Monday, October 19, 2009

Your Magnum Opus

We hear about the great works of brilliant people like famous composers or artists or writers and how a certain one of their works stands out as their best. The dictionary defines Magnum Opus as the single greatest work of an artist's life--her masterpiece.

I propose that we shift that idea just a bit to see that we are the greatest masterpiece of our lives. We are constantly growing, perfecting and refining ourselves to be better than we were yesterday, and last month, last year. We are constantly evolving into our greater selves. We are the Magnum Opus of our lives, and the works we produce are merely vehicles to allow us to work on ourselves, express our creativity and brilliance. We do it moment by moment, day by day, choice by choice.

Knowing this frees us to be involved in our unfolding in a more patient and loving way. We are in it for the long haul, constantly improving. We are masterpieces in the making, and knowing that allows us to experiment and take risks with the work we do, because each project is another opportunity to express a part of ourselves never before expressed. We are a work in progress, and looking at our lives in wide swaths of time, we see the magnificence of our own unfolding selves, and each other.

Today, look anew at the people in your life. See them as master craftsmen, shaping themselves in very specific ways to be the best they can be.