In my own history of anxiety, I’ve unnoticed come at the problem from different directions. One was through logic and reason, another through insight and awareness. Now as an artist it’s imagery and metaphor. It made me reflect on the different ways we relate to and cope with our hopes, fears and worries. In the […]
Handshaking Serendipity: One big strategy for life
‘No good sittin’ worryin’ abou’ it,” he said. “What’s comin’ will come, an’ we’ll meet it when it does.’ Hagred, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling So much of our suffering seems to be self-inflicted. When I was younger I learned to retreat from life. I found the world to […]
The pitfalls of self-help/Personal Development – Passion Myth
‘The desire to find that one true passion leaves people anxious because they can’t find it, afraid they’ll never will locate it, and exhausted from trying’ Richard Collison I’ve heard this one a lot many years ago. Just ‘follow your passion’ and you will find success. Find and follow what makes your pulse quicken, your […]
The Heroes Journey and My Art
I reread the Star Wars X-Wing trilogy recently. Pleased that I found it a compelling as when I first read it. Reading for hours at a time, even late into the night. But the stories are what I note most of all. The feelings of joy, the camaraderie, the connection I felt with the characters. […]
The Abstract Expressionists
So many different art movements were born during the 20th century that I can’t go into them all, but one was the Abstract Expressionists (AbEx). I’ve been looking at them through the Museum of Modern Arts online course at Coursera, presented by Corey D’Augustine. In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting I found it to be […]
The Buddhist idea of Suchness, Thusness (Tathātā)
We might ask ourselves in a moment of contemplation, ‘why is there something, not nothing?’ or ‘why is the cosmos the way it is and not some other way?’ But that’s like asking ‘why does a bee sting you?’ It’s an absurd question because that what bees are supposed to do. There is no why. […]