Beautiful text Eliza, very inspiring ☺️ it reminds me of this quote from Masaake Hatsumi sensei:

“A great artist finds happiness by dedicating his life to his work. In a trance, he forgets himself as he pours himself into his work, and there he finds eternal life. Not only the artist, but we too, must live our lives this way.

To do this, we must have a clear purpose in our daily lives. If we live our daily lives with Sutemi (sacrifice), the mind of Budō, and the passion of an artist who pours his soul into his works, we can almost forget about death and never regret our lives at the moment of their end.”

宗家Hatsumi