Rose. Day Off.
Posted At: Thursday, October 22, 2009 9:36 PM | Posted By: Jon Katz
Taking a day off from the blog Friday. Leaving the farm in the care of Tracy and Rose. I liked this shot I got of Rose in the pig barn, her head still covered in spiderwebs from her nosing around, her vulnerability and strength – her two most marked traits – showing in her eyes. This was the good advice I got from a famous nature photographer when I started taking pictures. If you are shooting animals, go for the eyes.
The Daily Potholders. Rose in the Pig Barn
Posted At: Thursday, October 22, 2009 7:37 PM | Posted By: Jon Katz
What Positive Thinking Means to Me, cont.
Posted At: Thursday, October 22, 2009 7:29 PM | Posted By: Jon Katz
The Bedlam Farm Canine Crew. Photoshoot.
October 22, 2009 – Cloudy, cooling off. There’s an interesting discussion bubbling around in some parts of the media and in my own life about what Positive Thinking means and whether it’s a good thing. No one in my lifetime has ever accused me of positive thinking, and I have not done much of it in my work or personal life. Generally, I am awaiting the next blow and mulling the bad things that can happen to me and others.
That has changed, to an extent. I am interested in what I would call more positive thinking, and after some discussions with my daughter, I thought I should put down what I mean by the term:
Rational people know that bad things can happen. At any time.
We have no control over many of them – accidents, bankers, illness, death, catastrophe. We do have some control over how we react to them, and also over how we project our own work, lives and stories out into the world. I was at Dunkin Donuts yesterday and made the mistake of asking the woman behind the register – I see her often and she knows me – how she was. And she told me, from her bad hands and sore back to the economy to her low pay to her sick husband, broken car, errant son and ungrateful daughter. Shoot me, I thought, as this litany grew and so did the line behind me.
She’s had some hard luck. I left with the sad feeling she will have more. I did not want to hear more.
I don’t really know to what extent we determine our fates. I think our attitudes do have something to say about it. Recognizing our own worth. Building confidence in our ability to navigate difficult times and bad and sad things.
I am conscious of wanting – needing – to be around people who are aware that good things happen as well as bad.
It has sometimes been hard for me to believe that I will do well, to develop the internal strength we need to find peace amidst all of the stress and chaos. I am certain whenever I write a book that it will be a disaster.
I was quite shocked to find out that some people like my photographs, and amazed to learn they will be shown in art galleries.
I think there is some relation to how I see myself and how I see the world, and how the world sees and reacts to me.
I do not believe that thinking something good will happen makes it so. People who only focus on the positive are setting themselves. So are people who can only absorb bad news and see the world only as a grim and dark place.
A therapist told me a couple of years ago that I had lost perspective. That was true. So I am getting to know myself, and exploring the idea that as I understand myself – and my strengths – that will work for me in life. In terms of relationships. Creativity. Friendships. Peace of mind.
I don’t need anyone to tell me that bad things can happen. I was born knowing that. I need to remind myself all the time that good things can happen too.
Morning, Bedlam. Have we left yet?
Posted At: Thursday, October 22, 2009 6:09 PM | Posted By: Jon Katz
Maria getting firewood for the Studio Barn
October 22, 2009 – The town pastor, Rob Rose and his wife Sarah and their four children came by to say hello. They said people were wondering two things: had we left yet, and are the animals gone. Maria and I were heading off on our bikes, and we said no, the farm hasn’t sold yet, and all the animals but four dogs and two cats are gone.
I forget sometimes that people wonder about the farm and its fate. I was at the supermarket yesterday and I heard someone in the checkout line say, “I hear he’s moving away and selling the farm but keeping the dogs. That’s the rumor.” I guess I knew who she was talking about.
I’m pretty easy about it. The farm will sell when it’s ready, and I am in no rush. Might be tomorrow, or next year, and either is okay by me. Mornings like this make me want to never leave, but I know it’s really too big a place for Maria and I and we don’t need four barns and three pastures. Animals ought to be on the farm, it’s what it was built for, meant for.
We are going to have dinner with the Rose family next week, and I look forward to that. I’m mulling positive thinking these days, and will write about it later tonight.
The meaning of positive thinking
Posted At: Thursday, October 22, 2009 3:52 PM | Posted By: Jon Katz
Izzy napping
I had an interesting discussion with my daughter Emma about positive thinking. She said she though that people who believed they could make good things happen by believing they would happen were foolish, and were kidding themselves. She said there was much darkness in the world and that it was silly to think people could alter their destinies by projecting positive energy.
I told her I thought it was more complex than that. The world is filled with good things and bad things, and we can focus on either in whatever proportion we choose. Listening to NPR or the talk radio crazies, one would not know that good things happen in the world – new businessess, stories of growth, change and evolution, creative people cranking out amazing work, peaceful lives being lived well. Those things are not considered news.
I told her I thought positive thinking is more about permitting oneself to be optimistic, to make sure one’s own life balances comprehension of good and bad things. I always react negatively when people tell me I have a perfect life here on the farm and I want it. They would not say that had they been around the last few years. Nor is a perfect life something I would ever aspire to.
I told Emma that I think positive, energetic and optimistic people tended to fare better, in my experience, than fearful, gloomy and pessimistic people. I believe that.
All positive thinking is as narrow to me as all negative thinking. It’s the balance that is challenging.
It’s wonderful, for example, to be able to have a conversation like that with your daughter, especially when she is so interesting.
