Listening to a doctor speaking this week, he was reflecting on the fact that maybe only 10% or less of his patients are actively focussed on living well.
Not on just staying alive but on being in the best state of physical and mental health, for their current situation, and of working to improve on that day after day and year upon year.
So many people feel anxious, worried or fearful at the state of the world and with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. Asking themselves “What difference can I possibly make in such a crazy world?”
The answer is to get busy living and discover your zest for life or Violin D’Ingres
Do you have a Zest for Life?
Does your life strike you as absorbing, worthwhile and exciting?
For too many people the answer is not really or not often enough because we live in a time of great uncertainty and conflict that distracts us.
So, what is this Violin D’Ingress?
Jean Ingres was a French neoclassical painter famous for works like “Madame Moitessier” and “Scenes of the Orient”.
But he was also a brilliant violinist, so good that had he not been a painter he might have become a professional musician.
To find your Violin D’Ingres is to cultivate your talents, hobbies and creative activities – the ones that bring you joy and genuine satisfaction.
Maybe that is painting like Ingres or singing or dancing or cooking.
Whatever it is, when you give your time and attention to it, you return to everyday life revitalised and able to see your problems and those of the world through a different lens.
To discover what it is that brings vitality and a zest for life to all that you do and to radiate that energy outwards to everyone you meet or connect with.
Energy creates more energy and like an electric circuit we can expand our reach from lighting just one bulb to lighting many.
And so, the key is to stop making choices that drain you of energy or living your life in safety and stagnation.
Instead step up and live your life to the fullest.
There’s something bigger out there, waiting for you!
I guess it comes down to a simple choice really. You either get busy living, or get busy dying.
– Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption –
