Opting to matter means affirming your rights  and responsibilities as a conscious, righteous human being. We opt to matter irrespective of the fact that life stands squarely in the way of our ability to matter. When creative people try to throw up their hands and resign themselves to accepting postmodern meaningless and the illusory nature of meaning, they find that they can’t.

From the time I was a tiny child, yes, it was a while ago, I tried to find meaning and beauty in life. There wasn’t a lot of beauty in my childhood, so I had to resolve to find and/or make beauty. I also wanted to be sure this was all real and I wanted to make a difference in the world. Meaning is the thing that most creative people need to find and create. It is what drove me to begin photography. I used my photos to determine what was real. I would study those early photos and look to see if my lens caught what I remembered. Was it real? At other times, I would stick my head out of a window and scream to see if I was real. I have over the years come to grips with the fact that there is reality here but there is the unreal waiting to be created. Now, when I paint or do photography, it is with a confident belief that I am creating beauty and meaning.

In our hearts, we opt for life, to use the years we are given to make the biggest changes and to create what is within me. “To understand life, we must contrast it with death.”  Often for creative people, we say; while I am alive I can love or while I am alive, I can learn a few more things. For me I say, if I am alive, I can show peace to someone and give someone some beauty in their lives. I no longer ask if I am real, I say “I am real.” Since I am real, I can create. From my blog, to a homemade 3-layer cake to my photos and my painting.

As creative people, it is imperative that we create. Life is flat and grey without that mixture within that enables us to stand in front of a blank canvas, or a blank computer screen, or walking around with a camera in hand looking for something that speaks to you. Some things will speak to you and some will not. But those faces, those moments are what keep us real and authentic. Find your meaning and you will find your art, whatever it is, blossoming and become the color and fragrance within your soul. Even if no one likes your work, you have taken nothing and made something out of that and that is a gift. So don’t let any one voice or review stop you. You were born to create, so do it with all the joy you have inside. You are unique! You are like a star in the night sky, so shimmer and shine and radiate everything within you!

Be all you can possibly be every day of your life.