The Artist Within

I was recently in a nice restaurant with my wife and we were marvelling at the decor. Hanging on the wall directly beside our table was a beautiful mirror with what looked to be a hand carved wood frame. Knowing what's possible today, that mirror could have easily been produced by a CNC machine on the other side of the world and shipped over the week before. Alternatively, it could be 100 years old and have an amazing story to it. Or perhaps it was carved by a local wood worker recently...

We did not ask where the mirror came from but it did spark a fascinating conversation. If that mirror were hand carved by a person today, the amount of time it would take would likely be dozens of hours. What the person would need to charge for this mirror to make even a modest income would price this mirror out of reach for the majority of the population.

That being said, the person would only need to find one buyer of the seven and a half billion people on earth.

Every day people spend more money than they have on things that they don't need. They buy things or experiences that make them feel a certain way. If this mirror were hand carved today, there is somebody out there who would happily pay $5,000 for it knowing the person who carved it. If this person was known for making unique pieces of furniture, perhaps they would pay $20,000 or more. They would be buying the feeling of owning that one of a kind mirror made by that artist.

We all have an artist within us and that artist is meant to serve.

There's something inside of us that the world needs. I used the example of selling something to prove a point but it does not always have to come down to money. Perhaps what's inside of you could save a life and what kind of price could we put on a life?

Whatever it is, I believe it's our mission as humans to figure it out and share it with the world.

If you keep your artist bottled up inside of you, you're doing the world a disservice. Take just one step today to get closer to the artist inside of you. You'll be surprised how far you an go with just one step at a time and amazed at the life's you can help along the way.