I recently started painting.
The general format is…
1. Start with a blank canvas, paint, and a general idea.
2. Sketch an outline.
3. Paint.
4. Stand back from your painting six feet to “see” it.
5. Paint until you choose a good place to stop.
No painting is ever finished.
More detail work could be done.
Something else could be added.
A color could be better.
Your life is your painting.
You are the painter of this masterpiece.
You get to choose how long you want to work on specific aspects of it.
You get to determine the amount of detail and vibrancy on every square inch of your canvas.
You choose the themes.
You also get to choose a good place to stop working on specific aspects.
Just like with painting in life there’s always more, bigger, and “the next step.”
The problem is not in finding more to do it is in defining a good place to stop.
I see people stressed out and forgetting to enjoy life because they are always looking to the next step when in reality they would be perfectly happy right where they are if they just stepped back six feet and saw it.
There is always bigger, but there is not always better.
It is your painting and thus I cannot tell you how to paint it nor should you let anyone else.
Paintings are organic and change with each brush stroke.
Every stroke of the bristles makes a difference and yet onlookers only notice the strokes that they choose to focus on.
In other words, others see what they want to see instead of everything that is there.
Your life is more than anybody else can see, often even you more than you can see.
Don’t sell yourself short on the painting that you have already created and don’t be afraid to change theme, color, or paintbrush.
Always remember, the brush is in your hands.
Brett “Paint Your Masterpiece” Denton