W. Lee Baker Author Musings

  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • ABOUT
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • EPK & PRESS RELEASE
  • CONTACT

November 20, 2014 By W. Lee Baker

Relaxing Art Is a Better Amusement

review viagra

Relaxing Art Peaceful Red PepperRelaxing Art – Replacing Distraction

The distractions of everyday life need the addition of some relaxing art. This life is a never ending stream of experiences. All day long we are taking in the stream. We live in a media saturated society. The bountiful stream of devices and media can drown anyone. We now have a richness in quantity and diversity to play with and test our skills. Easily we can be busy and not realize how relaxing art is central in our living hours.

Have you noticed the pull of most TV shows? The building of anticipation, curiosity, and pandering to our more basic attractions. The billions of dollars that flow through TV have a very basic goal, to keep you attracted, promising something interesting coming, and keeping those coming promises just over the next commercial break. Video games and interactive content dispense the candy to the emotional glands in great relation to ones pulling the mouse, or joystick, or trigger. The practice of relaxing art, as a viewer or hobby, on the other hand, is more than just rewarding.

Where Does Relaxing Art Happen?

The place where this happens is your own creative garden, where you live, really live. The act of producing or just being with relaxing art is health providing and emotionally rewarding. When you are in this place, things happen that may never have happened before to anyone else, ever. If you think you don’t have one, that is merely a thought that keeps you where you are.

Have you ever been bored? Of course. What did you do next? Maybe you began something to distract yourself, like TV.  Why not put yourself in gear and take a ride? That is a ride through your own unexplored spaces. Pick up a pencil and doodle. What is the best doodle you can do? The best one is the next one, possibly, and it will only be known when you actually do it.

If you look at what you have  just drawn and find it lacking, that can be information of one of two kinds. Either you make yourself a little smaller in disappointment, or you see it as not as good as you had imagined. This imagining offers the chance to do it better by practice and altering your intended designs or methods, creating your own relaxing art. The lack of perfection is only the distance between where you are and where you can imagine. That is now the thing that pulls you forward, to do what you haven’t done yet.

Relaxing Art is Better Than Perfection

Perfection is never a good goal, as it is as illusive a place like infinity. You may see something as done for now and later see how it can be improved, or done better if redone completely. All of this is the good news. As long as you have the desire to experiment and the courage to be imperfect, there will always be something to do.

To participate with relaxing art is an act of creation, the most satisfying enterprise there is. If you are disappointed, that was in the range of possibilities. Don’t be hard on yourself, since it is most probable that you are not perfect, therefore will mostly fall short of lofty goals. If you happen to do better than you expected, great, and remember, the results will probably continue to vary. Your job is to show up, take hold of your tools, and do something. That something will lead you along the path of a life well lived. The greatest gift you may receive, will be the surprise of how and when it happens in unexpected ways.

Here are a few suggestions to start:

Best Way to Practice Art

How It Might Work Out

Art Supplies For Fun

Filed Under: Uncategorized

MEDITATIONS

Native American

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us. We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water. We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases. We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their light when the sun was gone. We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of her children.

Native American
Hermann Hesse

For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche.

Hermann Hesse
Rumi

We began as mineral. We emerged into plant life, and into the animal state, and then into being human, and always we have forgotten our former states, except in early spring when we slightly recall being green again.

Rumi
Dalai Lama

When the days become longer and there is more sunshine, the grass becomes fresh and, consequently, we feel very happy. On the other hand, in autumn, one leaf falls down and another leaf falls down. The beautiful plants become as if dead and we do not feel very happy. Why? I think it is because deep down our human nature likes construction, and does not like destruction.

Dalai Lama
Stuart Wilde ~ 1946

Watch nature, because it is your greatest teacher. It moves and flows and moves on again. There is an incredible beauty out there in the mountains, in the forests, to teach you it’s silence, it’s beauty, it’s humility. Stay aligned to that.

Stuart Wilde ~ 1946
Rainer Maria Rilke

If you trust in Nature, in the small Things that hardly anyone sees and that can so suddenly become huge, immeasurable; if you have this love for what is humble and try very simply, as someone who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor, then everything will become easier for you.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Ray Stevens - 1939

Everything is beautiful in its own way. Like the starry summer night, or a snow-covered winter’s day. And everybody’s beautiful in their own way. Under God’s heaven, the world’s gonna find the way. There is none so blind as he who will not see. We must not close our minds, we must let our thoughts be free. For every hour that passes by, we know the world gets a little bit older,it’s time to realize that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Ray Stevens - 1939
John Burroughs

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night: to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring… these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

John Burroughs

RECENT THOUGHTS

  • How Do You Feel?

    I mean how ARE you, really? Is it a struggle, or what? We all want something out of our daily …
  • Can You Imagine?

    Unimaginable things happen every day. Real people do real things, and those events in the real world come from having …
  • 10 Reasons to Like Rocks

    It is Silly Tuesday this week. So let’s have some fun. 1. They are quiet. Have you noticed how much …

FROM W LEE BAKER

I am a testimonial to waking up from the deep sleep buried in clouds of doubt. I wandered lost until I found my way into this life, and I am ever thankful and reverent of the mistakes and losses along the way. Now I hope to offer inspiration to others who find this story.

– W Lee Baker

ABOUT OUR IMAGES

All photos and written content on this site are the property of Grinning Apple/W. Lee Baker.

If you have questions about our photos and would like to purchase rights or prints, we certainly invite you to be in touch. Let us know how we can help.  Contact Page

My Feet Don’t Touch the Ground is published by All Things That Matter Press

CONNECT

Message us via our contact form, let us know what you need, and the best way to reach you. We look forward to hearing from you.

Have a wonderful day!
Contact Page

SOCIAL MEDIA

@wleebakerauthor

© COPYRIGHT 2020 Grinning Apple/W. Lee Baker · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • ABOUT
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • EPK & PRESS RELEASE
  • CONTACT