I make every effort to indulge in a lifestyle that celebrates “artful living.” This means, I try to see the beauty in everything and surround myself in it as much as possible, with the aim of also radiating beauty back into the world. More specifically, the goal is to always be engaging with creativity, exploration, passion, knowledge, and love. This ideology is rooted in all areas of my life: from resolving to only be around people who are uplifting and positive; to the simplicity of enjoying a well-presented tasty meal; to something as surface as treating myself to the best in life (within my not-so-rich means, of course); to fulfilling the need I have to always be exploring something and someplace new (and then blog about it!).

I’d say that I equate artful living as a key part, though certainly not whole, to some level of happiness for me.

When I came across this profound quote from Buddha, I began to think about my take on artful living and realized, I, like most people have made the mistake of focusing on what I have and who I am as a reference point toward thinking that I’m getting it right (or somehow close to right). Then I think about the people you hear about that have it all, are the epitome of success and high society – yet it’s not enough. Is this solely because their mind’s perception has not caught up with their success that they cannot find true happiness? If so, I can certainly understand Buddha’s logic. Essentially, if your mind isn’t streamlined to your actions it won’t matter anyway.

Though we’ve all heard this sentiment in some form or another many times throughout our lives, it seems this bears repeating in case we get so caught up in the details that we forget the big picture.

There’s nothing else I’m lovin’ more right now that these 19 words that seemingly share the key to happiness – our thoughts. While I do think that focusing on what makes life beautiful by living intentionally and artfully equates to some level of happiness perhaps this simply is a surface version of it. It seems we must master our connection with our mind, our thinking, before it truly manifests anyway.