Mindfulness Mondays 39: Defying Categorization

February 22, 2010 by dr. lam

david-hockney_1 A few months ago I was reading the New York Times, and I came across a very interesting article about a wonderful painter David Hockney who is perhaps best known for his California swimming pool series. He is now into his 70s, and he is still rambunctious as he ever was. One of the points that the article conveyed is that Hockney never fit neatly into any artistic genre. He painted whatever he wanted, and his returning to his native England recently after a 25-year stint in California is no exception. A short video clip showed this spry, irrepressible, and perhaps liminal spirit talk about how photography simply could not capture the beauty of the pastoral English landscape that he was so expertly capturing with oil on canvas. He did not care so much about his reputation but his work, and his work did not necessarily have to fit into any construct except his own imagination.

I love the eccentricity (for those who are mainstream) about what I read. I think we are so very focused on how people will see us that we are constrained in our movements, in our thoughts, and in our behavior. I like what Wayne Dyer says, “When you walk into a room with 30 people, you leave with 30 reputations.” Quite true. The only reputation that has merit is your own. This week think about ways to express the real you that is bottled under layers of societal dictums, decorum, and restraint. (Obviously, I hold no responsibility if you do something too crazy. Just wanting you to feel like a free spirit for a change. Good luck.)

Be Sociable, Share!