St. Dan Design

Take off your mask and start being unapologetic about who you really are. Remember, imperfection is beauty; madness is genius. It is better to be ridiculously you, than ridiculously boring by trying to be the same as everyone else.

"Imagine you’re blindfolded and treading water in
the center of a large swimming pool, and you’re
struggling desperately to grab the edge of the
pool that you think is nearby, but really it’s not –
it’s far away. Trying to grab that imaginary edge
is stressing you out, and tiring you out, as you
splash around aimlessly trying to holding on to
something that isn’t there.
Now imagine you pause, take a deep breath, and
realize that there’s nothing nearby to hold on to.
Just water around you. You can continue to
struggle with grabbing at something that doesn’t
exist… or you can accept that there’s only water
around you, and relax, and float.
Today, I challenge you to ask yourself:
What are you desperately trying to hold on to in
your life?
How is it affecting you?
Then imagine the thing you’re trying to hold on
to doesn’t really exist. Envision yourself letting
go… and just floating.
How would that change your situation?"

“There’s a brilliant, beautiful, priceless piece of art in front of you! It’s elaborate and detailed – a painstaking labor of love and devotion! The colors and textures are like no other – they soar and dip, they shine and leap right off the canvas! And yet you choose to fixate your eyes on the tiny, black housefly that has landed on it. Why would you do such a thing?”
She cracked a half smile and stared at me in silence.
“Look,” I said, “the point is there’s no way to be 100% sure about anything or anyone in this world. Life, like art, is intricate and unpredictable. So you’re left with a choice: either appreciate it and look for the best, or focus on and expect the worst.”
If you expect the worst, you’re never disappointed,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, but who lives like that?” I replied. “No one. People die slowly every day like that, without every truly living.”