... there is illustration. Just spent a few happy minits of my increasingly hectic life viewing Paige Pooler's blog. http://eyeswideapart.blogspot.com/. No- she's not a friend of mine, and no- this is not a plug. Just sending out happies into the universe.
Talking about illustration and such like, there is something meditative about art. And sports. Or physical labor, for that matter. I remember being lost for hours on end on a single sketch, trying to get a certain twist of the eye or twinkle in the arm just right. 6 and a half hours would have gone by; my left leg would have gone to sleep and woken up several times over; i would've skipped several meals in the meanwhile; and I would not so much as notice (try taking one snack away from me now, let alone a meal!). These days, I try to work for 20 minutes straight... and in that time I've made 7 trips to la la land! I take 22 chai breaks in a day. I browse. I blog. I call random people. All in an attempt to break up the dreadful monotony in my slow and painful trudge up the corporate ladder.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced Chick-sent-me-highee, i swear am not making this up- he he he) spends his life studying human beings and happiness, and he determined that human beings are happiest when they are in a state of 'flow'. I think he defined 'flow' as an intensified emotional state when one is immersed in a challenging activity which requires one to extend one's abilities in order to complete the task at hand. I think that's what is missing in corporate careers... there is no immersion, no passion, no happiness, no nothing. Well, one can hardly be passionate about opening and closing excel spreadsheets, attending meaningless meetings and filling toner in the printer. I do not exactly stay up outside the window of my 'corporate career' all night going "But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and 'corporate career' is the sun."
I wonder... what prompts us to stay in these meaningless jobs... and many-a-time, for life?
(True Post Script: This ponderous meanderous post is multipurpose:
1. It's an excuse to get away from the above mentioned lifeforcesucking work
2. Implied in the post is the excuse for not having blogged in forever
3. It's an opportunity to show off that I have heard about someone called Chick-sent-me-highee (he he he) )
1 comment:
I couldn't agree more. Where has all the passion gone? BTW, Don McLean's "Vincent" (or "Starry Starry Night" as it is sometimes better known) is playing and it seems totally appropriate... highly recommend a listen if it's not been heard already. (this from a van Gogh fan)
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