The Wonder of Art

Have you ever pondered how art really does imitate life? I know it is a bit of a stretch but let us consider children’s books, movies and TV shows. Have you noticed how often the creators of this type of ‘art’ use very adult themes and disguise them in their work? ‘The Simpsons’ is an obvious choice and kids movies that are full of two levels of humour, two good examples would be; ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘Shrek.’ I also love the veiled adult humour of so many programs that my kids used to watch; "The Magic Roundabout" and "Rainbow" being two of my absolute favourites - if you have no idea what I am talking about it really is worth going to YouTube to have a look.

Another interesting cast of characters is Winnie the Pooh and his friends - I am sure they are all based on real people and all have some degree of mental illness. Pooh obviously has an eating disorder, he is a total glutton for honey and overeats in times of stress, times of celebration and just any old time he wants to - I doubt that hunger has a lot to do with it! Then there is Tigger, well ADD if ever you saw it, he never stops bounding around and absolutely can't stay still for a second. Rabbit has a bad case of OCD, what is it with all of that obsessive organizing and cleaning! Don't even get me started on the depressed state of Eeyore, poor old thing, always miserable and full of gloom, and needy little Piglet is such a tragic wee character.

The reason I raise this topic is to illustrate how many truisms we see in art that often reflect our own circumstances and lives. I was discussing this with a group of friends recently and between us all we had one who lives with depression, another has issues with food, another cannot sit still and me..... Well maybe just a little bit obsessive compulsive.

I heard a psychologist speaking on mental illness and the fine line between sanity and insanity and he said that he believed that everybody has some degree of mental illness, it is just how much it affects your life and day to day functioning that matters. Well if it is good enough for the Winnie the Pooh and his mates then it is good enough for me! How wonderful that we are beginning to recognize behaviour traits and oddities as just part of a person, or ourselves, and that it is okay. AA Milne may just have been a pioneer in making some of these so called ‘disorders’ acceptable and maybe just a bit endearing!

What is happiness?

I have been pondering what makes me really happy and decided that it is very dependent on the mood I am in, who I am with, the time of month, the time of year and even the weather outside. Sometimes after a week of rain just seeing the sunshine and feeling it on my face makes me really joyous, and sometimes when I am feeling really active I get great pleasure from hopping on my cycle and going for a ride. Then for about two days every month - (you know when) all I want to do is find the time to curl up with a great book and read.

Happiness really is subjective and certainly different for everybody - and as I get older I find that the things that I used to enjoy have become tiresome or not as enjoyable and I have discovered new things that make me smile. I am making a pledge today to try new things and step outside of my comfort zone more often - I will keep you posted on how it goes!



Lily

Back online after Queensland floods

hello and how lovely to be back online, with all this flooding we were lucky that our house stayed dry and the worst we had to contend with was that we lost power for a couple of days and the internet was unavailable for over a week. It has been a very tense and trying two weeks and my heart goes out to those who lost loved ones and those who are now homeless. 
My partner and I have been doing some volunteer work, they called the volunteers the 'mud army' and we certainly were, over 12,000 of us.  I have lived in Queensland for 5years now and was overwhelmed by the generosity and warmth of the people I met in the last few weeks.  The positive and hopeful attitude of so many people in the face of extreme adversity has been amazing and made me feel so proud to be living in this wonderful country where the true Aussie spirit and grit have been so evident.
It is both frightening and incredible to live in a climate where a severe lightning storm seems to appear out of nowhere when only 20 minutes before it was 30 degrees C and sunny. One day there was over 21,000 lightning strikes, 120km winds and hailstones the size of golf balls. The awesome wonder and power of nature really is on display, I wonder if it is to remind mankind that he isn't as in control of this planet as he wants to believe.
Being stuck indoors has given me more time to work on my book as well as my website (although not live till this week) so please do check out my new recipes, book reviews and a few other bits and pieces I hope you will like;  http://www.reallifebalance.com/

Lily

Had a great new years eve and now that the hype is over and the headache is forgotten it is time to consider that horrid new year's resolution thingy that we seem to feel compelled to explore each year.  I am never sure whether it makes me feel positive or regretful; positive about all the possibilities and a clean slate for the next 12 months or negative that I failed to live up to last years resolutions and maybe 2010 would have been better if only I changed some things about myself! 
I tried to discuss some joint resolutions with the other half yesterday, he just did that male thing and smiled at me with an ominous kind of nodding of his head.  I think he was remembering last years resolutions and how quickly they were forgotten!!  Anyway we finally agreed (well he did nod in a quiet, smilingly affirmative sort of manner) that we are going to try at least one new thing every week! 
I have a gift certificate for a hot air balloon ride for two so that is one week sorted - only 51 to go!  Hmmm, taking into account the free time we have available, finances, weather, mood and the life insurance exclusions I may have to put a bit of thought into this resolution - I need a wine - darn there goes last years no drinking before 4pm resolution!