In high school one of my favorite subjects was Sociology. Partly because even then I loved to study human emotions and behavior, and why people do the things they do, and partly because I had a major crush on my Sociology teacher, Mr. Jones. One day in his class, we were given a piece of paper that had all sorts of shapes on it and we were instructed to draw or write whatever we felt like drawing or writing. There were no right or wrong answers. Afterward, Mr. Jones used a book to help us analyze what we had created. For instance, in one case there was a circle. If you drew a face inside the circle, you were most likely a social person, interested in people. If you drew outside the lines and turned the circle into a flower that meant something else. Perhaps this was my first real indication that I have a strong fascination with people. Almost every shape on my paper had been fashioned in to some type of person.
Several years ago I had another epiphany. Practically every piece of art in my entire house contains the image of a person's face. Most of the pieces I bought immediately after I saw them. Sometimes it's because their faces are beautiful to me, sometimes because they convey a certain emotion, or maybe I just like the way they make me feel. With many of them, it's almost as if they were speaking to me. Some of the pieces were given to me, and they are special too, but the ones I've picked out myself are different. Something about them called to me as soon as I saw them. Now don't get me wrong; these aren't priceless original paintings. Most of them are prints of paintings or photographs, but they mean a lot to me.
So I've been on vacation this week. My objectives were to get some cleaning and organizing done here at the house, and also to spend some quiet, reflective time with myself. It's rare that I'm ever home alone, so when I am, it's quiet. No television, no music; just me and my thoughts. As mentioned in my last post, one of my major goals in the coming weeks is to focus on positive and healthy things. Eliminating negativity is something I've been thinking about all day. So just now I was sitting here at the computer and I looked over at the beautiful print of a painting on the wall, near where I was sitting. I got this print at an antique mall where I used to have lunch quite frequently. It caught my eye the first time I went there, but I didn't buy it for awhile. I always knew I would, though. Everytime I went there I stared at it. It captivated me. Anyway, today I was thinking how beautiful it was and I was remembering the day I finally brought it home, and something hit me. I started looking at the young woman closely. Her ears are plugged, and two young angels surround her. I have no idea what William Adolphe Bouguereau was thinking when he painted it, but to me it reminded me that to keep peace in my life, I need to cover my ears, so to speak. I need to surround myself with beauty, and keep the bad stuff out. Bad foods, bad energy, negativity. None of it should have a place in my life.
It may seem as if I'm talking in circles today, but this has been a good week for me. I've been able to get my thoughts organized, which is often a challenge for my tornado of a mind, and I've been able to foucs on the things that are becoming more and more important to me. Healthy mind, healthy body.
