Today’s Thought: Liberation Artists tend to be an experimental lot, testing approaches to life the same way an artist may explore different mediums. Rather than live according to dogma, we will formulate a thesis based on logic or inspired whim, then define the paramaters of the experiment, and take the leap. If things go right, it is a win. If it turns out to be a terrible mistake, it’s still a win. How so? For the lessons learned, and information gleaned that can be used in other areas of life. Even if money is lost, a Liberation Artist tends to see it as the ”tuition” paid for that life lesson.
There is tremendous freedom in this, because you have the room to ‘screw up’ and not feel bad about it. This lets you try bigger, crazier things than you would if you felt like a failure every time things didn’t go the way you hoped. Which is, of course, a big part of how Liberation Artists push through so many boundaries to create truly awesome lives.
Remember, if you never try, you fail to experience a win 100% of the time. If you take the leap you may crash and burn, but you also may take off like a rocket. Either way, you learn something. For a Liberation Artist, this is part of how we live life as art, while discovering the art of living. Your life is your canvas, you have a lot of latitude in terms of how great and wonderful you can design it if you are living in the free world. Live like a Liberation Artist, figure out how to push past limitations to create the room for experimenting and exploration.
How do you come up with experiments? Follow the ‘what ifs’ that come to mind – even the wild and crazy ones. Colin Wright over at Exile Lifestyle has allowed people – strangers who follow his blog – to vote on where he will live, then moves there for months at a time, blogging about the experience. Kristy Powell at One Dress Protest wore the same dress for a year, to explore and protest the ideas and motivation behind her wardrobe, and blogged about it. Both Colin and Kristy have shared some pretty awesome life experiences and insights in the process. You don’t have to blog about your experiments, of course, but when an idea strikes you as interesting, instead of just thinking or talking about it, try it. Set up some rules to give the experiment structure, and maybe a time period or end point, contemplate potential fail-points and how you can offset them, and give it a go.
A Note: This weekend I’m going to publish a post here about a life experiment I’m about to begin. It isn’t dramatic, yet some would consider it extreme. I am referring to it as my “Black and White Period” experiment. You know how Monet had a “Blue Period”? Well, this will be my Black & White period, but it is tied to wardrobe, rather than paintings. I will share details this weekend, and will provide an update every month or so. I’m still involved in the physical work of setting this experiment up, but I will share all: Why wardrobe? Why black and white? What do I hope to learn? What limitations and rules? Why does this matter? …and more!
For Today: Is there an idea for life change that has captured your attention, but you haven’t tried it out yet? What is holding you back? Can you safely (enough) experiment with it? If it is too crazy, are there smaller steps you could experiment with, that wouldn’t be as risky? Sometimes we need to baby step our way to even bigger change. Come up with a life experiment and determine the first 3 steps toward setting it in motion. Then ask yourself what is holding you back if you still don’t jump in. If the answer is “Nothing!” then isn’t it time to go for it? If there is something holding you back, assess it, and determine 3 steps you can take to move past challenges and take them. Remember – if it is an experiment worth trying, even if it fails (and it might), you will still be no further from success than had you not tried at all. Plus you will learn information that will likely lead to a future experimenting being a success.
Create the amazing life you know you are meant to live! Start by learning more about the materials you are working with, by diving in and experimenting with the moments of your life.