Seeing beauty when life seems ugly

Vincent Van Gogh was an amazing person. Sure, like the rest of us, he had a few flaws but he also masterfully created such breathtaking works of art.

Often times we get so caught up in how we are perceiving the world that we are not capable to see the beauty and the greatness that is within ourselves. I believe Van Gogh suffered from this toward the end of his life. He had moments of clear thinking and was able to produce amazing bodies of work and then  would go through moments where he simply could not work. I am not a person who has spent much time studying Van Gogh nor do I pretend to know much about him. However, I came across a quote from him that really struck me:

"Love many things,
For therein lies the true strength

And whoever loves much
performs much,
and can accomplish much,
and what is done in love,
is done well."
- Vincent Van Gogh

What I take from this is that Van Gogh really understood the importance on how to live. Often times we are placing our own worth on our own accomplishments. And what I think he was trying to say is that when we do things in a loving way we will be achieving our greatest accomplishments. My focus will be this, Loving much. If I were to start every activity, at work or every conversation with a loving heart, I believe I could accomplish much.

For a little while I never thought that I could love again. I had put all of my love on one person. I have discovered that when you do you may get hurt. But in doing that I also distracted myself from doing everything I did in a loving way. I am not certain I will ever love again in a romantic way, but I am definitely going to try doing everything I do with love in my heart.