The “Keeping Up With The Jones’” Effect

When you are doing something you’ve never done before you are doing something new. It’s easy to think that you are exactly where you need to be. What I mean when I say “Keeping Up With The Jones’” I don’t mean judge yourself by other’s standards; I mean knock yourself out of complacency.

As an artist, you need to be inspired. Inspiration and not envy is the prime motivator of this post. I know my systems will sustain me. But I can afford to ramp up the beauty and grace a little bit.

I love exposing my mission at Mezzacello to the public. The Mezzacello mission is to Grow, Sustain, Maintain, and Explain. All of these require that I do the work and when the work is done I need to reflect (I am human after all).

The Lantern Party

I recently finished a major expansion of Mezzacello. I am proud of that work. Now I have been inspired by other beautiful gardens that I have seen. I have a new benchmark, but the same mission.In this instance keeping up with the Jones’ will make my mission even more powerful.

One of my ecosystems is the garden of the soul (the formal gardens). The gorgeous garden of my new friends Seamus Patrick and Jeff Allan Marion inspired me to think how I could bring more beauty and sustainability to that ecosystem. I can’t commit to this extravagant of a garden, but what style!

Now I’ll Spend the time in self reflection and come up with a strategy, a budget, a goal, and a timeline. Grow, sustain, maintain, explain. Follow along and we’ll see where we end up!