My new motto.

Lebenskünstler = master of the art of living (Sourced from http://leisurearts.blogspot.com/2006/08/lebensknstler-leisurearts-notes.html )


I received a God-given phone call today from my grandmother. I've been feeling very VERY down after being cut from a dance team I shoudn't have been on, anyhow. I've been trying to deal with increased work and a feeling of needing to nurture my professional life, while feeling quite guilty about the time spent away from the family. My grandmother called just now, and told me to pass a message onto my mom, that she had foudn the bridge for her cello that would replace the broken bridge. She was fearing she'd lost it. My mom is napping, however, and I got to chit chat with her for a little while. I was explaining my life a little, and trying to describe that staying home with the blinders on was stifling and miserable, but being out and about too much was too manic and caused a different kind of imbalance. Omi said "there's a word for this in German, 'lebenskünstler', and it means, 'artist of life'. You need to find the happy medium and live well." there you have it. It made me cry. It's something I've heard like every day my entire life, but it was exactly what i needed to hear right now.

Those Germans have a word for everything.

I want to be a lebenskünstler, and I will be. If I feel the yearning to master something, it will be this. Not an aspect of of what I must balance, but balance itself. I will be my zodiac in perfect symmetry. If I feel the need to shine and perform with astonishing mastery, I'll dedicate myself to health, to the perfection of the art of living. Everything else is not only soul-killing, but murder on the peace of those who need and love me.

Oscar Wilde once purportedly said "I put my talent into my work, but my genius into my life." A suitable introduction to this week's entry, Lebenskünstler. Literally translated, it means "life-artist." ... He is a Lebenskünstler. Someone who pieces together his living from various activities that, collectively, bring in just enough money to live. No office, no suit, no boss, no rules. German has a word for such people, and English doesn't. There's even a higher form of Lebenskünstler, and that is the Überlebenskünstler, or "survival artist." -- from the blog "LeisureArts"

I'm going to find out more about Oscar Wilde. He's been placed in front of me for a very strong reason. I will follow through.