art.of.a.rock

Category: philosophy

  • Your Reason Needs to be Rock Solid

    Are there times in your life where you signed up for something and it put you into action?

    At least for me, I need something concrete to shoot for if I am to finish anything. It’s like making meals throughout the day. If I don’t eat, I’ll die. My main motivation for cooking food is for energy to sustain myself each day of course. With other things in life, there are goals and aims tied to them.

    I enjoy creating art to a high degree, but I believe it’s important to have somewhere that it will go, such as an exhibit, or a customer’s hands. Otherwise I will make art to no end, with no aim. I might work on a painting with no shortage of enjoyment of the process, but if I have no ending in mind, no reason to call it complete, I may rework it “infinitely”

    Rick Rubin describes it as being an experimenter versus a finisher. With art, that is true, but with other things, we might just not start because we don’t have a solid enough reason to. Perhaps for health reasons, we should start being more active and eating foods that are good for us, but we might not actually take it seriously enough unless we have a health scare…

    Or one could simply sign up for a high activity event that’s happening months away. That way, by signing up, the need to prepare for the event is felt. So one will naturally become healthy in this way, and hopefully by the time the finish the active event, they are inspired to do better for the next one.

    As for art, I need to sign up for shows and exhibits in order to complete work… Yet I often don’t know about the shows until within a month of them happening. With that, my main choice is to simply create art, and hope that I see the show in enough time to finish what I began and to submit it.

    Motivation doesn’t always come at the right times, it’s so easy to put off important tasks and endeavors. Whether its a life goal or simply doing the dishes. I for one am still navigating that best ways to approach and do things in a timely manner. As I wrote about last week, I am working to simplify my life so I can more effectively tackle what is important.

    Are there times in your life where you signed up for something and it put you into action? What are some mental tricks you have to make yourself be better? …To help you future self, in other words!

  • One Thing Leads to Another

    Perhaps this is the perfect motto to live by, so long as you regard it in a positive sense. Do good things for yourself, for your world, for your people. Let it lead to other good things.

    If something not so good happens, cut it off at the source. Don’t dwell on it- address it from a reasonable standpoint, move on and to the next beneficial action (or inaction)

    Do you see life as a series of connected events? Or is most of it separated and unrelated?

    Early in life, I think we do try to do good things for our future, but we have so little knowledge about the world that we don’t know what we’re getting ourself into. this can come to bite us, for we bit off more than we can chew.

    So in a sense it’s best to start in tiny google manageable increments when we are young rather than the large chunk (*cough* college). With the small increments, we’re more likely to move in the right direction, because with a lower “speed” we can handle and assess when to turn better. Otherwise, turning is barely an option.

    So let one little thing lead to another, in the best way possible

  • All In

    What do you go all in on? are there things you refrain from doing entirely?

    My mentality has me go all in. It us me wonder sometimes; are many people like this and don’t notice this personal trait, or is it simply those who have the brain chemistry that leads to such a way of life.

    It’s good to go all in on something you know is worthwhile, though we can’t always know that from the start. How something will pan out further down the line remains a mystery.

    Going all in feels like a leap of faith, not thinking about it everything that won’t work; simply putting one’s best foot forward in their endeavor.

    “All in” can be dangerous behavior, especially when we have less information at hand. It’s like getting married to someone a month after meeting them.

    For me, all in usually occurs with social media, which makes sense considering it’s design. For some, this works out, but for me… It creates issues in finding the proper balance, knowing what to post and what not to post in order to maintain a consistent, polished image that lends to growth.

    Perhaps “all in” works when it’s tied to a plan, a strategy… but I don’t have either of those. I have whim and determination.

    Aside from that, I am wholeheartedly going all in for n painting on canvas. I’m good at it and it’s good to me, so long as I make sure to take a break and get some rest. There are other parts of life I choose to refrain from, because moderation is not my strong suit.

    What do you go all in on? are there things you refrain from doing entirely?