What is Vita COLITUR?

Winter Sunrise, Myrtle Beach, SC - Photo by Lynn Morgan Rosser ©2023

(I will tell the story of how I came to call it this in the first episode of the upcoming podcast…I will be sharing the launch date and information about this very soon.)

Vita COLITUR covers several things. First is the acronym “Creating Our Lives Is The Ultimate (A)Rt.” This is about taking an active role in what we do with our days, our dreams, our skills, etc. It is about creativity and art, yes, and much of what we discuss will be framed as that by artists and creatives of different types, who have built their lives around their music, or writing, or other form of art.

And yes, it is an imperfect acronym, using the hard-r of ‘art’ rather than an ‘a,’ but there is a reason for this, given that ‘colitur’ is a Latin word that feels integral to the whole concept of Vita COLITUR (I will get to that in the moment). It is also a reminder to me that absolute perfection isn’t the goal, and sometimes things can be ‘perfect’ without being weighed down by perfectionism.

Vita COLITUR is also about finding and embodying our singular sense of purpose, what the Japanese might call our “ikigai” — what motivates us to get up in the morning, what we are both responsible to and what gives us joy and energy. Developing and discovering this motivation is linked to longevity and health, but is also a path to create our lives in ways that truly feed our souls.

Vita COLITUR is about transforming ourselves through creative and practical means to live fully, wholly and authentically. It can mean living as creatives or just creating a life we enjoy and feel good about on a daily basis. It can mean developing practical and productive habits and achieving specific goals, and it can also mean taking the time to wander the paths of our dreams in search of synchronicities and guideposts. Vita COLITUR is a way of being in the world.

The latin words “Vita colitur” have two basic meanings: life is cultivated, life is worshipped.

So Vita COLITUR is also akin to gardening: cultivating the soil, culling weeds and thinning sprouts for the best possible growth, nurturing, providing nutrients and fertilizer, allowing for the magic of time and growth, protecting our harvest of flower, fruit and living things, putting in the work of maintaining the plot consistently to achieve the best result…all these things can metaphorically apply to creating our lives. Cultivate also means to “refine,” or improve ourselves through care, work, attention, and letting go of things that hold us back. It means to encourage and work for that which we want to grow in our lives, remove things or situations that negatively impact our growth so we can focus on what will feed us.

What about the second meaning, “Life is Worshipped?” To me this implies exploring the depths of soulfulness, whatever that looks like for one’s life. It could be in a religion, or in no religion, but the idea is to connect with that which is far greater than our small selves, to feel part of the vastness of the universe in a tangible and meaningful way, and to live from a core of loving, with qualities such as integrity, gratitude, service, humility, grace, etc. It also means to truly appreciate life, to live in enjoyment of the good things we have, to live fully and embrace the days we have with energy and love.

So with all of that, Vita COLITUR is the art of creating our lives, and is, for me, developing into more than a motto, but a kind of lifestyle that encompasses all these ideas and ideals. The podcast and blog will focus on exploration of these concepts, of the creative process and how it is cultivated in the lives of artists, and how this can apply to everyone seeking to actively create their lives in meaningful ways, to find and focus on their unique purpose, to live in wholeness and enjoyment of life.

I am looking forward to delving into all of this with the purpose of actively creating and transforming, cultivating and nurturing my own life.

I hope you will join me!

- Lynn