Life as Art

https://www.daniellelaporte.com/truthbomb/your-life-your-art.

Übersetzung kommt bald!

I would like to say a few words about the Nia principle “Life as Art”, which, in times when the freedom to do whatever you like is reduced.

First, a word on “Art.” Art originated out of life. It is an expression of life. And then there is the utilitarian side of life, the functionality of action. What kind of life do you live? Is it one in which you have an opening into its expressive aspects? Or one that is occupied with the utilitarian aspects? I for myself know that I move between both - and that in many cases the utilitarian can take over. That is why I dance. To recover the beauty and individuality of myself in the moment. However, “Art” does not just have to be experienced in the form of dance, music, or painting. Life itself can be art.

Life as art is experienced in a variety of ways. It can be a moment when you make a mental snapshot of the congruities or incongruities before you, seeing the juxtapositions as art. It can be the inherent force of creation experienced. It can be times when you look back on your own life (or that of another) and see how individual sculpting and crafting has resulted in a life of specific, individual contours. In Asian calligraphy, the calligraphy was said to be a manifestation of how an individual had cultivated his spirit - for which reason, not only the practice of penmanship was important, but the improvement of character. Even if, in Buddhist thought, a pure inner being is presumed, the expression of this untouched core requires honing and discipline. Also along these lines, dance guru Gabrielle Roth said: “It takes much discipline to become free.”

Art is inherently governed by limitations, and artists through time have submitted to them. The chosen medium is, of course, in itself limiting. Some of the most interesting pieces of art, however, are created through the application of even stricter limitations - ones which you have deliberately chosen, or conditions that the world has provided. Then the mind is forced to transcend its habitual pathways, and worlds open up.

Sometimes limitations are imposed on us from the outside. There are people who are able to create masterpieces within these limitations, and there are others who die because thir minds cannot move beyond them. In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl connected survival to a sense of meaning in life despite extreme personal deprivation. Key to being a creator under imposed conditions of limitation is sensing freedom of choice - the choice to think beyond borders, limitations, restrictions.

Lives are shaped and end as individual forms. Sometimes we see lives that have been intentionally sculpted by those that have lived them. These individuals have taken what they love and desire and worked on it through actions encoded by their personal morality and character. In these cases we can say, “your life is your art.”

It is the turning of the year, and yet we live on a continuum.
New Year it may be, but I am the same me. And this me I can nurture and respect and allow and nudge, loving it all the while better than ever before.

Das sehr nützliche Bullet Journal

Leider hat mein Notizbuch für dieses Jahr keinen richtigen Platz für einen Titel…

Teil vom Future Log

Monatsübersicht + Seite für Alles

Tagesseite mit eingeschobenen Symbolschlüsselblatt

Seit ein paar Jahren führe ich einen sogenannten Bullet Journal. Es heißt “Bullet” Journal, weil es auf die Reduzierung setzt und dadurch vor allem aus Bullet-Points - also knappe Einträge - besteht. Ein Bullet Journal ist wie ein kombinierter/s Planer/Notizbuch, der inhaltlich und strukturell beweglich ist. Es fängt mit einem Blanko-Notizbuch an, der nummerierte Seiten hat (zum Beispiel einen Leuchtturm 1917 oder ein Dingbats Notizbuch).

Folgende Komponenten werden dann handschriftlich reingeschrieben bzw. für spätere Befüllung erstellt:

• Ein Titelblatt für das Jahr

• Ein Schlüssel von Zeichen für die schnelle Organisation bzw. Migration von Punkten

• Ein Index, der nach und nach befüllt wird

• Ein sog. Future Log, der alle Daten im Jahr als Übersicht darstellt und die Möglichkeit bietet, wichtige Termine, die noch in der Zukunft liegen, einzutragen

• Eine Monatsübersicht

• Evtl. eine Seite, etwa namens “Mental Inventory,” “Bucket List,” oder “Brain Dump”, um diverse Gedanken zu sammeln

• Wochen- oder Tagesblätter, die zum Befüllen sind

• Eventuell Trackers, um Gewohnheiten, Zielerreichung, Wetter, gelesene Bücher, Finanzen, Nia-Fokusse, Yoga-Erlebnisse, Weisheiten der Kinder, Zufallsgespräche in der Bahn (just joking ;-)) usw. nachvollziehen zu können

• Eventuell nicht-organisierte Sammlungen von Ideen usw., die dann später z. B. in den Future Log migriert werden können

Es hört sich alles vielleicht recht banal oder konfus an. Ich werde es auch nicht hier zu sehr vertiefen, denn es gibt ein hervorragendes Buch darüber (siehe unten). Ich möchte euch hier nur kurz sagen, warum ich persönlich dieser Form der Organisation so sehr zu schätzen gelernt habe. Das ist, weil ich es als ein Catch-All erlebe, wie ein Gefäß, in dem alles rein kann - diverse Gedanken und To-Dos, sowie Projekte, die inhaltlich und zeitlich organisiert und strukturiert werden wollen.

