“We depend on our surroundings obliquely to embody the moods and ideas we respect and then to remind us of them. We look to our buildings to hold us, like a kind of psychological mould, to a helpful vision of ourselves…” — Alain de Botton, The Architecture of Happiness
I had years, when I stared at the house of my childhood decade, sitting on a sofa of a Cafe just on the other side of the street. My parents were dead, other people lived in the house, the bridge to the past seemed to be broken. But the stories in my head became the bridge when I put my focus on this house and its windows…
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inspired by Fats Suela via
Flickr Comments 
Love this portrait of you!
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Nice portrait, Frizz!
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That is a lovely picture of you, Frizz. And I couldn’t help but notice your shoes! =)
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at least the shoes are mine – but not the sofa: I quickly took a seat during some strong handy men made a truck empty, they had to carry a piano two floors upstairs. In the meantime I could feel like the proud owner of a sofa.
P.S.:
and what about the shoes of my wife Barbara?
embody your moods by the efficiency of extraordinary shoes
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and thanks, Fats Suela, for your comment to this topic:
“…We always tend to link objects with memories, and these memories flood our minds us every time we see an object of similar nature…”
P.S.:
our home is filled with those objects -it became a personal museum – overwhelming our visitors -recently one of my blog followers, Kathryn from Philadelphia, she couldn’t resist to use her camera – and published a blog post featuring our home:
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Love Barbara’s shoes! That butterfly print is awesome! She’s color-coordinated. =)
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just read on the team-website of Myra, Fats etc.:
“Dr. Bacsal [Myra] has published on socio-affective concerns of gifted learners, family influences in talent development, and experiences of flow among young artists. Her research interests include psychology of artists, Asian folktales, identification of the disadvantaged gifted, experiences of flow among creatives, and biblio-therapy…”
P.S.:
I like this concept of psychological research very much; I’m happy that I got support from teachers with similar aims: Prof. Ter-Nedden (literature), Dr. Abu-Khalil (social sciences), Dr. Bischof (psychology) – embodied is this decade of creative learning for me by the city of Muenster, where I studied… (I made my diploma with an essay about “literature as a part of philosophical anthropology”)
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Myra GB // August 11, 2014 at 9:11 am // Reply
Hi there Frizz. I am glad to hear about your research. I could send you a few of my research publications through email if you wish. 🙂 I just had one recently published about an eminent singer-songwriter friend of mine regarding alternative pathways to talent development. It might be of interest to you as he is also a master at guitar-playing like you.
Muenster sounds like a very progressive university. Would love to visit the place sometime. I have just submitted a research proposal that hopefully would bring me to Munich. I am keen to visit the Internationale Jugendbibliothek which is situated in a beautiful castle in Munich. 🙂 Hopefully we can finally meet there. 🙂
frizztext // August 11, 2014 at 2:08 pm // Reply
my life started in an orphanage (1945), the first decade was for me the decade of being abused, daily corporal punishment as a Nazi ritual vs. me = “unworthy life” (racist’s term); school teachers helped me to leave the imprisonment – and someone told me to play guitar. Then, at the university, the best support began: literature, psychology, social sciences. I climbed out of my fate by reading and writing. Now, retired, I enjoy to come back to my guitar roots again. Blogging, a self chosen ride on words, photos and music: it seems to be a kind of soothing art therapy …
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Yes, buildings – especially houses- can embody so much of our psychological lives. The quote, photo, and your remarks are a triangle that deepens the notion of how we think about our homes, and how they shape us. I like the photo – and the quote and what you said – very much!
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a great example is the house photo you featured in your blog:
http://bluebrightly.wordpress.com/2014/08/09/summer-garden-nostalgia/
thanks to your post, I remember the house I was allowed to live in as a student, kindly invited for a cheap rent for many years: the owner, Monsignore Dr. Schwebmann, worked as an ambassador of the Vatican. At five early in the morning he always cared for his donkey in the garden, then he made a gospel service in a little chapel nearby, six a clock; then we drove together to the university; in the afternoon the house servant brought cake and tea. In the evening we played some chess games and discussed about philosophy: but because he could not hear anything, I had to write everything on paper (stenography). I’ll never forget this house (similar to the building in your photo with two windows like eyes staring into the garden) and will never forget the support I got, yes, my self confidence and optimism (and maybe humor and distance to environments) grew there!
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EMBODY THE MOODS – via architecture, interior design, fashion, painting – and music:
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3982863641/
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