Creativity and Healing

81 year old Jiang Shumei was mentioned on Twitter previous to last week.  She is a grandmother in China who started writing books in her seventies after learning how to read and write in her sixties.  I am attracted to tales about people courageous enough to search for their better selves.  

At this time there is a high rate of suicide in the United States.  Even young children are reportedly killing themselves because of bullying and abuse.  Besides abuse and neglect it seems that where people have gotten used to an existence of too much ease and free time, where jobs are close to meaningless except as a source of earnings, where there is an unrealistic optimism based on the self help concept instead of a realistic approach to and understanding about how life works, where people feel they are more special and entitled than other people, these are places where people are more likely to be discontented and have mental problems which could possibly lead to suicide. 

In this country and in countries where Americanism is adopted people are told that there are only a few indicators of success, namely money and material goods are the sole life goals.  What if a person wants something deeper in life?  Everyone does not and cannot acquire the same things and at the same time in life. The way we are taught by society and the media on what defines success can lead to huge anxiety and depression.  We are to conform to a one size fits all pattern, and if we cannot fit ourselves into that box we feel like failures. Then when those who appear to have it all go berserk or take their own lives, some of us find it hard to understand why.  There is a state called emptiness....

There are only some areas where we can have control in this life.  The main one is ourselves.  Often we don't get what we want.  We cannot get people to act or do the way we want them to. We can control children when they are small, but after childhood any type of force becomes futile and can have bad consequences. When I was younger there were things I wanted that I believed would fulfill my desires. Now years later I am most happy that those desires were not fulfilled.  The loss of a dream in the past can be revealed as a blessing in the future.  The warning, be careful what you wish for should be heeded.  

Getting back to Jiang Shumei, when I learned about her some of the thoughts above came to me.  Her husband was killed in a car accident when she was in her early sixties.  Her daughter rescued her from despair when she offered to teach her mother how to read and write. Now in her eighties, Jiang Shumei has written several books and gotten awards for her work. Her daughter was her gateway to a new life, a life of creativity and healing.  

I've read some of Kate Chopin's stories, and I'd like to read some of Elizabeth Gaskell's novels in the future.  I am a fan of the BBC version of her book Wives and Daughters.  Both women were successful writers in their time, who took up the pen after the deaths of family members. One of the maladies of postmodern existence is lack of creativity emerging from the heart, aspiring to spread hope and beauty.  There are tainted forms of creativity tied to money and ego, but creativity for creativity's sake is almost lost, but it can be regained. 

I think that humans were never meant to be idle to the degree that many people are now.  When everything wasn't at our finger tips, we had to make things for ourselves, when the goal was not just money and applause, we had healthier minds and bodies.  People took less for granted and was more frugal when we couldn't just shop in a brick and mortar building or online and things dropped into our hands so easily. 

People who believe in God know that He is the Creator.  I believe He put in us the same need as Himself to create in some form or another, find our talent so that we can have peace in our minds and peace with others.  

I have cut my social media time in the last four years, and I'm very pleased to have done so. I read a lot in my free time, and now I'm making a return to writing. In this era, social media platforms can be useful, but if used in a superficial way these websites can breed idleness, ego, broken relationships, depression, envy, and for some death. 

The old adage, 'The idle mind is the devil's workshop' is true. If used in the wrong or average way, social media can be a dark place of aimless time wasting, pain, envy, unhealthy needs, and gross conduct and ego.  

I believe that most people are capable and have dormant talents that can be tapped into.  Jiang Shumei, Kate Chopin, Elizabeth Gaskell and others tapped into the hidden gifts inside them after the deaths of their loved ones.  

Seek your talent; find a hobby; find meaning in life.  If you believe in God ask Him to guide you to your purpose in life and your hidden talents. It's there; don't waste time.  

Welcome To Hinterlands Blog

So here I am about to get at it again after a four year break from blogging and a break for two years from writing in general.  It was April 2015 when I last posted on my old blog Rosewater.  I was in Turkey at the time, and my blog's name was, I felt, fitting.  

June of that year I returned home and started learning about self publishing and how to become an independent author.  Then I was toppled by health issues, one right after the other, culminating in two major surgeries and one outpatient procedure performed on the same day as the second operation.  Because of weeks of recovery, physical therapy, and adapting to a new sort of teaching position I put aside the manuscript of a short book of stories that I had written.  

For over two years I've been nagged by a thirst to write again. I both longed to write and at the same time didn't have the energy to get busy.  Faced also with family crises I had to step up and manage the situation.  I became an efficient benevolent dictator determined to create order.  

I have learned in the last two years that if you have a talent or ability you're likely to be highly dissatisfied until you put your skills and creativity to use and at least try.  

The era of the blog with long, thoughtful posts is about over, but not quite.  There are still traditional blogs out there.  One of my Twitter friends occasionally sends me email updates for his blog.  Authors often have blogs on their websites.  One blog that has influenced me to return to the medium is Club Orlov maintained by professional blogger and author Dmitri Orlov who is Russian American.  He's a political and social critic whose writings I love and admire.  I love his mixture of intellect and sarcasm.  He doesn't bite his tongue about the serious social and political issues the US faces.  People like him are rare because immigrants certainly will be criticized, likely in crude ways, as ungrateful if they point out the inadequacies of this country even more so than natives who complain.  He probably didn't come here willingly since he immigrated to the US with his parents when he was a young teenager. 

Partially due to Mr. Orlov's blog along with the necessity to have a space to promote my own writing including my upcoming self published book of stories, I knew I needed to return to Blogger or some other platform. My plan is to try to post once a week, on Mondays or Tuesdays.  Along with being a vehicle for my books and artwork I will write on these topics: education, history, travel, social commentary, book reviews, and some sharing of my experiences as a teacher, thinker, and traveler that might inform or inspire. 

My upcoming book of stories is called Gratitude, and I will follow it with a book of poetry. I have the manuscripts for both. Once I have gotten further into editing my poems I will continue working on a novel that I've started writing.  I cannot say the date that my first book, Gratitude, will be available, but I would like to have it published before 2019 ends. I am in the process of proofreading it again for the final time, I hope.

I hope you will enjoy my future work here.  The links to posts will be available on Twitter, Goodreads, and my personal Facebook page.