|
~
~
|
by
Robert Genn
In the
recently published "Against
Happiness," popular writer Eric Wilson disparages our current love
affair with putting on a happy face. With
our "feel good" culture and the widespread use of happy drugs,
everybody's trying to be cheerful and there are no decent dollops of
melancholy and sadness, he says. When
this happens, art becomes bland, unchallenging and redundant. Dr.
Thomas Svolos of the department of Psychiatry at Creighton University
School of Medicine thinks Wilson is right. "When you're melancholy, you
tend to step back and examine your life," he says. "That kind of
questioning is essential for creativity." A
state of thoughtful melancholy and sensitivity breeds an elevated
creativity and a more profound happiness. Here are a few of my own keys: Take time for private wandering and nature's gifts. Dig around and explore purposefully. Serve others as well as your own passions. Look for potential in all things and all beings. Face life's deeper meanings squarely and truthfully. Move through thoughtful understanding to pervasive action. Know you are partner in a great brotherhood and sisterhood. Accept
sadness as part of the human condition. Know
that in the big picture you are not important, but what you make and do
is. A high
percentage are prescribed ad hoc by family doctors, without benefit of
thorough analysis. Does
anyone prescribe a host of golden daffodils, a mountain stream, or a
robin's nest on which to contemplate? Perhaps
it's too "do it yourself" and non-profit to be considered. But it seems
to me that's where happiness lies and dreams are made. Just
try painting that nest. It's a spiritual act, loaded with joy. "The
world," said Robert Louis Stevenson, "is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." Their
cases are the extremes and have not much to do with the normal healthy
understanding of the mystery of our existence and the daily trials of
life. Garden variety melancholics also carry the torch of happiness. No
strings, just a thank-you. We make it easy. We even send your friends a
personal letter to let them know the twice-weekly connection is from
you. Please talk to your friends and make sure they are not already
subscribers. Those already listed for our twice-weekly send-out will
not count toward your free gift. 
From The Robert Genn
Twice-Weekly Letter - 5/26/08
Positive psychology resources : articles sites Creativity
enhancement
articles Visual
arts ~ ~ ~ |
|
