All positive change takes place within a framework of self discovery. You cannot change anything of significance outside of yourself without first changing something within yourself.

Most of us spend far too much time trying to understand and manipulate what is going on around us. The truly important work is to recognize what is going on inside of us. It is our inner knowledge and the beliefs we hold (or that hold us) that effectively determines what we are able to accomplish in the world at large.

An artist begins with a blank canvas. She looks to the scene in front of her and begins to paint. Will she create an image in the same manner as the tourist with a camera? Or will she create something that brings together her inner vision and the outer reality?

We are all artists starting each day with a blank canvas. We have the ability to choose how we’ll see what the world has laid before us. This is our gift and our power.

We are where we are and it is what it is. But it does not have to remain as such. We can change the world about us. The first step is to accept what is before us. The next step is to recognize that we have the ability to change it.

We don’t change anything by fighting with it. That implies non-acceptance. Allow it to be as it is. Then recognize that it is not YOU. It is merely a circumstance existing outside of you. So how do you change this circumstance? Modify your perspective. You are the observer and the creator. Choose to create something else.

The future is created now. There is no other time than now. The past no longer exists except within your mind. The future is merely an idea, a possibility that also exists nowhere but within your mind. There is only one choice available to any of us. That is to change something within us right now.

Change your viewpoint and, like the artist, the view before your eyes comes to life in a manner of your own choosing. Is this madness? Perhaps it’s easier to just follow along with the crowd. This is fine except for the fact that the crowd has no leader. They’re just moving in that direction because that’s the way it’s always been done.

Eventually we all wake up. Well, maybe not. But that’s not important. What is important is whether or not you do. And then what? Now you have a new problem. You’ll have to start leading yourself. This is where your inner vision enables you to see what the tourist cannot.

So, fellow artists. Setup your easel and your canvas and get to work. Create a vision that inspires you, that ignites a fire within your heart, and let your dreams come to life.