fairly coordinated motor skills, to propel us from the couch to the dry cleaners and maybe Whole Foods . . . but that’s not what I mean by being actively engaged. 

Active engagement means cultivating a heightened sense of overall Awareness for everything unfolding around you and within you, which is the exact opposite of how many people go about their lives; opting instead for passive inertness, reduced to creatures of habitual thought and behavior, stuck in the same old routines day in and day out. Coasting by unchallenged, uninspired, unaware, and safe is anything but engaged . . . it’s more fear-based, and, well . . . plain ol’ boring. 

Or in other words, it’s the difference between actually Seeing this incredibly complex and ultimately mysterious Life unfolding all around you - one that’s bursting with discovery and possibility - instead of merely Looking at it with your eyes half-closed, overcome with panic, apprehension, and maybe even a touch of indifference as 60, 70, or 80 years streak past you in a blur. And then before you know it, ‘poof’ . . . you’re gone. 

For centuries, mystical beings from all walks of Life have spoken about ‘lifting the veil’ from this seemingly ‘real’ world of ours so that we can access the authentic knowledge that lies beneath the surface of things. They speak about a different way of interpreting the notion of vision . . . a type of Seeing in which the eyes lodged in our skulls might not be as necessary for true Vision (with a capital ‘V’) as you’d think. It’s about using our Third Eye, said to be located around the middle of the forehead, slightly above the junction of the eyebrows. This is the center of our Knowing. 

I for one, have Seen a awful lot while sitting comfortably in silent meditation, eyes closed. Over time and with a consistent amount of effort and patient dedication, I’ve come to See, thanks to my own Third Eye:

-The truth about who I Am: a spiritual being whose core essence is beyond the mere physical.

-What my ultimate Purpose is in this Life is (creative expression).

-The value of tapping into my intuition, and allowing it to gently guide me along. 

-The unbreakable connectedness between myself and all living beings. 

-How I can better relate to my fellow travelers with more compassion, understanding, and forgiveness. 

Now this is what it means to See. 

So, all things considered: How’s your vision these days? Do you See the truth of what lies before you, or are you just Looking? 

Show up.

Pay attention.

Be Yourself. 

-Christopher 

PS: If you enjoyed this blog post - or dig the artwork on the site - please consider re-posting, tweeting, etc. The link to the OM Made Facebook page is right at the bottom of this page; check it out and give us a 'like' if you're so inclined. Any and all ways of sharing the message of OM Made Studios via social media is deeply appreciated and can only help get the word out about the importance of Waking Up to our own magnificence. Thanks everyone! 

Make Art Fit Your Life: The Wisdom of Raymond Carver

It’s incredibly easy to convince yourself that you don’t have the time to accomplish something. Excuses abound at every turn - I should know; I’ve used practically all of them - and it takes leaning on just one to throw you completely off track. The more time you waste digging around for an excuse not to do something, the less likely you’ll ever begin, and before you know it, your physical Life has ended. Oh well . . . better luck next time there buster. 

Unfortunately that kind of depressing pattern speaks to a lot of people. And then there’s another breed altogether . . . the sort of person who finds a way to make their goals fit with their current circumstances no matter what. 

The writer Raymond Carver is a shinning example of exactly that. 

Find A Winning Suit

Raymond Carver always dreamed of being a novelist. Well as it turns out, novels are cumbersome, incredibly involved, and dizzyingly complex projects to juggle. As a married man with several kids to support, Carver just couldn’t make that specific dream fit in with the reality he was wrestling with day in and day out: endless financial troubles coupled with a series of various jobs that kept him away from his craft for many hours each day. 

A less committed person would have thrown in the towel and given up on writing altogether. But Carver’s determination was stronger than that. So he made his art fit in with what he could reasonably handle: He became a short-story writer instead. 

In between work hours, Carver would hammer out a 10-15 page story in a few sittings and then go back and spend the next several weeks fine-tuning it until he got it just right. For Raymond Carver, short stories were manageable, and with time, persistence, passion, and hard work, he eventually excelled. Carver never wrote a novel, but he became a great writer anyway . . . in a way that best suited his Life. 

What Works For You?

Like Carver, many of us have dreams of living more creative lives, compelled as he was to make something by any means necessary. But the question to ask yourself is: 

What can I reasonably tackle given my Life situation right now?

• As an example, you may be drawn to filmmaking. Big Hollywood features get all the glory, but for the overwhelming majority of aspiring directors worldwide, a jaunt down the red carpet at the Oscar’s just isn’t in the cards. Now that doesn’t mean that it can’t happen or that you shouldn’t go for it - someone has to get there after all, right? But if the sort of intensely sacrificial life-style that it takes to become an A-list feature film director doesn’t fit with your current situation, why not make short films instead? They give out lots of awards for those too . . . even an Oscar. 
• If you don’t have the studio space to make massive paintings that cover an entire wall - I certainly don’t - then dial your approach down a bit and concentrate instead on mastering smaller pieces. As of this writing, I’ve never painted anything larger than 30” x 20.” 
• Maybe your schedule only allows you to write for an hour each morning before work. Well, if spending 3 years chipping away at a novel doesn’t sit well with you, then set a goal of fashioning one solid poem every month. That’s what Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Ted Kooser did for several decades, and today he’s regarded as one of America’s most gifted living poets. 

Talker’s and Doer’s

Bottom Line: Make your given circumstance work for you, otherwise you run the all-too-common risk of using that same predicament as an excuse to never ‘pull the trigger’ in the first place. 

If you’re really serious about living a creative lifestyle that satisfies your soul, then you’ll find a way to make it happen. That’s how you separate the ‘Talkers’ form the ‘Doer’s.’ They always find a way . . . 

So . . . are you a ‘Talker’ or a ‘Doer?’ The choice is - and always will be - yours alone to make. 

Show up.

Pay attention.

Be Yourself. 

-Christopher 

PS: If you enjoyed this blog post - or dig the artwork on the site - please consider re-posting, tweeting, etc. The link to the OM Made Facebook page is right at the bottom of this page; check it out and give us a 'like' if you're so inclined. Any and all ways of sharing the message of OM Made Studios via social media is deeply appreciated and can only help get the word out about the importance of Waking Up to our own magnificence. Thanks everyone! :)