Tuesday 17 February 2015

Introvert vs extrovert


                                                      I, am an introvert by nature...

     but was shaped into a "fake" extrovert so that I could FIT into society.
This, of course means, that I am social, good with people and seemingly relaxed and joyful amongst the crowds.
    But I can assure you, it is VERY tyring.
I mean, to try and be someone that you are not.

I think I owe it to my mother... since I have read things she wrote about me being so shy and reclusive, and her working hard on making me social and outward. I believe she did a good job of it, cause I am actually a VERY advanced form of extrovert. Having been given the blessing of being tolerant and genuinely open-minded, I can easily fit and mingle with all sorts of crowds.

                                         Here with Paula Risikko, minister of transport and
                                          municipality affairs

                                        Here a market flea.
  
                                         And here learning from Mom the talent of being social
                                        and candid in a natural way.

Our society is built around social people - hence the name, I guess. Amiable, sympathetic, good to get along with, easy to talk to. Meet an extrovert and what stays in your mind is "hey, what a nice fellow!". Which is ok, I mean, i don´t have anything against that - and do like being around positive people. HOWEVER... what I am against is the placing of all our energy on extroverted people.

   And the fact that we place so much value on outward appearances - and forget that all that shines is not gold!
   In a way I believe that introverts could really be the solution for our future! We can see where it has taken us to follow extroverts - a much too fast paced way of life, with tons of who-ha... colourful adds, cheerful marketing, loud fanfares all over the place, constant chatting..... and even the extroverts becoming exhausted and in need of "Time Out".

Introverts are a bit harder to reach - I agree.... withdrawn into their own world - they seem distant and unreachable. However - just because of this, they have a much richer inner life, they oftentimes think much more - thus energising their brains and logic.... they are very aware of whats happening around them and.... have tons to offer. They have quality!

                                         Some birds don´t belong to the flock.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the word "belongs to the flock" is simply wrong.
As a parent I have to agree I am happy when I see my little Inda outgoing and playful with others - I mean, what parent wouldn´t.

                                          But this is just because I know we all give so much
                                          priority to "Belongers to the group" + the fact

that interaction and so forth is, without question important for good development.

However.... I would like Inda to learn and see underneath the surface.

                                                 The things that REALLY matter....

And hope for a future where tolerance is extended to those who don´t belong to the group.

                                         The different, the quiet, the ones that society at this point
feels are difficult and time consuming > just because they are not easily molded.

As a teacher I know how much nicer a sympathetic easy group is to lead. And I admit at first, when I started teaching, I did not like the ones that disagreed, where distant and hard to reach. But I have to say, there is no real challenge in teaching "good pupils"....
       The most gratifying experience comes when you have reached the "difficult". =D

Having said this, IF my mother was able to teach me to be social... it must be possible. And IF we could teach the social ones to be tolerant - and maybe a bit more introverted... we could have these two groups meet halfway.

                                         Intro and extro     TOGETHER

Real treasures are hard to find.They probably do lie at the end of the rainbow...

                                                      but believe me, IF you get a whats-up message saying you have won the lottery - despite you never playing....

                                                          DON`T open it! <3 <3 <3



 



Saturday 14 February 2015

Hyvää elämää - its for the best!



                                               There is love.... in the dark



Just finished watching "True detective"....
in the end, the two main characters are looking up at the sky...on a bright starry night, and Woody Harrelson (great performance) asks his friend what he sees up there...


                         "the eternal, the ever-changing struggle between light and dark...."
                         "Seems to me, says Woody.... that there is quite some dark"...
                       "You got it wrong" says the friend...
                                         "In the beginning there was just darkness!"

                                           Like with so many other things, i guess its just a matter of
                                                                     perspective.

