Peter’s Sketchbook: Out To Posture. . .
Matters Of The Art
I have a confession to make.
What I do doesn’t matter.
You may be thinking; “Oh, c’mon Peter, you’re doing some good in the world… what you do does really matter”.
No it doesn’t . And what you do doesn’t matter either.
I used to think that what I do matters. I would work on my skills and hone my talents holding my work to sometimes impossibly high standards. I would compare my abilities to artists I admired. I tried to be as good as them. I even held back on putting my work out in the world because it never seemed to measure up.
Boy was I ever wrong.
I made the mistake of thinking that my value comes from what I do. But that could not be further from the truth. I put way too much emphasis on the craft . But the craft alone is not where the value is. The craft is just the vehicle that expresses who we are. The craft delivers the value.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the craft. I love to play my way to excellence. I love how effortless the craft gets over time.
It’s not what we do, but who we are that matters.
I mean this literally. Who we are literally becomes the “stuff” of our lives. I heard it said this way recently; “You don’t get what you want. You get who you are”. When I was in doubt about my cartooning abilities, it wouldn’t matter how good I got at the craft, I continued to attract editors who were doubtful about hiring me. After all, I believed the value was in my skill and my skill wasn’t quite up to par yet.
Just like Bhu in the comic strip above, looking great at striking a yoga pose doesn’t make you internally aligned. You could work on perfecting your asanas for years. But if you believe the internal rewards and mastery comes purely from the poses, you may want to shift your thought. As one wise teacher of mine often repeated; “yoga is more about opening the heart than opening the hips”.
So get to the heart of the matter. Open your heart, align with your inherent greatness and let it out.
Because when you are aligned you can’t help but serve. You can’t help but give value. It doesn’t matter what you do, anything you do in alignment will carry this value. What you do doesn’t matter.
Who you are matters.
YOU matter.
Now imagine doing something that brings complete joy, something that is aligned with who you are. Align your passion (what you love to do) with your purpose (who you are).
Your value is unstoppable…
Is your job or career the perfect vehicle for expressing your inherent greatness? Do you dream of DOING something else that better matches how you truly want to be in the world? Let me know below. And join the conversation with the larger Green House community on our Facebook page.
What I do doesn’t matter. It never did. And that’s okay by me.
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I dunno if I agree, Peter. I think you are what you do. You are not what you think. You are not what you say. You are not what you say you are going to do. You are what you do. And if you “do” that perfect pose, you are perfectly aligned, physically, mentally, and spiritually… at that moment. You cannot be anything but aligned and pull off a masterful pose. At least as I understand yoga. It’s been many years since I practiced.
Anyway, what you do matters very much to me:))