Comments on: listen more carefully http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/2007/05/listen-more-carefully/ i'm an artist located in seattle. i adore photography, painting, nurturing, & style making. Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:10:52 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: jenny http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/2007/05/listen-more-carefully/comment-page-1/#comment-23042 jenny Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:05:48 +0000 http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/?p=976#comment-23042 thanks everyone, i really thought you would appreciate the article if you hadn't seen it already. i'm not perfect at "listening" but i try too, when it was really hard for me, i kept a little notebook and made notes. "things i love" & "beauty" and just jotted stuff down. i was always surprised, even at the most miserable of moments, how quickly those pages could fill up. ! xo thanks everyone, i really thought you would appreciate the article if you hadn’t seen it already.

i’m not perfect at “listening” but i try too, when it was really hard for me, i kept a little notebook and made notes. “things i love” & “beauty” and just jotted stuff down. i was always surprised, even at the most miserable of moments, how quickly those pages could fill up. !

xo

]]> By: maggienikole http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/2007/05/listen-more-carefully/comment-page-1/#comment-23040 maggienikole Sun, 17 Jun 2007 22:20:38 +0000 http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/?p=976#comment-23040 just new to your blog, but am really enjoying it. especially appreciated this post. thank you. just new to your blog, but am really enjoying it.
especially appreciated this post. thank you.

]]> By: Claire http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/2007/05/listen-more-carefully/comment-page-1/#comment-21717 Claire Mon, 21 May 2007 17:50:42 +0000 http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/?p=976#comment-21717 Good post. I especially like your last statement, "everyday creativity - not the actual creative act itself, but the practice of introspection and awareness that can lead the possibilities wide open for solutions to be able to present themselves. artful living, mindfulness, gratitude." I try and remember to do this daily, too. Good post. I especially like your last statement, “everyday creativity – not the actual creative act itself, but the practice of introspection and awareness that can lead the possibilities wide open for solutions to be able to present themselves. artful living, mindfulness, gratitude.” I try and remember to do this daily, too.

]]> By: Carmen http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/2007/05/listen-more-carefully/comment-page-1/#comment-21702 Carmen Mon, 21 May 2007 15:24:01 +0000 http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/?p=976#comment-21702 Great post, Jenny. I went and read the article and boy, did it make me think. How many times have I seen something or heard something that resonated deeply, but didn't stop to savour it? Many, many... Thanks for the reminder that I need to be more conscious of the beautiful moments in my life. Great post, Jenny. I went and read the article and boy, did it make me think. How many times have I seen something or heard something that resonated deeply, but didn’t stop to savour it? Many, many… Thanks for the reminder that I need to be more conscious of the beautiful moments in my life.

]]> By: michele williams http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/2007/05/listen-more-carefully/comment-page-1/#comment-21698 michele williams Mon, 21 May 2007 14:47:21 +0000 http://www.jennyvorwaller.com/blog/?p=976#comment-21698 This is something I have worked hard to cultivate in my life. An appriciation of a twist in the trunk and branches of a tree ect., my kids will tell you of how I point out "stupid" things a lot! But if I had a time crunch I may not have stopped. Sad isn't it how sometimes we may not be able to enjoy the moment! I played the violin briefly and would have recognized his skill and artfullness and would have listened and enjoyed the snippet I heard as I went by. I would have hoped he was there when I came back and had time to stop and listen. But I would have kept moving if my task was important and I had to punch a time clock. I read a quote recently on a plaque next to a lovely Windslow Homer oil painting that applies well here. "The ideal artist is he who knows everything, feels everything, experiences everything and retains his experience in a spirit of wonder and feeds upon it with creative lust." George Bellows I especially love the last, "retains it in a spirit of wonder and feeds upon it with creative lust." At first I felt "know everything" was a tall order and not really nessasary. But then I remembered how much more enjoyment I would get out of going to Bath in England because I have read all of Jane Austens books. There are a lot of things we can love and wonder at withoout any knowledge about it, but with a little study we can enhance the experience ten fold. Most of the people who stopped to listen to the violinist had a knowledge of violin performance that helped them to recognize how great he was, even out of his usual context. They already had a love for violin music and had gone out of their way to bring it into their lives, ie. the man who studied violin and the woman who had gone to the concert the night before. Although it is obvious by the reaction of the children that knowledge isn't everything, thank goodness because there is sooo much I don't know! But it helps. There are a lot of things that block our enjoyment of beauty, sometimes it's just our mind set of what we "think" is wonderous . My art teacher brought a book of Norman Rockwells paintings to show us in class. A couple of The students only liked impressionistic styles of painting and didn't see any value in realistic paintings, were even a bit distainful of them, actually a lot distainful. Then the teacher pointed out his brilliant composiition, how he used color to guide your eye and give punch to where he wanted you to look closer, his beautiful skin tones and told us that in person you can really see his brush work. Add to that his wonderful skill of rendering great expressions and body movment and how his paintings often tell a story. The captured moment is alive! I haven't heard them say, why not just take a picture" again. Thanks for a wonderful reminder to watch for and be open to beauty everywhere! This is something I have worked hard to cultivate in my life. An appriciation of a twist in the trunk and branches of a tree ect., my kids will tell you of how I point out “stupid” things a lot! But if I had a time crunch I may not have stopped. Sad isn’t it how sometimes we may not be able to enjoy the moment! I played the violin briefly and would have recognized his skill and artfullness and would have listened and enjoyed the snippet I heard as I went by. I would have hoped he was there when I came back and had time to stop and listen. But I would have kept moving if my task was important and I had to punch a time clock.

I read a quote recently on a plaque next to a lovely Windslow Homer oil painting that applies well here. “The ideal artist is he who knows everything, feels everything, experiences everything and retains his experience in a spirit of wonder and feeds upon it with creative lust.” George Bellows

I especially love the last, “retains it in a spirit of wonder and feeds upon it with creative lust.” At first I felt “know everything” was a tall order and not really nessasary. But then I remembered how much more enjoyment I would get out of going to Bath in England because I have read all of Jane Austens books. There are a lot of things we can love and wonder at withoout any knowledge about it, but with a little study we can enhance the experience ten fold.

Most of the people who stopped to listen to the violinist had a knowledge of violin performance that helped them to recognize how great he was, even out of his usual context. They already had a love for violin music and had gone out of their way to bring it into their lives, ie. the man who studied violin and the woman who had gone to the concert the night before. Although it is obvious by the reaction of the children that knowledge isn’t everything, thank goodness because there is sooo much I don’t know! But it helps.

There are a lot of things that block our enjoyment of beauty, sometimes it’s just our mind set of what we “think” is wonderous . My art teacher brought a book of Norman Rockwells paintings to show us in class. A couple of The students only liked impressionistic styles of painting and didn’t see any value in realistic paintings, were even a bit distainful of them, actually a lot distainful. Then the teacher pointed out his brilliant composiition, how he used color to guide your eye and give punch to where he wanted you to look closer, his beautiful skin tones and told us that in person you can really see his brush work. Add to that his wonderful skill of rendering great expressions and body movment and how his paintings often tell a story. The captured moment is alive! I haven’t heard them say, why not just take a picture” again.

Thanks for a wonderful reminder to watch for and be open to beauty everywhere!

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