‘I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.’ Michelangelo
‘Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.’ Michelangelo
Last week I was looking at the Pietá (1498-1499), a masterpiece of renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo, housed in St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City and thinking about his words. How wonderful that this sculpture came from a block of stone! Even more wonderful it must be to look at a piece of stone and see such beauty!
We are not all Michael Angelo’s of course, but art and beauty can exist in any shape or form. In fact, I believe we owe it to ourselves to make our own masterpiece out of our lives.
Another quote attributed to Michael Angelo is: ‘The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim to high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.’
So how high are your goals?
What statue do you have inside you?
Your outer life tends to be a reflection of your inner life. You see the world through the lens of your beliefs and experiences that shaped and stopped you throughout your life.
If you want to change anything in your life you have to begin from the inside out by changing what is inside yourself.
Fortunately, that is in fact your best chance because it is the only part of your life that is within your control. We all have inside a unique ability, something we love to do and that we can develop to master and be excellent at.
This can be anything from being a stay at home mum, a street sweeper, a doctor or a rocket scientist!
You are happiest when you are doing something that is in line with your values, that uses your skills and challenges you enough to make it interesting and engaging.
If a stay at home mums’ top values are family and nurturing she will be happy looking after her children and she can develop her skills with training or mentoring from grandma. Children will provide enough challenges and keep it interesting until one day they leave the nest. Her masterpiece(s) will be finished but she should plan in advance what the next project will be or she will feel unhappy and frustrated, like a ‘forced by the circumstances’ stay at home mum.
So what is your true passion? Is your work aligned with your passion and your values?
Are you planning ahead, reading the right books, surrounding yourself by the right people, attending the right courses that will support the realization of your dreams?
If you are not, no one is doing for you!
Your happiness must come from the inside out!
