Have you ever had one of those situations where you have this idea to do or create that something? In your Mind’s Eye it all is so clear and perfect and you have a vision of how it will turn out. But then, you do it. You do it but it doesn’t turn out the way you had envisioned? Then, what? You had the vision, you did it, but when completed it was nothing as anticipated.
 
That kind of a thing happened to me yesterday. I had this idea to put up a shelve. I went to Home Depot, bought the shelf and the stuff I need to make it happen. I put it up. But, once it was completed, once I saw the finished product, it was nothing like I had envisioned. Now what?
 
First of all, I’ve finally realized in life that I’m not much of a DYI guy. I’m just not that good at that kind of stuff. That doesn’t mean that I don’t keep trying. But…
 
All this being said, like I have long told my filmmaking students and filmmakers in general, you may have an idea, it may be all thought out and worked out in your mind, you may have a desired end result, but you cannot hold yourself to that highly explicit standard or nothing will ever turn out the way that you hoped. This is why so many indie productions go up and are never finished. The outcome is not the outcome desired and thus the production is shut down.
 
Meaning, you have to be open to the outcome, even if that outcome is not what you hoped for or envisioned. You have to allow that anything you do to hold its own Zen and be what it is.
 
This goes to all areas of life. Think about it, what if you simply just let things be—allow the outcome to be whatever the outcome became and saw the perfection in whatever it is that was lived and/or created. Wouldn’t all of life, all of the things that you do and have done then just be allowed to be art incarnate in and of itself? Think how much happier and free and fulfilled your life would be if you simply allowed things to be what they are and be whatever it is that they become. No judgement. Just Zen.