Love, Creativity, Boredom & Aging Well
KEYS TO WELL BEING NEWSLETTER – NOVEMBER 17, 2011
• Book – Shantaram
• Music – Imogen Heap – “Just For Now”
• Articles – Aging Well & The Importance Of Boredom
• Interview – Barbara Lewis with Los Angeles radio host, Nina Boski on “Dolphins”
• Laughter! – Age Activated Attention Deficit
• Performance at Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill – on Sunday, Nov. 20th. To those who wrote to tell me that they were coming to the show, please note that the evening is Sold Out. If you would still like to try to attend, please call Upstairs @ 514.931.6808 to see if there have been any cancellations. I’m sorry about that.
SHANTARAM – Love Words Of Wisdom
I recently finished reading the book, Shantaram, written by Gregory David Roberts. This is a big book – 943 pages. I would never give a book of this size to my mother-in-law, Olga, who is 94. She could not lift it!
However, reading a book like this with a Kindle makes the size a non-problem. And in any event, this novel does not seem long. Shantaram, which takes place for the most part, in India, is a love story. Or to be more accurate, it is a story about many different kinds of loves found in unlikely places. The setting is Bombay – often, in the slums. The writing is masterful. The story is richly textured. The people and situations are unusual and compelling. (The only passages that seemed a little forced were the few sexual situations in the book. I found them a bit frilly. But that is in no way a deterent.)
This character-rich story is deeply moving. I recommend it highly.
Roberts writes on his web site that pretty much anything of value that is created must have LOVE as a integral part of the creation process.
“How do we measure the qualities of surpassing excellence and artistry? For the purposes of this discussion, I will confine the very long answer to this profound question to the nature of art itself. In my view, art can be defined as: any creative human expression involving work, skill, coherence, and love. Proceeding from that definition, a work (that is, a creative human expression) of surpassing excellence and artistry is one that exhibits profound manifestations of work, skill, coherence, and love.”
• IMOGEN HEAP –
Here is a singer who creates glorious music, on the spot – Just For Now
• AGING WELL – The NEW Value Of Exercise
• A LITTLE BIT OF BOREDOM, ANYONE? – The Importance of Mind Wandering
• AN INTERVIEW ON DOLPHINS – Barbara Lewis talks with radio host, Nina Boski about Dolphins.
The song mentioned in the interview is here: Dolphin Dream.
Laughter – Age Activated Attention Deficit!___________________________________________
SING NOW!
For someone who dreams of singing, here is the perfect gift: A friendly Get Started Guide that answers a beginning singer’s most important questions. And a 20-minute Vocal Warmup that takes him/her through an easy set of singing exercises that ends with a gorgeous sing-along song.