Michelangelo’s famous sculpture, the David, is considered a masterpiece. Before this stunning sculpture came to be, it was a large chunk of marble. With Michelangelo’s skill and hard work, he turned the large chunk of rock into a world-famous piece of art. In today’s podcast, I want to talk about turning your own life into a masterpiece. It takes hard work and effort but if you stick with it, you’ll be able to achieve happiness you never thought was possible.
Now, you may look at other people’s lives and feel jealous that they are happy. Perhaps you’ve thought, “they’re just so lucky to have so much joy in their life.” While some people are naturally lucky, most people create their own happiness. My goal for you after reading this or listening to this week’s episode is to learn how to create your own happiness.
The first step of this is simply acknowledging the fact that we are all capable of creating our own happiness. We must let go of the thought that our circumstances affect our happiness, and we must tell ourselves that we hold the power to our own happiness. In other words, every thought or action we take affects the sculpture of our life. I ask myself throughout the day, what am I sculpting? Am I creating things that bring beauty and peace? This could be by reading a good book, helping a neighbor, or checking in with a friend. I also ask myself if I’m engaging in things that tear my sculpture down? This could mean thinking negatively about a friend, becoming frustrated by things that are out of my control, and the list goes on. Just like there are opportunities throughout the day to welcome peace, there are opportunities to welcome frustrating and negativity.
I challenge you to ask yourself each morning, “what am I going to sculpt today?” I hope you’ll tell yourself that you’re working on your own David.
This kind of work and effort doesn’t happen overnight. Remember, Michelangelo’s sculpture took lots and lots of time, but the end result was exquisite. We can get more out of our day when we recognize that every choice we make daily affects our overall structure. This includes what we watch on our phones, what we listen to, our thoughts, and how we treat others.
Step number two is to examine what kind of sculpture you are creating throughout the day. Is it one built on positive thoughts or one built on negativity? We have many opportunities to make decisions throughout the day, and the best thing we can do for ourselves is examine these decisions and make changes when needed. The brilliant thing about this thinking is that we hold all the power to make changes to our lives.
Maybe today you choose to reach out to a friend, find a volunteering opportunity, or simply go for a walk. All of these decisions add up to a more beautiful sculpture and a better version of yourself.
Some of you listening to this may think back on the worst things you’ve done in your life and believe that there is no coming back from those mistakes. I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong. Let’s stick with our sculpture metaphor – there is a sculpture called the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and it is regarded as one of the most incredible sculptures ever created. One thing that stands out about this artwork is the angel that was sculpted doesn’t have a head. This example teaches us that beauty can still be created when we’ve lost pieces of ourselves.
If we truly want to achieve happiness and joy, we must embrace forgiveness and kindness towards those that hurt us, but also to ourselves. It’s hard to go through life without hurting someone else. If we can tell ourselves a different story that doesn’t include shame, we can replace it with a story that says, it’s okay to make mistakes, I’m only human. Once we replace the narrative, it’ll be easier to access inner peace and forgiveness.
When we can take an inventory of our inner dialogue and how we spend our time, we can figure out how we can better ourselves and ultimately create a beautifully sculpted life. This practice will help us stay on track throughout the day when we’re living our lives. We can learn to ask ourselves, is what I’m doing centered in kindness and love, or hatred and anger?
And if you’re not sure where to start on creating a beautiful life, I recommend checking out my library of 330+ podcast episodes covering how to live a happy life. I believe in my core that each of us are destined to live beautiful lives, and the only thing standing in our way is ourselves. When we overcome the obstacles we place on ourselves, we’ll be able to access happiness we never thought was possible.
