Vincent's Guide to Wonder

1. Gather Materials

Collect and harbor in your heart:

The dreams of your youth, the yearning for spirit, the love of color and form and shape and people and trees and flowers and hills and rain and wind and stars and sky.

Gather them into a corner of your soul to dwell in blues and yellows and greens, all shades of darkness and clarity, blended together like nowhere else on earth.

Never forget, perhaps the most important thing:

Harvest the grief of loss, the sting of rejection, the sorrows of your life. Hold close the painful poverty of your fellow travelers.

Collect rage, distress, confusion. Feel fear, anxiety, despair in all the gray hues and black swirls of life and death.

They belong to you as they belong to all humanity.

Keep them close.

They will become the treasure that will fuel your greatest work.

.

.

2. Change Direction

Leave the comfortable home of your upbringing.

Pack as little luggage as you need.

Take the train to Paris. The sights and sounds and lights will open your imagination in boundless ways.

Treasure solitude as well as noisy crowds. Breathe the air of history. There, the feeling of revolution still lingers in the air.

Take long walks in all weather. The City of Lights will light up curiosity, compassion and love.

Meet people. Ordinary workers. Famous painters. Men, women, children.

Roam the streets. Walk in the rain.

Laugh.

Dance.

Drink.

And when you need to cry, weep alone with all your might.

.

.

3. Study

Visit the renowned museums and art galleries in the charming cobblestoned neighborhoods of old Paris.

Stand in awe of a wall filled with experimental impressionism. Examine the brushstrokes. Look how light enlivens the canvases.

Get to know a famous painter or two.

Quarrel when necessary.

Chat with the flower girl.

Make friends with a sunflower.

.

.

4. Experiment

Be bold.

Your first efforts will not satisfy all the yearnings that weigh like untransmuted lead inside your very being.

Try again. Play with color and form and style.

Be yourself.

Gather paints and brushes and canvases, all sizes and as many colors as the rings of Saturn in your imagination.

Play with strokes. Blend bold colors.

Try and try again.

Paint every day in the early morning light.

Walk every evening and gaze at the starry night sky.

.

.

5. Troubleshooting

When despair and depression set in, return to the treasures of your heart.

Create a space within yourself to hold the pain of the world.

Embrace it. It is yours.

It comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Feel it, absorb it, face it.

Transmute it with all the energy of your paintbrush into wild whirls of emotion and light.

.

.

6. Do's and Don'ts:

Do love with all your heart.

Do express all you feel.

Do dare to be bold.

Do treasure your correspondence with your brother.

Do buy flowers from the flower girl.

******************

Don't copy others.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes.

Don't, under any circumstances, harm another person. Even if he infuriates you, resist the urge to hurt or strike back. If necessary, cut off your own ear instead.

Don't hide who you are.

Don't forget to find your favorite constellation and look for it every night.

.

.

7. Look to the Light

Darkness will return every day, and so will the light.

Make the light your guide.

Recognize how it reveals the divine presence of life and love and being.

When darkness becomes too much, and madness falls upon you, climb out of bed at midnight. Yes, it will take all your willpower.

Walk out to the grassy fields and climb a grey-green hill.

Lie on the cold grass and linger. Look at the stars.

Let your imagination dance among them.

Pour your soul into the starry night sky.

Your pain will infuse your art with boundless beauty, tenderness and wonder.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.