"how do we see things?"
         Teaching art taught me a very interesting thing... we all see things differently yet, we somehow believe everybody will see them in the same way we do =D I was oftentimes amazed at some art piece that was developing under the struggling hands of a student. There was life there!!!! the will to create, the desire, the vision,,, maybe not enough talent yet to take it to the point I imagined the student was aiming for... but because of this it was alive! I would be thinking "wish i could create that.... or please... let me take it from here - envisioning many possibilities, open roads to tread on happily in the bliss of creation". which is when the student would turn around, look at me unhappily, and say "what a crappy day I am having, nothing is going the right way, i hate what I have in front of me!"
    This made me realise that the biggest party pooper in life is expectation. We expect too much - and don´t emphasise with what life offers us! I might be mistaken, but to me, the reason why my pupil could not see the beauty coming alive in front of him/her... was that it did not come close to the image stored in his brain... the expected image. As an outsider I could not know what this vision might be, and so I just enjoyed what was in front of me.
      
                                                     (Here a piece of one of my students,
                                                    interpreting Picasso - later messed up
                                                   by me!)

 What I love about the painting above is the mix of simple understandable areas together with more intricate and seemingly messy chaos.
                                       We like what we understand....

                         and we understand what is similar to what we have stored in our brain. I guess, THAT is why artists are called rebellious.... they try to work on the sector most people don´t understand... therefore accepting they probably will not be understood > not liked > controversial figures.
I once read that Beauty is the mirror of good, and the artists job is to help people understand this. I interpret that as "the artists job is to try and broaden peoples mind - thus to create tolerance and openmindness. Beauty is loving also what you don´t understand - you just have to learn to see it, in a new perspective.

                                                   walking towards the sun

    My soul brother Rudy said to me the other day over the phone.... I believe in good!
And so do I. I have always believed in good... Life IS GOOD.

   Sometimes we might believe it is not.
                     However... this I find strange.... with Kids we deal with that problem easily.... take for instance when they are blissfully playing.... and time is up for bed.... we tell them its time to pack up the things and put on their pyjama. This disruption of their fun might throw them into a fit, crying, complaining they are not tired... etc. And what is it we do???? We tell them, "son, this is for your best! Believe me, you will thank me tomorrow when you wake up full of energy in the morning after a good night sleep!
  Sometimes we might even say "this is for your best .... don´t ask me why, you will understand when you grow up!"

However, when life stops our fun... we also go into a fit of crying and lashing out.... and totally forget it also might be for the best. WE SHOULD GROW UP - to understand!

These lyrics of Paul Simon I like very much:



                       I know a father who had a son,
    he longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he had done 
                 he came a long way , just to explain,,
kissed his boy as he lay sleeping and then he headed home again.
.... You know the nearer your destination the more you are slip-sliding away.

God only knows, god makes his plan…the information is unavailable for the mortal man. we work in our jobs, collect our pay, believe we are driving on the highway when in fact we are slip sliding away….
                                            
                                                      El Señor                   de la Mancha


We definitely don´t understand the plan.... cause we are kids. And oftentimes... though knowing what is the right thing to do (good)... we give up just as we are on the final stretch to succeeding. We lack patience to deal with what we don´t like. We simply don´t like to work to understand. So, we just slip slide away.... in our highway of EASY.

Tough times, rough patches... they come. But I believe they are... for our best. To grow up.
                                        
                                                   Together... when its cold

     My way of dealing with them is to paint...

and to listen to music with good lyrics... and melodies =D
   Because its artists trying to make us understand... the difficult.

One of my favourite singer - song writers is unarguably Vesa Matti Loiri...
    and today I am going to share with you two of his lyrics.... that help and have helped me on struggling times! =D
                          



               1)       "kaiken nähnyt"   (Everything been seen)
IF
   I know everything there is to know
      I can close the book
      and never read it
IF
   I have seen everything there is to see
   I can very well close my eyes

But if I still don´t fully feel and understand the blue sky,
                  I should go and measure it.

IF
  I have done with my hands,
    all there is for them to do
  let them rest forever

If I have been with my feet to all the places they can go
  Let them stay put

But If I still don´t know the peak of the mountain
             I should go and measure it - too

If I know you, I can close my eyes in front of you
If I know by heart your thoughts,
     I can turn my back to your smile...
But if there is something I don´t know about your life...

       I have to go and measure it too. =D 
                                                
                                                   I need a longer leash!


        2) Hyvaa elämäää   (Good life)

                                      I do not sorrow anymore, it is redundant
                                       a new day I got as a gift today
                                       not too much but not too little
                                       this is a good life <3 <3 <3