New Year's Every Day

"May every sunrise hold more promise and may every sunset hold more peace."

Now is the allotted time every American understands; Christmas is past, and New Years Day is around the corner. Do you have any resolutions?

Or maybe the question is, what type of New Year's celebrator are you? You might be one of those people who lives for resolutions (whether you finish them or not is an entirely different matter), or you might not care for them at all. Whichever you are, it is not about the resolutions. At the core of New Year's, the concept is simply that the year is about to be over, and you have a blank canvas in front of you. You can paint whatever you want. New Year's is just an idea that...

Change is possible. If you don't like something about yourself, change it. But rather than making a resolution to stop doing something, make a resolution to start doing something that counteracts what you don't like about yourself. Instead of stopping wasting your time with one activity, make a resolution to every time you want to do that thing, you read a book instead or go on a walk.

But it's not that easy, is it? As human beings, the one thing you can count on is the devoted promise that we make mistakes. So I am here to propose the idea that maybe New Year's isn't just on one day, that you don't get just one chance to be who you want to be, but a hundred, a thousand, a million. Every day is a new day, a smaller blank canvas waiting for you to create who you are. You have a countless amount of new chances and opportunities in front of you, so that you can keep making mistakes until you get it right. And you will, especially with help.

So this next year, New Year comes every day.

Don't give up. Make those resolutions or not but always remember that each day is a new chance with new opportunities and new choices to make. You alone decide who you want to be. Take it one step at a time, one day at a time; don't tackle the entire empty mural of a year but take the days one canvas at a time until the mural is complete. It will be hard but do not give up. If no one else tells you in this death-filled world, I am proud of you. You can do anything, because at the start of a new day, there is the promise that anything is possible, and at the end of that new day, there is the peace that you did your absolute best. At the start of a new day, you can be whoever you want to be. So why wait until one midnight?

New Year's starts today.

Imagination Is

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Albert Einstein

Too much pressure is put upon those from the ages of elementary school through college to be "smart." You cannot argue that some of the only things gained from school are fleeting, random pieces of knowledge. In school, you memorize formulas or learn how to write, but you never learn why the formula is there or what to write. Knowledge only goes so far, and most of the criteria learned in school is simply that: knowledge.

However, while knowledge is taught, imagination is not. It is instinctive; you just do it. It is a gift every person bears, but it is never honed, sharpened. On the contrary, imagination withers when essays have to be structured exactly like this, the formula cannot be any other way, etc. There is no room for creativity anymore. Instead of praising a creative effort, a student who decides to be different from the rest is failed.

But was it not imagination that gave us the very practical things enjoyed today like electricity or computers? Imagination is not a passive idea but the very blood of innovation. It is active, and the more you strengthen that muscle of your brain, the more your imagination will grow beyond even your wildest imagination.

This is not a call to arms against school but rather a plea to bring the curriculum of imagination into schools. Teach students how to better express their emotions onto the page, guide them through the practical discernment of when best to utilize imagination in everyday life, and allow them the opportunity to realize that the left brain and the right brain were meant to go hand in hand. Imagination and Knowledge are not enemies but brothers. Without knowledge, imagination is nonsense; without imagination, knowledge is crippled.

Even Einstein, a world famous scientist understood how important imagination is. Yes, knowledge is good, but knowledge is limited. Knowledge is the facts. Knowledge is the what. Imagination is the how, the why. Imagination is every dream. Imagination is every possibility. Imagination is absolutely endless. Imagination encircles the world.

If a person empowers his imagination, there is no stopping them. When we were kids, we believed we could fly. We believed we could do anything. We can return to that once again.

Dream impossible dreams. Reach for impossible heights. It's time to start believing again.

Do you believe you can do anything?

I believe I can, but maybe that's just my imagination.

Infinitely Minute

"Painting is an infinitely minute part of my personality." - Salvador Dali

It's important to find who you are and what makes you happy; however, the worst thing you can do is limit yourself. Too many people make the thing they love their entire life, and when that very things fails them, they look around at their life and find a broken trail of missed opportunities.

As adults, we ask kids what they want to be, instantly confining their entire future to a box. Essentially, we ask them who they want to be when, instead, who they are is a collection of a thousand desires.

What you do is not who you are.

It is only a part of you, a smaller part of you than you realize. Dali himself, a renowned surrealist painter, realized that painting was not his identity. He knew that the very thing he loved and the thing for which he was famous was only a speck on the spectrum of who he was.

So why do we limit ourselves? You don't have to just do one thing; you can do everything. Why not? What are you waiting for? You are an endless collection of hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares. You have a lot more in you than you realize. Stop making a section of your personality your entire being. You don't have to give up a hobby for your dream. You don't have to cut out sections of your life to make room for another, drastically inflated section.

Be a writer who ventures on nature walks to feed the birds. Be a dancer who visits art galleries regularly. Be a photographer who reads plays. My favorite parts of myself are not the things I do for a living but the things I do in silence. There is so much more to me than anyone will realize; you have the same potential in you as well.

Maybe if you take the time to discover the entire spectrum of your personality, you'll find something new about yourself.

And then you can keep on creating, fulfilling each infinitely minute part of you one day at a time.

Every Artist His Muse

"Every King needs his Queen; every Artist his Muse."

For some reason the assumption of artists is that they are separate from society and must work alone. This could not be further from the truth. Yes, sometimes separation is necessary, but it is this very "society" that inspires artists to create. Even Henry David Thoreau escaped the social world only to write about it in his book Walden. Whether someone is constantly trying to be with people or avoid people, they are inspired by those very people. At the heart, artists create a form of life, and in that endeavor, one must understand life.

There are "solo artists," but are they really "solo"? They have people who help record their songs, play with them, and sell their work. They need a partnership.

Whether or not you realize it, you need people. Even if you do not believe anything that was said above, there is still one other relationship that sparks creativity. The unseen spectator known as the audience. Their part is not a passive one; it is active. They bring "the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus add their contribution to the creative act," as Marcel Duchamp says. As an artist, you raise questions, and questions are meant to be answered. That is the audience's job. They are your collaborators, and you need them as much as they need you. It is a beautiful partnership. Human beings are relationship-driven, so why can't art be?

You weren't meant to be alone.

Cole Porter had Linda Lee Thomas. Picasso had Adriana. Robert Frost had Elinor Frost.

Find someone who understands your blend of tortured joy in creating art and do not ever let them go. 

They are your muse.