Three Brushes, Palette Towel by me.

The Art of Letting Go

Control Is Overrated

Most of my paintings fail, but all of them turn out exactly as they are supposed to. Every time I paint or live another moment, I'm learning and grateful for it all.

Like the art of life, seeking to control the uncontrollable while painting is futile. Therefore, practicing the art of letting go is paramount. Letting go is my most important lesson as a recovering control freak.

Trusting, seeking flow.

And to see life as art…

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

- Pablo Picasso

Dealing with Life

Life can be hard. How we deal with life's obstacles makes all the difference. We get to choose how we spend our time when not working and how to work when working. How we choose affects how we deal with life.

The more we seek to control people, places, and outcomes, the upsetting it can be when we don’t get what we want or expect. The same is true when painting. Expect to give it our best. That’s it.

No artist takes credit for the outcome or seeks to control it. The best artists know they are not in control.

Our minds wander. We can only control the thoughts we give attention to. We must ignore the thinking that distracts us from patience, faith, hope, love, joy, and charity.

Whether we create a vision from within or use a reference image that calls us, we begin the art of seeing, feeling, and trusting the translation.

Life is art. We have our circumstances. We choose a few brushes, the canvas, and colors. We go to work. We take each stroke, watching, occasionally stepping back from the canvas. We take breaks when we get tired.

When we focus well on the art of life, we lose track of time. The act and process of painting itself, mixing the colors, and laying down the strokes, lifts us above the noise in the world. We aren’t binge-watching BoobTube, binge-buying stuff we don’t need, or driving ourselves nuts with incessantly distracting, self-destructive chat in our heads.

We are painting, living, and loving being in the moment. We are playing with the innocence of beginners; we are children again.

Stepping Back Changes Our Perspective

We often step away from the canvas when painting. We can do the same to improve life. We can change our perspective at any time, given the will.

As with life, we get stuck if we are too close to the canvas, a single paint dab, an issue, politics, religion, or any difference.

We get stuck when we fail to see the big picture. We end up in deep, dark, endless rabbit holes.

We can choose to accept people with different views and to love them for what we share in common: the world. We can learn to step back from the canvas of life for a few minutes throughout the day.

What do we see when we stop and take a deep breath? How do we feel when we look around? For what can we be more grateful?

We are learning to love all that is by accepting everything just as it is and smiling, reminding ourselves, "Here, now, it's perfect. I am doing my best. I am focused on goodness. I am content. I completely accept what God gives me each day, every moment. I am the copilot moving the brush. My duty is goodness."

When this happens, we rise above our differences in race, religion, politics, sports, and being in long gasoline lines at Costco.

We accept it all with infinite gratitude.

Love Painting the Life of Your Dreams

We were born to create the life of our dreams. By letting go of control, we coast through life.

We roll with the punches, stop sweating the small stuff, seek the positive, and avoid the negative. Karma befriends us.

We ask better questions and commit to being active as cocreators of life. We let the higher power run the show and seek guidance from this power that goes by many names.

1. What are my dreams?
2. What are the colors of my palette?
3. Will I find new brushes and palette knives or use what's available now?
4. How will I react when a painting or event spins out of control?
5. Where do I feel joy and balance it with my duty to be a good citizen?

As creators and artists in the art of life, we can let go of control and replace it with radical acceptance.

We can choose the positive thoughts in our hearts and minds and make conscious decisions to rise above the negative, self-destructive parts within and around us. We can seek heart-warming reference images as we do positive role models. We can choose better overall.

Working on the art of life is about being in love with living as best we can, given circumstances that are almost always beyond our control. Doing so teaches us to love the people, places, and things that bother us.

That makes the world a better place. Loving it all is the art of life. We do our best to improve ourselves and the world around us.

Thanks for reading my article, commenting, and sharing. When not coaching and advising emerging entrepreneurs, business owners, and investors, I help people improve their "mental wealth" and quality of life by writing, speaking, coaching, and advocating for mental wealth and well-being. Learn more at www.CliffordJones.com, or subscribe to The Clarity Letter on Substack.