You are a work of art, and you get to choose the colors of your palette.

 

One day I tweeted the following:

"When I reach my goal of living in minimalism, I'm buying myself the ultimate symbol of minimalism, a bonsai." 

Julien Smith's reply was: 

"The ultimate irony."

At first I laughed at the irony. And then it hit me....

Here I was stuck in the forest, when I yearned for the simplicity of one lone bonsai. Suddenly I knew where I was going and how I was going to get there.

 It turns out you don't just 'buy a bonsai' otherwise known as a "Mallsai" and this I found out early on in my research.

Brent Walston's Bonsai website was where I started my research on Bonsai and this is what he said:

"Don't 'buy a bonsai'. That is a poor way to begin this fascinating hobby and usually doomed to failure. Bonsai is not about 'owning' bonsai plants, but rather the enjoyment of caring for them and especially creating them."

In a way this came as a rather big relief to me. If the art of Bonsai was going to be the metaphor for my life path, I was most relieved to know that I was not expected to arrive at perfection in an instant. I was destined to follow an authentic journey where there would be pruning and training involved. Sounded good to me. In bonsai the state of the roots are a very important factor in the end result of your bonsai tree and I would say that it is also so in life. If you are firmly grounded, with support and structure to guide you, you will weather the training and pruning that will bring you fulfillment.

Whatever area in life we are tackling, wherever you might find yourself, whether it be in the dormant stage of your "tree" or in the pruning stage, (which is quite painful by the way) let us bear in mind the end product. A beautifully trained bonsai, not just and instant, fix-it-all experience, but a journey of turning your life into something beautiful, into a work of art.

Does that make you feel uncomfortable, talking about yourself as a piece of art? If it does, know this, you are a work of art, and you get to choose the colors of your palette.

My favorite quote from Brent Walston about the art of bonsai is this:

"Nobody said it was going to be fast or easy, but it is fascinating and addictive. If you have the dedication, it can be done."

That applies to the 'art' of life too. Let's enjoy the journey shall we?