Some years ago I read Martin Gayford’s book The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Provence. This excellent work uses old letters to reconstruct the few months Van Gogh spent living and working with Paul Gauguin in a house in Arles. I was left with the overriding feeling that Van Gogh wanted nothing more in life than to be loved and understood.
Vincent invited Gauguin to stay because he deeply admired the older man’s work and imagined he could learn much from him. In preparation for Gaugin’s arrival at the Yellow House, Vincent painted his iconic Sunflowers series just to decorate the walls of Gauguin’s room! But Van Gogh’s mental illness made him erratic and volatile and his dreams of founding a collaborative artistic commune with Gauguin rapidly fell apart.
The wonderful painting above – Wheat Field with Cypresses – was made during Van Gogh’s time at Saint-Paul Asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. I’ve visited this beautiful town a few times. It really is surrounded by those distinctive hills that Van Gogh reproduced so perfectly in his work.
I love those places, Arles and Saint-Rémy, but their beauty is tinged by thoughts of poor Vincent and his sufferings. I feel the same way about his wonderful, vibrant, disturbed and magnificent paintings.
Today I was pleased to attend a short virtual tour of Better World Books’ warehouse in Dunfermline. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take any screenshots but as a longtime supporter and customer of theirs, I found the tour extremely interesting.
“Better World Books is a for-profit, socially conscious business and a global online bookseller that collects and sells new and used books online, matching each purchase with a book donation. Each sale generates funds for literacy and education initiatives in the U.S., the UK, and around the world. Since its launch in 2003, Better World Books has raised $33 million for libraries and literacy, donated over 32 million books, and reused or recycled more than 397 million books”
Books received at warehouse from libraries or donation drop boxes are processed and either sent to the Internet Archive, donated (children’s books), or listed for wholesale
Unsellable/unusable books are recycled into animal bedding
1 million books currently on their shelves for sale
Partnered with 4000 libraries globally
Received a Circular Economy award from ScotGov
Packaging is recycled, biodegradable plastic and cardboard boxes are reused multiple times before being recycled into animal bedding
The theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (10th-16th May 2021) is Nature. Our relationship with nature is critical to supporting good mental health and preventing distress. Research shows that any and all contact with the natural world can help our mental wellbeing.
Time outside can effect the chemical make up of our brain
Nature can help you learn mindfulness
info via LawCare
When feeling anxious, stressed or depressed your natural instinct may be to courie up indoors (mine certainly is!) but if you can push yourself to get outside and find a greenspace to just be with nature, it can really help. There’s scientific evidence that we feel calmer when we look at trees for example – this is known as biophilia.
Forest bathing or Shinrin-Yoku, is the Japanese practice of spending time slowly and quietly among trees. The power of Shinrin-Yoku is a fairly recent discovery, dating only from the 1980s. It is proven to lower the stress hormones, suppresses the fight or flight instinct, lower blood pressure, boost the immune system, and improve sleep. Also, the activity of white blood cells increases when humans spend time with trees. You don’t even have to visit a wood or forest every day since these benefits can last for weeks.
Time spent in the natural world, and particularly in sunlight, triggers an increase in serotonin (happiness chemicals in our brain). Exploring outdoor environments – and engaging in activities such as foraging for mushrooms or brambles, tracking, collecting shells or leaves – releases dopamine which helps regulate movement, attention, learning, and emotional responses. Cold water swimming is shown to boost serotonin, oxytocin (the love hormone) and endorphins which reduces pain, relieves stress, and enhances pleasure. It also helps to control our fight or flight instinct. Even just looking at houseplants or pictures of natural environments is soothing to our minds.
Meditation or mindfulness is proven to reduce stress, but if you’re having a hard time getting started, Nature offers many ways to be mindful without really trying. Whether it’s practicing Shinrin-Yoko or just bird watching in your garden, enjoying a sunrise or sunset, star-gazing, or listening to the buzzing of a bee or the sound of the waves, these are all ways to be calm and still and help focus on the present moment. This can help maintain good mental health and wellbeing and keep stress at bay.
I think this is always good advice, but this week especially: Go outside. Hug a tree!
Vincent Van Gogh, that glorious nutter, was born today in 1853. He died at the age of 37 after a short life filled with genius and despair.
Some years ago I read Martin Gayford’s book The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Provence. This excellent work uses old letters to reconstruct the few months Van Gogh spent living and working with Paul Gauguin in a house in Arles. I was left with the overriding feeling that Van Gogh wanted nothing more in life than to be loved and understood (I can so relate to that).
Vincent invited Gauguin to stay because he deeply admired his work and imagined he could learn much from the older man. In preparation for Gaugin’s arrival at the Yellow House, Vincent painted his iconic Sunflowers series just to decorate the walls of Gauguin’s room! But Van Gogh’s mental illness made…
Read a YA or middle grade novel by an author who identifies as LGBTQ+ – The Marvels by Brian Selznick
Read a book that has been banned or frequently challenged in your country – Ulysses by James Joyce (I haven’t finished this one yet. It’s gonna fit great into one of the 2018 challenges!)