Happiness

I was thinking of doing a series of portraits of famous people. So I started with the Dalai Lama. And here he is!!
I've been thinking of happiness recently, with the economic downturn and all, and I have come to the conclusion that I am not my work. For many years my happiness seemed to depend on how many projects I had going and how much money I was making. This is a hard thing to maintain year after year through good and bad times and eventually becomes a boat anchor around our necks. I think it is important to shift with the times and not let the boat anchor keeps us mired in the mud of the past. When I get down because all my marketing efforts come to naught, I try to remember that I am alive and healthy (sort of) and there is much beauty in the world. I just finished a book called 2666 by Roberto Bolano. A brilliant book indeed and it made me happy that there is such skilled art of staggering beauty that I have access to. Is that not a gift? I once was taking a print making class in Florence and in the class was a woman who created very beautiful prints. She would say out loud that everything was a gift. When she created a brilliant piece it was a gift, when the piece was a disaster she would laugh and say it was a gift. When the attendant failed to show up one day to unlock the studio she said it was a gift and now she could go shopping! I had never seen such happiness and it rubbed off on the rest of the class. Our quality of work soared with the positive energy. Now I don't particularly think of myself as a positive happy person who spreads joy, but I feel something shifting in the world for the better. I hold on to that and look for the gifts that come from inside and outside my work.

cheers
Larry