BLUSH | H E A LT H & F I T N E S S
Quite like the intensity of capitalism, our material goals are vital to our existence
Arts will rescue you
The benefits
OF ART In this post-modern world we live in, what can art do for us?
W
e are structured by the hours of our working day. Motivated by the dollars that working day can provide. Engaged by the dynamic
opportunities to spend those pounds on a plethora of situations, which are designed to allow us pleasures at the point of purchase. We are saturated with possibilities, which constantly arrive on our timelines indicating that our material values are in need of attention. We are encouraged to work hard and play harder if we want to enjoy the delights on offer as often and instantly as possible, we are bombarded with algorithms specifically targeting our demographic. We are stacked against the odds when we engage in this pool. We are bound to succumb to desire. Bound to choose the soft option. We are compelled to share our highlights via social media. After all we do deserve a ‘good’, ‘happy’, ‘healthy’, lifestyle.
86
BLUSH | W I N T E R 2 0 2 0
now. We need our wants to be satiated satisfactorily
otherwise we have no quality of life… Or do we? Suspend disbelief for a moment. Breathe. No, really breathe; deep and controlled all the way to the depths of the diaphragm. Now focus on your heartbeat. Listen to it. Perhaps the ideas in the paragraph above have been allowed to bombard your sensory perception. Perhaps you feel like you are trapped by this ever-increasing social constraint? Strangled by the energy capitalism and material values have overloaded you with? Stressed by life’s ritualistic never-ending pressure cooker...
Arts will rescue you. The simplicity of the creative intuition will nurture the part of us that has become manifest as void. When that piece of music you hear sparks the tear jerk reaction; you know that the soul is not lost to all of the above. When the body sways in time to the music as the tear drop falls; you know that your soul is engaging with the higher self. The wholesome version of yourself, which seeks the simple pleasures still present since childhood, like running, shouting and dare I say, ‘dancing like no one’s watching’. Painting is a good example of this. You do need some basic equipment but this can be easily organised cheaply. Once you begin to spread the colour against a blank page you start to feel that same sense of naive satisfaction. There is a sense of rebellion in action. Rebellion against that which desires order. This is a petty victory – a petty freedom. The creation you have in front of you will tell you more about yourself than last month’s bank statement. Simply putting pencil to paper will allow you time out of the world of organised order you are compelled by for twenty-three hours a day. Allow art into that hour and your soul will feel the benefit that your body would feel at the gym. @therealsophialove
sevenstarmedia.co.uk
