The day to day experience of life has changed dramatically over the last two thousand years but the realities of human existence have not. Over the coming months, I will be working on an undertaking to convey what I think are important lessons from ancient oriental texts.
What Lessons?
I have a particular interest in issues surrounding mental health and promoting creativity in day-to-day life. ‘Mental Health’ itself seems to be a loaded term which has negative connotations. That just doesn’t seem right to me. All people have a level of mental health. This is just as all people are in a physical state of fitness or unfitness at any point in their lives.
Promoting stable mental health states is important in the face of issues such as anxiety and depression. I am certain more people openly engaging with mental health issues would reduce increasingly common psychiatric problems. Talking helps.
There is a lot of writing on success and achievement around on many blogs and in the ‘self-help’ literature. For sure most people would like not only to function on a basic level but to achieve what they ultimately desire. I hope that my writing and works encourage other people to be more creative. Yet I don’t encourage goals and plans for some kind of ultimate success. I believe that balance in one’s life and sustainable happiness are more important.
The lessons that I learn from my studies will, of course, be conveyed in text format as blog posts. However, once I have collated enough wisdom to draw inspiration, I will create an art piece related to the meaning. This means that by the end of the project I will have a gallery of creative artworks which somehow reflect the lessons.
Process
My favourite software for writing projects is Scrivener due to its flexibility and functionality. I have in the past used it to plot stories but this is the first time I will use it for non-fiction purposes. I’ll take notes and make insights, draft my own thoughts and then produce what will be the lessons I’ve drawn. I’ll be using Corel Painter 2017 to produce the artworks.
