Being Original

I like to read before going to sleep, except if I am really exhausted it is my usual routine to read for a few minutes before I turn off the light.

One of the books by my bedside is an old favorite by Alan Cohen, A Deep Breath of Life. It is set up like a daily journal, with a reading for each day of the year. Oct.11 really touched me; I want to share it with you:

Oct. 11
Don’t Wait for Worth

Think not you lack a special value here.
--A Course in Miracles

In all his lifetime, Vincent Van Gogh sold a single painting for a pittance. At a recent auction, one of Van Gogh’s paintings sold for $82.5 million—an all-time high for a piece of artwork. Currently four of his paintings are among the ten highest-priced paintings ever sold.

It is ironic that Van Gogh was not acknowledged during his lifetime, and posthumously has become the highest-valued painter in history. This tells me that the immediate reaction or acknowledgment of the world is not always an indication of true quality. Quite often great artists and geniuses are overlooked in the early stage of their careers or during their lifetime.

When setting out to create art, music, or literature, to invent an object or method of service, or to choose a career, consult your own heart rather than the world. If you build your creations around the opinions of others, you will give away your power rather than draw it from within. As you allow your creations to spring from your inner vision, you will be a master of your own destiny and ultimately render great service.

Anyone can plug numbers into a formula. Many movie, television, novel, and song writers play on stock story lines that are sure to sell to the masses; some successful writers crank out plot after plot that simply dress old puppets in new clothing. True art, on the other hand, moves beyond what has been, and invites viewers to look at life from a grander perspective. Here is where originality, spirituality, and vision are called for. Such inventors must play on the cutting edge of their own creativity and call the masses to be bigger than they were.

Allow your genius to come forth uniquely—it is your greatest hope to live your destiny.

I pray to be a channel for fresh and wonderful ideas that bring healing and empowerment.

The mind of God within me creates beauty, service, enlightenment, and success.

Alan Cohen

Gotta love it! Thanks Alan for reminding me of what I need to do.