Quote to ponder under the apple tree
Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end.
~ Winston Churchill (born November 30, 1874)
Resources to bite into
1
. Sir Winston Churchill – Politician and Painter
Most people know Sir Winston Churchill as a consummate politician who was especially effective as Prime Minister of Great Britain through the dark days of World War II. But he had many ups and downs during his long political career, and at one of his early low points in 1915, he took up painting at the urging of his sister-in-law. It became his chief passion after politics and family and the perfect form of escape from his cares. As noted in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly, at left is one of my personal favorites, the only painting he made of his wife, Clementine. To order Sir Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings by David Coombs, click here.
2. Gordon Parks, Renaissance Man
The current Brain Aerobics Weekly features four other people who happen to have been born on November 30. Gordon Parks, born in 1912, was an artist with a camera. He chose this medium because he discovered as a young man that “the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs.” He was a groundbreaking black man who balanced diverse worlds throughout his life. He worked for many years as a photographer for Vogue, Glamour and Life magazine. But he was as likely to photograph slums as celebrities and won awards for his depiction of both. He was also a writer, poet, film director, screenwriter, musician and composer who garnered respect as all of those. Learn more about the artist and the man through his work. Here is a sampling:
• To order The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks, click here.
• To order A Hungry Heart: A Memoir, click here.
• To order Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks, click here.
3. Worth Quoting
One reason to choose the five people featured in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly is that among them they have produced hundreds of quotable lines, both amusing and profound. Here are just a few favorites on the profound side:
• Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. ~ Mark Twain
• Poor nations are hungry and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance. ~ Jonathan Swift
• All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. ~ Winston Churchill
Talk about these: Do you agree? Who needs to hear these messages?
Tips/ideas/insights to savor
Two of the people featured in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly are famous for their travelogues: Jonathan Swift (born Nov. 30, 1667) for Gulliver’s Travels, and Mark Twain (born Nov. 30, 1835) for Innocents Abroad (and others). They inspired a creative thinking page on lessons learned from travel.
Think about what travel has taught you about the following ideas that could also be applied to life, and give examples from your own travels:
• Always be open to new experiences.
• Keep your sense of humor.
• Keep things simple and avoid unnecessary complexity.
• Set your goals/destination, but adapt and change as needed.
• Sometimes leaping into an experience beats hesitation.
• Choose a good guide.
• Never forget the pleasures of home.
To get the advantage of seeing all these ideas in an expanded version, subscribe to Brain Aerobics Weekly today.
To order Brain Aerobics Weekly,
go to http://www.wisernow.com/ now.
It’s a great holiday gift for anyone who needs a legal form of positive mind stimulation!
Let the ever-ripening Wiser Now website
become the apple of your eye.
Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and colour, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end.
~ Winston Churchill (born November 30, 1874)
Resources to bite into
1
. Sir Winston Churchill – Politician and PainterMost people know Sir Winston Churchill as a consummate politician who was especially effective as Prime Minister of Great Britain through the dark days of World War II. But he had many ups and downs during his long political career, and at one of his early low points in 1915, he took up painting at the urging of his sister-in-law. It became his chief passion after politics and family and the perfect form of escape from his cares. As noted in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly, at left is one of my personal favorites, the only painting he made of his wife, Clementine. To order Sir Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings by David Coombs, click here.
2. Gordon Parks, Renaissance Man
The current Brain Aerobics Weekly features four other people who happen to have been born on November 30. Gordon Parks, born in 1912, was an artist with a camera. He chose this medium because he discovered as a young man that “the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs.” He was a groundbreaking black man who balanced diverse worlds throughout his life. He worked for many years as a photographer for Vogue, Glamour and Life magazine. But he was as likely to photograph slums as celebrities and won awards for his depiction of both. He was also a writer, poet, film director, screenwriter, musician and composer who garnered respect as all of those. Learn more about the artist and the man through his work. Here is a sampling:
• To order The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks, click here.
• To order A Hungry Heart: A Memoir, click here.
• To order Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks, click here.
3. Worth Quoting
One reason to choose the five people featured in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly is that among them they have produced hundreds of quotable lines, both amusing and profound. Here are just a few favorites on the profound side:
• Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. ~ Mark Twain
• Poor nations are hungry and rich nations are proud; and pride and hunger will ever be at variance. ~ Jonathan Swift
• All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. ~ Winston Churchill
Talk about these: Do you agree? Who needs to hear these messages?
Tips/ideas/insights to savor
Two of the people featured in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly are famous for their travelogues: Jonathan Swift (born Nov. 30, 1667) for Gulliver’s Travels, and Mark Twain (born Nov. 30, 1835) for Innocents Abroad (and others). They inspired a creative thinking page on lessons learned from travel.
Think about what travel has taught you about the following ideas that could also be applied to life, and give examples from your own travels:
• Always be open to new experiences.
• Keep your sense of humor.
• Keep things simple and avoid unnecessary complexity.
• Set your goals/destination, but adapt and change as needed.
• Sometimes leaping into an experience beats hesitation.
• Choose a good guide.
• Never forget the pleasures of home.
To get the advantage of seeing all these ideas in an expanded version, subscribe to Brain Aerobics Weekly today.
To order Brain Aerobics Weekly,
go to http://www.wisernow.com/ now.
It’s a great holiday gift for anyone who needs a legal form of positive mind stimulation!
Let the ever-ripening Wiser Now website
become the apple of your eye.
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