As a writer, teacher, and artist, as a father, as a brother – as a human! – I try to live life as an expression of love and creativity, of goodness and growth. Everything I do adds up to my art. Getting out of bed and lacing up my shoes one at a time I consider an artistic act. Riding my bike, smelling a ponderosa pine, contemplating the joyous ways of my exuberant son– all acts of art as much as painting a picture or writing a poem.

It is not about pain, as some art is; for me, art is a vehicle through which to express my heart as my head searches for a certain sense of bliss. Creating art, at its best, produces both an equilibrium and an understanding of the world around me that helps transcend life’s conflicts and miscommunications and hardships. I seek emotional truths. I attempt to live unhindered by what is expected of me especially if those expectations are obstacles to the truth of my essence. 

As I stand here in this moment, I am the masterpiece in the making. So are you. We may fail again and again, but it’s not exclusively about the goal – it’s the journey. The beauty is in the trying. Just because we are alive, just because we are doing and creating and breathing and sharing we have already succeeded. Right?