Master the “Art of Living”

Sage advice from Henry Miller on how to make your life a sweeping gesture of intention.

From birth to death, everything that lies in between is your chance to create a sweeping gesture of the highest intention. If your life was a film, would reviews reflect a beautiful masterpiece, or some humdrum replica of the masses?

Pretend that your life is a game, and the goal of that game is to live with the most intention, presence, and passion you can muster.

It all matters. The way you structure your days, how you spend your limited time, your relationships, the way you speak (or listen), the way you think, your presence in a room, your tastes, your values, your experiences: choose them wisely, for they can be art in-and-of-themselves.

Make love and create often. Appreciate culture. Listen deeply to music. Seek similarities between yourself and others. Be a good human. Never stop learning and growing. Don’t just “fall in line”. Engage in only those things that give you childlike joy. Be strong, be brave, be compassionate. Find that looseness, that flow of pure presence. Slow down. Speed up. Have the courage to stand in your true, incomparable essence.

Stop pretending like you’re going to live forever and always carry with you the acute awareness of your own mortality. Let it serve you.

Live your life with surgical precision in your attempts to weave a beautiful mosaic of life experience. Master the art of living.

Make the totality of this human experience, from the mundane to the grandiose, the struggles to the bliss, the pain and suffering to the love, joy, and achievements, a beautifully crafted piece of art. Not for the sake of others, but for yourself. — Now get to work.