Finding Your Direction in Life – Frida Kahlo

The life lesson: Listen up to find your direction in life. Focus on the whispers only you can hear – because the Universe is opening and closing doors and showing you the right way to go. The successful woman who teaches us this life lesson? Frida Kahlo, of course!

“…I paint because I need to,” said Kahlo, a Mexican artist who inspired feminists all over the world after her death. She lived from 1907-1954, and was one of the most authentic women in history.

Kahlo began painting because she was “bored as hell” while convalescing in bed after a traumatic bus accident. Have you ever wondered what direction to take in life? You need only listen and look for open doors…here’s how the events in Frida Kahlo’s life told her where she needed to go…and how she went there with passion and intensity!

Finding Your Direction in Life – Frida Kahlo

Kahlo was an artist – some say Mexico’s greatest – who didn’t bother waxing or plucking her bushy unibrow and moustache; she painted them right into her self-portraits. Kahlo subtracted three years from her birthday and claimed 1910 as her birth year. Whether she did this to make herself younger or associate herself with the Mexican Revolution (which started in 1910) is still debated.

Frida Kahlo did what she wanted. Kahlo had Oprah Winfrey’s key to a successful life! According to one biographer, Frida Kahlo swore all the time. She drank tequila and smoked heavily. She sang loud songs and told off-color jokes at the wild parties she hosted; she was a vibrant extrovert who was sexually liberated. “She is a devil,” her father told her future husband. “I know,” said Diego Rivera. Frida’s first male love interest was Alejandro, the leader of a gang at her school. She became a feminist cult figure towards the end of the 20^th century, particularly because her intense paintings were dominated by female themes.

Pain was a huge part of her existence.

Frida Kahlo was real. She was obsessive, passionate, despairing, and brutally honest. Kahlo danced – she loved crowds – and she flirted with and seduced both men and women. Her lust for life was evident in everything she did. Kahlo delighted in gossip, dirty jokes, and pets like spider monkeys. She treated children like adults, servants like family, and students like colleagues.

Kahlo didn’t care what people thought.

Finding your direction in life. Whether you’re fervent like Frida or quietly passionate like Amelia Earhart, be aware of the open and closed doors in your life. Whether you’re struggling with cancer, chasing a promotion, bored as hell, or getting a divorce – those open and closed doors are pointing you in the right direction.

Go boldly, my friend. Go boldy. And, read Getting What You Want Out of Life – Angelina Jolie for inspiration.

If you’re lucky enough to find direction in life, how did you do it? Comment below – I’d love to hear from you!