Life is a Blank Canvas; You Have the Paint
By Jay Forte, Humanetrics LLC
There is a scary yet powerful realization that our lives are up to us. The day we arrive on the planet, we inherit a blank canvas…our life. Stark white, blank, not even a few sketches. This canvas is at first small, like our size and our awareness and as we grow in both over time, the canvas continues to expand. As we start our masterpiece of life, the canvas augments, leaving room for more and more work and creation. Some people die with very little on their canvas, others have filled every inch with wild colors, patterns and designs. Why do some live so fully and others barely show up? It comes from understanding that our lives are up to us – and that do indeed have the tools and the experiences to paint like a master.
There are many things written today that talk about channeling energy, attracting the life you want and other introspective and self-help directives. And they, like the number of religions, continue to offer people a variety of methods to achieve the same goal…a wonderful life…the road to enlightenment. But key to this realization is that we are the author, the composer, the artist of this wonderful life. Every step of its invention, its color, its pace and its grandeur is because of the things we do or don’t do. It is up to us to define, create and live it. As the great Spanish Master Pablo Picasso said, “Everything you can image is real.”
The ability to invent the life that you want and then achieve comes from my perspective through a very easy process:
1. Dream big and envision what you want
2. Create a plan to achieve what you want
3. Invest in yourself and your life by living your plan
Sounds easy? Let’s break it down into its components and see how it can work. Nothing worth doing comes without work…but this is a life work…a masterpiece that is worth every ounce of effort.
The most difficult part of the process is becoming aware that we can ask for and can get what we want from life. Using all of the thinking presented in the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, we can talk about attracting the positive things in life with positive energy. This positive energy may in fact draw things to us but more importantly, it gives us the courage and the confidence to define the positive things in our life. This thinking gives us permission to consider that all is possible and that we can live a life that we dream – so the dream should be big. Big doesn’t necessarily mean large as in a mansion or in financial success; rather, it means dream “important” – and “important” will be different for each of us.
As we move through life we are affected by events, places, people and thoughts. Each of these can add to our vision of what “big” is. We may see people who live in happy and strong relationships and want that for us. We may see people who run their own businesses, loving the challenge of learning, inventing and succeeding and want that. We may see events that are so unfair and uncharitable that we commit to ending the event. We may hear poetry that helps us imagine a place so serene, so dynamic or so destructive that we are compelled to respond. We may be inspired not only by what an author writes but how it is written, drawing us into needing to write, or paint or dance or travel for a living. Dreaming is up to us; we use all that is part of us and in the world around us to define our wonderful life…our life of possibility.
Studies done by Marcus Buckingham and the Gallup Organization have helped to identify that success and happiness in the workplace (and in life) is directed related to the matching of our talents (intrinsic abilities) to what we do. The more we do things that are in line with our natural thinking, not only are we better at it, but we also love it. So critical in our review of the life we will love, of the canvas we need to create, is an awareness of our natural gifts, talents and interests. These will direct our vision of a great life and help to make each day on the planet one that is successful (in our definition) and in line with our thinking. They also frame our thinking and help us identify areas that we will be able to achieve. At no point does any of this relate to any portion of our past. Creating a life of possibility, a canvas that is colored with our vision of a great life, is not subject to past events. Though things may influence our thinking, they do not dictate what our future should be. They help to clarify what we want and then our goal is to next define our goal in a way that we can create a life plan and then work the plan each day. If we can dream it, we can achieve it. We first start by defining our dream and allowing it to be as expansive as we want. Think “no limits.”
The first step to achieving is dreaming; the second step to achieving is defining. Turning a vision of life into a plan is where we blend intellect and emotion. I may want to be a successful author and speaker and have a big dream of making a difference with people through my writing and speaking. Without a plan to affect it, the likelihood of its success is limited. I can’t just want it; I have to go get it. And with the distractions of today’s life, it is hard to achieve anything without a good plan.
A good plan builds in both the energy and positive focus of the dream with a realistic set of steps for its achievement. It involves research to know what resources are available to help make the dream happen. It may involve speaking with experts, reading, attending conferences. In short, the first step to the plan is to become educated in the components of your dream. Again back to writing. I can envision myself the next JK Rowling with a string of terrific books but without a plan to work on my skills, develop successful storylines or work with publishers and literary agents, my dream will stay a dream and not a reality. Dreaming gives us permission, planning gives us action. All success is in the dynamic implementation of the dream in personal lives and a vision for a company. Simply wishing it to be true instead of mastering skills will not create the success and the achievement of the dream.
Creating a short term and long term plan with specific mile markers will help to keep the achievement of the dream on track. Writing the plan, checking in on it, celebrating successes and reorganizing failures will keep the planning process relevant.
The third and final step is living the plan. Believe in yourself and invest in yourself enough to allow yourself to actively implement your plan and earn your dream. Life moves so quickly; it is easy to step off your plan. According to Dr. Seuss, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you chose.” The formula for success is to dream big and live this big vision a day at a time, choosing to steer your life in the way that you need it to go. It comes through the courage to keep trying and believing in the dream enough to do what is required.
Those who live and work in environments that are positive and high energy are more naturally predisposed to finding the positive in things and considering more things as possible. A life of possibility allows us to consider things in our plan; it allows us to dream big and develop the courage to live it. Though I do feel that the power of attraction encourages success, success happens in a blend of focused thinking (attraction) along with a clear vision and a daily implementation plan. Life is our canvas – blank until we choose to add to it. Back to Pablo Picasso, “Everything you can imagine is real.” In the final art gallery of life, what will you imagine your masterpiece to look like and did you have a great time creating it?
Humanetrics LLC. All rights reserved 2007.