Wenn ich z. B. etwas erreichen will, kann ich zuerst darüber frei schreiben - unter anderem vielleicht auch seinen Stellenwert und Relevanz im Ganzen zu entdecken. Dieses Schreiben wird dann zu Punkte umwandelt, die dann in den Future Log eingeordnet werden, um schließlich in den jeweiligen Monaten und Tagen migriert zu werden. Wenn ein Eintrag doch nicht zeitlich passt oder es fehlen Vorstufen, wird es wieder zurück in den Future Log untergebracht. Und wenn es erledigt ist, kommt zu jedes Projekt, jeder Aufgabe und jedes klitzekleine Arbeitspaket einen schönen X vorne. Dadurch, dass man alles per Hand schreibt, verbessert man nicht nur seine Handschrift, sondern man hat auch reichlich Zeit, zu überlegen, ob den Eintrag des Schreibens wert ist. So beginnt man, Unwesentliches auszusieben.

Der Erfinder von der Bullet-Journal-Methode, Ryder Carroll, macht den Punkt, dass gerade in der Welt der Digitalisierung, wo so viele Sinneseindrücke unsere Aufmerksamkeit nehmen wollen, die Langsamkeit und die Reduzierung des Schreibens uns wieder zu unseren eigentlichen Pfad zurück führen können, und zwar ganz in unserem natürlichen Tempo.

Wenn du mehr über Bullet Journaling erfahren willst, empfehle ich Ryder Carrolls Buch:

Die Bullet-Journal-Methode: Verstehe deine Vergangenheit, ordne deine Gegenwart, gestalte deine Zukunft

Life as Art

https://www.daniellelaporte.com/truthbomb/your-life-your-art.

Übersetzung kommt bald!

I would like to say a few words about the Nia principle “Life as Art”, which, in times when the freedom to do whatever you like is reduced.

First, a word on “Art.” Art originated out of life. It is an expression of life. And then there is the utilitarian side of life, the functionality of action. What kind of life do you live? Is it one in which you have an opening into its expressive aspects? Or one that is occupied with the utilitarian aspects? I for myself know that I move between both - and that in many cases the utilitarian can take over. That is why I dance. To recover the beauty and individuality of myself in the moment. However, “Art” does not just have to be experienced in the form of dance, music, or painting. Life itself can be art.

Life as art is experienced in a variety of ways. It can be a moment when you make a mental snapshot of the congruities or incongruities before you, seeing the juxtapositions as art. It can be the inherent force of creation experienced. It can be times when you look back on your own life (or that of another) and see how individual sculpting and crafting has resulted in a life of specific, individual contours. In Asian calligraphy, the calligraphy was said to be a manifestation of how an individual had cultivated his spirit - for which reason, not only the practice of penmanship was important, but the improvement of character. Even if, in Buddhist thought, a pure inner being is presumed, the expression of this untouched core requires honing and discipline. Also along these lines, dance guru Gabrielle Roth said: “It takes much discipline to become free.”

Art is inherently governed by limitations, and artists through time have submitted to them. The chosen medium is, of course, in itself limiting. Some of the most interesting pieces of art, however, are created through the application of even stricter limitations - ones which you have deliberately chosen, or conditions that the world has provided. Then the mind is forced to transcend its habitual pathways, and worlds open up.

Sometimes limitations are imposed on us from the outside. There are people who are able to create masterpieces within these limitations, and there are others who die because thir minds cannot move beyond them. In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl connected survival to a sense of meaning in life despite extreme personal deprivation. Key to being a creator under imposed conditions of limitation is sensing freedom of choice - the choice to think beyond borders, limitations, restrictions.

Lives are shaped and end as individual forms. Sometimes we see lives that have been intentionally sculpted by those that have lived them. These individuals have taken what they love and desire and worked on it through actions encoded by their personal morality and character. In these cases we can say, “your life is your art.”

It is the turning of the year, and yet we live on a continuum.
New Year it may be, but I am the same me. And this me I can nurture and respect and allow and nudge, loving it all the while better than ever before.