A Living Example of Balance and Passion

July 23, 2009

Earlier this week I headed down to the town square for lunch with Jeff at a groovy little place, called The Corner Cafe. On my way there I ran into this artist, Alan Kuykendall, who was working on a mural to cover up the graffitti some kids had scribbled all over the beautiful brick wall.

I have seen his work around town, and heard his name for years, but never had the chance to meet him. So I went over and rudely interrupted his work… which he didn’t seem to mind. I asked him how long it takes him to finish a mural like the one he was working on. He said he’d started the day before and was halfway done.

“Really?!” I gasped, sounding like an idiotic groupie, I’m sure.

“You know,” he said, “People tend to assume an artist is a genius because he can finish a painting in a day or two. What they don’t take into account is all the time that was spent in advance, planning and preparing for the finished product.”

And that makes sense… doesn’t it?

He didn’t just come along one day and paint a beautiful mural in two days. He’s been preparing for this his whole life, especially the past few weeks, when he designed and mapped out this particular piece. He said, by the time he’s working on the wall, it’s like a paint-by-numbers drawing, and he knows which colors go with each number.

That’s not to say he isn’t an amazing artist, because he certainly IS that. But it wasn’t just a stroke of genius that got him to this point. It was a zillion strokes of practice, hard work, and determination, fueled by a passion for creative expression and a curiosity about life.

I asked him if I could take his picture for my blog about finding a balance between the things we have to do and the things we want to do. He agreed, and said that he and his friend (who makes banjos for a living) were recently talking about this very thing. I’ll paraphrase what he said:

Most people spend their weekends dreading the coming work week, and their days commuting, working, and wishing they were somewhere else. We wake up every morning…  stretch… and say, “What do I want to do today?”

It isn’t that these two have nothing to do… in fact, they both have full schedules. But the tasks are projects they choose and enjoy. Their schedules are somewhat flexible, and they aren’t entirely slaves to them, like most people are. This reminded me of my favorite Victor Frankl quote:

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task… the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.”

One of the things that allows this sort of freedom to be possible is eliminating non-essentials. Mr. Kuykendall hasn’t watched T.V. in ten years. He no longer desires the fancy things money can buy. He values his free time, creative endeavors, and relationships far more than the acquisition and accumulation of “stuff”. He needs little, so he always has plenty. He views life as an ongoing adventure.

(My kind of guy!)

I could’ve stayed there all day, but he had work to do, and I had a lunch date waiting next door. I ordered this insanely awesome sandwich, called “Rosemary’s Baby’s Daddy,” and sat there thinking about how happy I was finally to have met him, and how nice it is to know others who have found a way to balance what life requires with the pursuit of passion, fulfillment, and joy.

It IS possible. There is ALWAYS a way. Don’t settle for wishing your life away, dreaming of a day when things can be different. Every day is that day. In every moment you have the opportunity to choose to make the most of your life. Life is too short to be wasted, and too long to be spent being miserable.

Find the balance that works for YOU.

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Thanks!!!

Related posts:

1. Net Worth vs. Self Worth: The Passion Paradox
2. The Tripod of Balance: Health, Wealth, and Relationships
3. The Myth, The Legend: One Passion to Rule Them All
4. Exposing Our Insecurities to Find a New Balance
5. Inspiration from T. Alan Armstrong: Become Your Passion

Posted in Life, Real Life Gurus, balance, choices, happiness, simplicity