New year, new ideas, new directions

Well well, hello there again!

It has been a long time, I haven't been writing for a few months. This, of course, has got its reasons - it is a story in itself, of which I will merely graze the surface.

Though I will mention one thing, the time of silence has been useful.
When I finished my challenge for 2012, I was left with the very common question:

What's next?

A question I sure spent a lot of time on.
A question I couldn't escape.
A question that, even when I was reading books and articles on , I seemed to be coming back to.

Before I forget, I would like to write it down. Makes it easier to have a running dialogue with oneself...and others, that way. :)

With all that I have read and done in the past months, I keep seeing a recurring pattern.

It is something that really struck a chord when I was having a discussion with my flatmate. She mentioned something very, very interesting.

While this can not be confirmed nor does it have grounds in any of the  

commonly agreed upon beliefs, it is something that sounded yet oh-so-right.

 "Perhaps life is about creation - and admiring other people's creations."

Take this as you wish, but it definitely struck a chord. I came to agree with it, mainly because we all appreciate creativity and creations.

As people, we are all creative, in one way or another. Some people excel at painting, some at music, while others have an incredible ability to make amazingly tasty food. But don't you for a second think that creativity is limited to what is commonly referred to as "art", regardless of what a dictionary says. 

The term seems way too restrictive, it was defined in an age when distancing yourself from others was fashion and a status symbol. I'd really, really like to add the following, as a definition. That art is:

"The creation of something which, through stimulation of one or more senses, causes an emotional reaction in the beholder."

Because in the end, this is what everything that is currently considered art does. This is why we refer to good food as pieces of art and this is why something as uncommon as extremely over-weight models are considered artistic.

Just because some people do not like what they see, doesn't mean it isn't art. Contrary to popular belief, the opposite of love is not hate. It is indifference.

Coincidentally, the only way for a creation to not be artistic is by not causing an emotional reaction.

Yet again, coincidentally, the people we seem to value and appreciate the most are the people who are able to take us on emotional rollercoaster rides. (Actors, directors, public figures. We all met them in one form or another. They all share this trait.)

At this point, do you think these are all coincidences? Well, I do not.

This is where I stumbled upon another interesting question:

"How much of my time is spent consuming things other people created (TV, music, video games, websites) versus creating my own? Because only one of these adds to your own perceived value" 

It has a point, a very good point, I realized. Regardless of how much we appreciate the creations of others, it does not add any value to us (not in the eyes of ourselves, nor others) until we are able to apply it to a creation of our own. Because what we are, and what we have on the inside, only matters because of what it makes us do.

Thus, in the end, it really doesn't matter what we do - as long as we do something. 

As long as what we do benefits someone, even if that someone is yourself.

With the theory and introduction out of the way, it is time to bring in the ideas!