If you do not stop here today, you might never realize your “true self-worth.” This is a special medicine just for you, meant to awaken your sleeping talent and turn tomorrow’s loneliness into your ultimate weapon.
Please, take a seat. Have a warm cup of tea and let’s talk slowly.
Today, I have come to deliver the soul of a certain man to you.
Don’t be surprised. The protagonist of this story is not me. And of course, it’s not the collection of old paintings I brought with me either.
The star of this moment is “you”—the person listening to my words right in front of me.
I will not speak a single word that doesn’t matter to you. I have no intention of giving a boring lecture.
I am only here to talk about that indescribable anxiety you carry in your daily life.
That impatience of thinking, “Is it really okay for me to stay like this?”
That isolation of feeling, “No one truly understands me.”
We are going to erase all of that completely.
What I am about to show you are the words of life left behind by a man named Vincent van Gogh.
Do you think of him as a madman?
No, that’s not right. He was a human being who struggled, agonized, and searched for his place in the world, just like you do now.
The words and life of his that I will introduce from here on will reflect your own image like a mirror.
By the time you finish reading this, the scenery before your eyes should change into completely different colors.
Let’s listen together to the sound of your heart burning quietly, yet intensely.
10 Quotes by Van Gogh That Will Shake Your Soul
Now, let me hand you these word cards from my hand, one by one.
Take a close look at them. Can you smell the paint?
Let me tell you, one by one, how each word will save your life and the benefits you will receive.
1. “Do not look for beautiful scenery. Find the beautiful things within the scenery.”
- Relevance to you:Are you looking for some special happiness or a dramatic change right now? You might think that if you go “somewhere other than here,” you will be fulfilled. But these words gently illuminate the ground right beneath your feet.
- The benefit to you:When you engrave these words onto your heart, your daily commute or your usual room will instantly start shining like a scene from a movie. The sparkle of water poured into a glass, the evening light filtering through the window. Without going to a special place, you can become the richest person in the world from this very moment. Your boring daily life turns into your very own treasure box.
2. “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
- Relevance to you:When you try to start something new, don’t you hear a voice whispering inside your head, saying, “You can’t do it anyway” or “It’ll be embarrassing if you fail”? That is just an illusion created by your own anxiety.
- The benefit to you:These words act as a powerful palm pushing you forward. You will realize that the only way to silence the critical voice inside your mind is not to stand still making excuses, but simply to “take action.” The moment you hit the keyboard, grip your pen, and take that first step, the fog of fear will clear up all at once. You will be completely liberated from the lack of confidence that was binding you.
3. “I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.”
- Relevance to you:Are you the type of person who cannot act until you are perfectly prepared? You might be postponing your chances, thinking you need to get a qualification first or gain more knowledge.
- The benefit to you:By accepting these words, you can drop the heavy burden called “fear of failure” right onto the floor. Challenging what you cannot do becomes your textbook in itself. Failure is not a shame; it is proof that you are becoming wiser. Once you acquire this mindset, you will become an invincible version of yourself, jumping into any unknown job or environment with excitement.
4. “I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.”
- Relevance to you:Are you always worrying about how others see you, trying to live smartly and efficiently, and exhausting yourself? Suppressing your emotions and pretending to be detached will shave away your soul bit by bit.
- The benefit to you:You can give yourself permission to be uncool sometimes, and to lose yourself in something to the point of madness. You will know the joy of pouring your energy into what you truly love or the work you value, without calculating the costs. Released from the chains of other people’s evaluation, you will be able to explode the overwhelming passion you inherently possess.
5. “There may be a great fire in our soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke.”
- Relevance to you:“I’m working so hard, but nobody notices.” “I feel like my passion is running on empty.” Are you in the midst of such loneliness right now?
- The benefit to you:Take a deep breath. Even if nobody notices, the fire burning in your heart is real. These words wrap your loneliness in a deep sense of affirmation. You will be able to think, “It’s natural that they don’t understand. Even so, I must not let this fire die out.” You will stop seeking validation from others, and gain the strength to move forward quietly and surely, believing in your inner flame.
6. “For me, living is not just consuming, but creating something.”
- Relevance to you:Scrolling through your phone screen, consuming other people’s successes or funny videos, and suddenly the day is over. Have you ever felt an unspeakable emptiness on such a night?
- The benefit to you:From today on, you will no longer be a mere “audience member,” but the “main character” on the stage of your own life. Writing a short diary entry, cooking a meal, or speaking warm words to someone—the moment you take the initiative to create something, no matter how small, your self-loathing will vanish. A true sense of fulfillment, the feeling that you are controlling your life with your own hands, will fill your chest.
7. “Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.”
- Relevance to you:Are you keeping your distance from people and things because you are afraid of getting hurt? Are you closing your heart, thinking it’s safer not to get hurt if you maintain a cynical attitude?
- The benefit to you:These words will gently melt your frozen heart. Loving something or someone with all your might is not a weakness; it is your greatest strength. When you approach your work, hobbies, and the people around you with love, a strange magic that moves others’ hearts will dwell in your words and actions. You will experience people naturally gathering around you, and things turning around smoothly beyond your belief.
8. “What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?”
- Relevance to you:Are you choosing only the safe paths, the flat roads that everyone walks? Are you trying to stay in your current place just to avoid risk, even though you know it is boring?
