In Bruce Mau’s massive design treatise, “MC24” he calls us to write our Manifesto by asking us to: “Write down what you want to do with the rest of your life in the next three minutes. Then share it with others.” I have been sitting with this idea for quite some time now (way more than 3 minutes for sure!). It occurred to me, what better time than on the eve of my 60th birthday, to take all my 3-minute stabs at this question and commit pen to paper and share it with you?
The 60th birthday is significant on any number of levels but at the most basic level, this is an event that likely marks a point at which almost all of us have more years behind us than the ones ahead. Not to be morbid in the first paragraphs of what I intend to be a celebratory and hopefully inspiring post, but it’s pretty much up to math and science to prove that one wrong. (The oldest living person in the world right now is 117 years old, the oldest living person ever, died at 122 yrs and 164 days). It's actually the opposite of morbid to contemplate one’s death* and with this, I offer myself (and you) this thought…
There is plenty of time
to do everything you want…
and no time to waste
doing things that don’t serve your best life,
or not doing things that do…
And, on this eve of my 60th birthday, I share this manifesto with you and invite you to celebrate with me.
The artist deep within us longs to be found and seen. Find and nurture your hidden artist, you and the whole world will be better off for it. Relationships create magic. Welcome them, cherish them, honor them, work hard at them, and at the same time release those that cause harm or that sit in-between you and your best self and best life. Find the most powerful question - the one that cracks you open. Play with it in your heart until the crack is filled with wisdom, joy, and love. Live your life from the center. If you don’t know where or what that is, this is your work to do. Get a map and get to work. If the map you are using has a center that makes no sense to you – redraw the map. It’s never too late to take a turn in a new direction and consciously create the life you want to live. The operative idea here is ‘conscious’ – you are called to first be aware of what matters and what you want. Start with ‘what’, everything flows from there. Hold on to the ‘what’ with patience and persistence, do the work, and watch what happens to the windows and doors. Throw a stone into the pond that is your life. Notice the ripples. Remember, you are the stone; choose the impact you want to have. Whatever you ‘know’ to be true is one story. Be an explorer, find all the stories. Then be an artist and get to work forging your own new stories. There is vast open space just waiting for your creative, passionate, curious, courageous self to step into. Learn to see the space, step into it – this is where the magic lives.
So what do I want to do with the rest of my life?
choose…what i do, where i go, who i spend time with
create…art, dreams, experiences, relationships, magic
move…hearts, minds, ideas, energy, my body
stay…spacious, on purpose, grounded, with my breath, in stillness, quiet
I’m blessed and grateful to be turning 60. I must admit, it blows my mind a bit. And while on one hand I’m not sure where the time went, on the other, I look around my life and see evidence that it has been used pretty well thus far.
And I’ve only just begun…I might just have 60 more to go !
With that I’d like to invite you to help me celebrate what has gone by and what is yet to be:
marinate in this manifesto and finding something that inspires you
forward this post letter to a friend
tell someone to sign up for my newsletter
join a workshop
email me about the thing you dream of bringing into the world (idea…object…business…book…art…) – maybe we can work together to bring it to life
take 3 (+) minutes to write your own manifesto & dare to share it with your world
buy something from visionaire art that inspires you and letting me know what magic unfolds
send a visionaire art gift to someone you know who could use a spark of inspiration
-- In Gratitude
*PS. Check out this app, for a tool that helps you harness the life affirming power of contemplating your death.
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