Amma's blog: "I Am"

Quite some time ago I wrote a blog with a quotation from Picasso in it that I found amusing and pertinent. Today I had reason to go back and find the exact quote - I found a nice little story about it from theconfidnceguyonline.com and I am sure I can borrow a quote from him that he is borrowing from Picasso. It all relates to Tropic Thunder (the movie) some how.

(from theconfidenceguyonline.com from Picasso):

One of my favourite stories is about the artist Pablo Picasso, who was travelling by train on a journey across Spain when he was recognised by one of his fellow passengers, a businessman who was used to getting his own way.

After exchanging pleasantries, the businessman told Picasso that while he admired his success, he felt his paintings could be improved.

“How so?”, replied the bemused Picasso.

“Well,” the businessman began, “Your paintings are too abstract – you should paint things more as they really are.”

“Could you explain more specifically what you mean?” Picasso asked politely.

“Certainly!” the businessman replied, pulling a small photo from out of his briefcase. “Look at this photograph of my wife. This is how she actually looks – not some silly stylised representation.”

Picasso studied the photograph carefully for a few moments, then asked “This is how your wife actually looks?”

The businessman nodded proudly.

“She’s very small,” observed Picasso.

This whole thoughtfest was started because of my almost daily surrealist search for my inexpensive though functional, glasses. Velma from Scooby Doo has absolutely nothing on me when it comes to losing glasses. Finally I found a pair, but they were missing one of the side thiingies that go under your temple and over your ear. I suppose I could take a moment to google the proper terminology for glasses (THANK YOU BENJAMIN FRANKLIN!! GOOD JOB WITH THE KITE AND THE KEY TOO!!) - Huh... I guess they are called a pair of temples, how right was I to begin with. 

Do I know spectacles OR WHAT!!! (late pun alert, sorry - whoop whoop whoops!)

The glasses I found, however were missing the over the ear thingy. Not knowing that Van Gogh (another abstract painter) had really only cut off part of his earlobe - until I googled his biography - I observed in my abstract way that I must have found HIS glasses.

Abstraction is entirely different from distraction, just as Eustress (a good stress - like the stress of carrying around a winning lottery ticket, my abstract imagination distracts me with this thought *sigh*) as oppossed to distress - and far too many people know what that is so I have no need to define it. 

This is the way I do it. And it makes me smile, and that is a gift I like to pass on, when I am not in distress, because then I tend to distract myself, but I am working on trying to smile even then - but faking it is not my forte.