- The benefit to you:The clock of your life will begin to move with a clatter. These words are the key to unlocking the cage of safety and letting you out. By realizing that a life without challenges is the ultimate terror, you will cease to fear small risks. The joy of encountering a new scenery and a new version of yourself just one step ahead. Your life will evolve into a thrilling and profoundly interesting adventure.
9. “Even in the midst of a storm, there is always a beautiful rainbow in my heart.”
- Relevance to you:Are you facing a painful situation right now at work or in your relationships, as if you are in the middle of a massive storm? Are you about to despair because you cannot see what lies ahead?
- The benefit to you:A “secret shelter” that will absolutely never break, no matter the adversity, will be completed inside your heart. No matter how bad the situation gets, nobody can steal your inner beauty, your ideals, or your hope. Even when facing trouble, you will gain an overwhelming mental toughness that lets you flash a fearless smile and think, “How can I make things interesting from here?”
10. “I just want to express what I see with my own eyes and what I feel in my heart, exactly as it is.”
- Relevance to you:Social norms, company rules, parental expectations. Are you suffocating by trying to fit yourself into the mold of “how you ought to be”?
- The benefit to you:You gain permission to live as “yourself” and no one else. You don’t need to conform to other people’s right answers. Your sense of discomfort, your feelings of what you love—those themselves are the right answers. When you can speak and act while trusting your own intuition, living becomes surprisingly easy. Your individuality will begin to radiate a one-of-a-kind brilliance.
The Ultimate Lesson You Can Learn from Van Gogh’s Suffering-Filled Life
Let’s put the word cards aside for a moment, and gaze intently at the way this man named Van Gogh actually lived.
Imagine a pitch-black canvas right in front of you.
Van Gogh’s life was exactly like that darkness.
During his lifetime, he sold only one single painting. He couldn’t keep a proper job, he was rejected by the people he loved, he was treated as a eccentric by his own family, and in the end, he suffered from mental illness and took his own life. By worldly standards, he was a total “loser” who lived a “life of grand failure.”
Yet, today, we look at his paintings and shed tears. Why is that?
Here lies the most wonderful, and most gritty lesson for you to survive your life from now on.
“Even if it takes too long for the world to understand you, your value does not drop by a single millimeter.”
This is the fact that Van Gogh proved with his life.
Are you anxious right now because you are not being appreciated?
The number of likes on social media, your company evaluation, a casual word from someone else—never let such things dictate your worth.
Van Gogh’s paintings were deemed “worthless” while he was alive. However, after his death, people all over the world noticed their beauty, and today they are worth tens of billions of yen.
The paintings didn’t change. The eyes of the world simply hadn’t caught up to his passion yet.
No matter how lonely you are right now, no matter if no one recognizes you, what you are seriously working on, the kindness and passion inside your heart, already possess an absolute value.
It might just be that the era or your surroundings haven’t caught up to you yet.
So, do not easily dilute your colors just to match the level of those around you.
Let’s end the habit of measuring your life with someone else’s ruler today.
An Unexpected Truth: The Reason Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” Blooms Before Your Eyes Right Now
Now, let me show you something interesting.
I’ll open the curtain behind me.
Look, see there.
What you see is that famous Sunflowers painted by Van Gogh.
Of course, it is not the original oil painting. But please, step closer and look carefully.
The yellow paint is built up incredibly thick, rising off the surface.
It is as if, rather than paint, hot magma solidified right there on the canvas.
He applied this yellow in layers as if striking the canvas with his brush, or clinging to it directly with his fingers.
Here, I must tell you an unexpected fact.
This intense, almost blinding yellow.
How do you feel when you look at this? You probably think, “What a bright painting, overflowing with energy.”
However, when he was painting this, his mind was actually on the brink of collapse.
His communal life with his close friend Gauguin was falling apart, he couldn’t sleep at night due to loneliness and anxiety, and he was at the darkest rock bottom of his life, right before he cut off his ear.
Yes, he did not paint a bright picture because he was happy.
“Because he was in the depths of deadly darkness, he madly sought the light and squeezed out this yellow.”
This sunflower was his cry of agony, and at the same time, a fierce declaration of his will not to lose to despair.
Right now, the yellow of this sunflower is reflected in your eyes.
Inside your head, feel that vivid yellow gradually spreading out.
Doesn’t that yellow sync up perfectly with the small feeling inside your heart right now that whispers, “I want to crawl back up”?
If you are in a painful situation right now, remember this sunflower.
Beautiful things are born not from a fulfilled environment, but precisely from your “hunger” and “thirst.” Your suffering will become the finest fertilizer for blooming a beautiful flower that belongs only to you.
Now, Finish Your Tea, and Return to Your World
Thank you so very much for staying with my story for such a long time.
The tea has gone cold before we knew it.
Van Gogh’s words, and the yellow of that sunflower.
Have those images burned themselves deeply into your mind?
When you head to your usual, boring workplace tomorrow.
When you are hurt by someone’s words and look up at the ceiling of your room alone.
Please, remember the conversation we had here today.
You might be lonely. But inside that loneliness, a beautiful fire is burning, the likes of which no one has ever seen.
Never let others decide your value.
Leap into what you cannot do, find beauty within the everyday, and live your life your way, just as you see the world through your own eyes.
On the canvas of your life, a wide space remains where no color has been painted yet.
What kind of intense color you paint there is entirely up to you.
Now, lift your head.
Go on out and begin the continuation of your wonderful life. I am always here, cheering on your challenges.
