Philosophy

Enthusiasm is a renewable resource

| Mac

“Enthusiasm is a form of social courage.” – The Happiness Project, Chapter 11 – Gretchen Rubin

YES!

I love this quote from the Happiness Project. Those of you who know me or have read a fair share of Exploring-Art.com know that I am very enthusiastic, I always try to look at the positive, and sometimes that can make Exploring-Art.com seem a little gushy. Don’t fear I don’t feel that way about everything, I just choose to write about the things that I really have strong, positive feelings for.

For instance I loved RED; it received the full gushy review and recommendation. But the Belfry’s offering of On The Edge that I saw just last Thursday received no mention at all. Don’t get me wrong, going out for an evening to support the arts is always a worthwhile endeavour, so if you want more exposure to the arts, and you live in Victoria go see the current play at the Belfry. Just don’t expect the world, and honestly the highlight of the evening was a wonderful dinner and bottle of wine (Road 13 Chenin Blanc) at Stage the local Fernwood wine bar. I don’t want to write about things that don’t elicit my enthusiasm. I want to write about what excites me, what makes me happy what aligns to Exploring-Art.com’s motto – “Design, Philosophy, Art – Liberating Creative Endeavours”. I don’t want to pan, be terse or put down, as there’s enough of that in the world without my help.

So this epiphany shatters a number of planned changes to Exploring-Art.com. I was planning to launch two new columns here on the site, essentially recommending artsy stuff happening in order to promote participation, which I believe is important. One called “In Victoria” recommending anything artsy that was on the horizon, and two “On the Screen”, which would recommend things on AppleTV or Netflix (I’m cable free) that would appeal to like-minded people. These planned columns have been scratched. Not because they’re bad ideas but because it’s more important to me to channel and share my enthusiasm than it is for me to deliver an encyclopedic reference of the good, bad and ugly of Victoria’s or Netflix’s art scene.

Embrace enthusiasm! Focus on the positive! Free your mind from your subconsciousness, break your innate cycle of want, go forth and conquer… with a smile!

Fortuitously, enthusiasm is a renewable resource here at Exploring-Art.com. There’s more coming.

Truism 02-01-2012

| Mac

I have a million things in the fire right now. It’s ironic that I’m currently writing a short story on how I recently dropped my UVic night class in an attempt to simplify my life, and yet I keep filling up the space with a million other things. Alas, we humans are odd creatures.

With the million and one things on my mind, keeping me awake, a truism arrived from somewhere in my super conscious and I was inspired to share – Laughter is not the enemy of progress. 

His and Her’s – Entry Art

| Mac

This will be an unusually short post for Exploring-Art because I had an impromptu moment of aesthetic bliss and I wanted to share. My wife and I have been in Vancouver this weekend, and we are preparing to return to the island amid gale force winds. I was sitting in one of the club chairs  in our hotel room and was struck by the view on the console table in the entry way. Poetry really is everywhere.