You are living art.

The 20th-century psychologist Jerome Bruner famously stated:

"The essence of creativity is figuring out how to use what you already know
in order to go beyond what you already think."

What you already know are your memories.
Your limited accumulation of information and life experiences.
Creativity is about using those memories.
To escape your personal mental constructs and constraints.
Who you think you are and the way you think things ought to be.
To create something new… something more… something unique.
Something that adds new sensations and fervor.
An awakening to the value and possibilities of life.
To you and to others.
Creativity, then, is a manifestation of authenticity.
When you’re being creative, you’re wrestling with your freedom to choose.
And with your unique inner passions.
You’re getting in touch with what moves you.
Struggling, like everyone else, to make sense of life and your place in it.
And submitting yourself to a disciplined approach to living.
One aimed, ultimately, at discovering and creating the best version of yourself.
What you’re really trying to do is set your essence free.
In an ongoing labor of passionate self-creation.
Take a look at the inspirational memes being spread around today.
And what you’ll discover is creativity in every domain.
From Picasso and Warhol to Bukowski and Walt Whitman.
From Gandhi and Jesus to the Buddha and Bruce Lee.
From Emily Dickinson and Helen Keller to Richard Feynman and Julia Child.
Marcus Aurelius and Martha Graham.
Isaac Newton and Isaac Asimov.
And what did all of these people have in common?
Creativity!
Passion for the possible and a relentless drive to keep going.
Despite the rejections from others.
They were compelled by a childlike curiosity and spirited desire to explore and to improve.
They transcended their conditioned ways of being to create something personal.
Their unique ways of seeing, experiencing and living.
Through their painting, their writing, their inspired ideas and spirited presence.
They escaped the constraints of their conditioned existences to create something dynamic.
And how?
By breaking free of their static roles.
The boxes imposed on them by others and by society-at-large.
The Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda wrote:

“Life is painful. It has thorns, like the stem of a rose.
Culture and art are the roses that bloom on the stem.
The flower is yourself, your humanity.
Art is the liberation of the humanity inside yourself.”

You and I are living art!
We are forever creating ourselves.
And, through that process and our connection to the earth and to others.
We are literally creating our very world.
Moment to moment.