artistryMuse: The Art of Children's Stories- Shel Silverstein

Monday, October 8, 2012

The Art of Children's Stories- Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein has to be one of the best children's poetry writers, or story tellers. His work inspired a lot of my very first teaching experience - teaching poetry to a class of grade five students in Lancaster, UK. Thank you Robin Bundy for introducing me to Silverstein's poetry, especially "Where the Sidewalk Ends". And thanks Ryan for sharing this piece of Shel Silverstein's. I love it. It's going to be my new favorite story by this author.
Check this out everyone- "The Missing Piece Meets the Big O" :

Why 'artistryMuse'?

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who come alive."- Harold Thurman Whitman

People who seek out, and make room for, that which makes them come alive- they are people unlike any others you will ever meet. I should know, because I have been blessed with meeting such individuals, especially recently (or maybe I just take more notice of them now).

With some, I have merely exchanged a few words. With others, I've sat and chatted for hours at a time. Some I may never see again, and others have become life long friends who I spend time with daily.

But what they all have in common is that they breathe life into the arts, because they are passionate about their chosen artform (or the artform that chose them, as some like to believe).

Despite the challenges, they make time to develop the artist within them. And their example inspires me to do the same.

I am not discounting the value of disciplines that might not be categorized as artistic. They are important as well.

But this blog concentrates more on the arts, because I myself struggled to give the arts a real place to develop fully in my own life, until now. And it seems that the arts are what really make me come alive at present.

It has taken me a long time to understand the true value of the arts (though I now see that there were always signs along the way nudging me, and sometimes even shoving me, towards this realization. I just chose to ignore them)- how they cultivate not only our imagination, thoughts, and minds, but also contribute to our physical and spiritual health and well being. And this, in turn, contributes to our society as a whole.

Isn't it ironic then, how it is often societal pressures and expectations that is one of the greatest hurdles for artists to get over?

Artists have been stereotyped as 'starving' ,'unstable', 'neurotic' or merely wandering through life, senseless. But, as I recall hearing in Lord of the Rings, "Not everyone who wanders is lost."

In fact, what excites me the most is the way artists can make sense of the world. The arts have the power to create a fire in us, an endless love for life and learning. Art can move us, touch our hearts and reach our souls. And this gives our lives meaning.

To all my artist friends and acquaintances, and to those I have yet to meet, thank you for continuing to strengthen my faith in the arts, and for deepening our lives with your work. This blog is for you.

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"The key to loving how you live is in knowing what it is you truly love."- Sarah Ban Breathnach from her book Simple Abundance

"To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to keep your soul alive," Robert Louis Stevenson.

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Something to think about...

Many times, when people are doing what they enjoy, especially when it is artistic, they feel guilty for it, or are told that it is not "real" work. But what if we are meant to do what truly excites and motivates us?

"...there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth... To realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation."- The Alchemist

"Did you know that both the Koran, the sacred book of Islam, and the Jewish Talmud teach that we will be called to account for every permissible pleasure life offered us but which we refused to enjoy while on earth?"- quoted in Simple Abundance-by Sarah Breathnach.

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But it's scary to follow your dreams, especially the artistic ones...

Have you read the Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho? If you haven't, you should, and if you have, keep it nearby to reread it when you need it. It seems to bring something new to me each time I refer back to it.

"... no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams."

"...the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself."

"when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it".- The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho

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"Leap, and the net will appear." - John Burroughs
(Thanks for this one Keita!)

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How will I make a living at it (my art)?

I don't have a specific formula for this. I am still working on it myself. But think about this, "How wll you live WITHOUT it?"

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What about all the people who try to warn me that it's not practical? That it can't be done?

"Those who say it cannot be done shouldn't interrupt the people doing it."- Chinese Proverb

People often try to stop others from pursuing a dream, only because they are scared to do it themselves.

"Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something. Not even me. All right? You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period."- the character Christopher Gardner (played by Will Smith) in the Pursuit of Happyness

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But isn't it too late? Aren't I too old? It was a dream I should have pursued when I was younger.

"Perhaps a long-buried dream still calls to you from a road you chose not to take. If this is true, then stop telling yourself that it's too late. Instead, take comfort in what Faith Baldwin tells us: 'Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.' The delay of our dreams does not mean that they have been denied. Perhaps now you have the wisdom to make alterations in your dream so that it can come true. Perhaps now you have the wisdom to choose differently."

-Sarah Ban Breathnach in Simple Abundance (February 21 entry)

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Monday, October 8, 2012

The Art of Children's Stories- Shel Silverstein

Why 'artistryMuse'?

Books That Celebrate and Help Develop the Artist Within and Encourage Us to Follow Our Dreams

Artsy Venues in Vancouver that you must check out!

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