My Own Heart's Curtain

I missed two days of blogging last week. My Internet was down and I was lazy. But, after a 4-day hiatus I'm back. I'll try and make it worth your while. It is Olympic season, which is great for inspiration, but bad for actually accomplishing things. I also found a photograph that is great for inspiration.



It is a picture of the photographer's son in the Wisconsin Dells. I find it fitting since the job I want is in Wisconsin. Also, what an amazing guy, I want to jump across cliffs and not care what anyone thinks just like him. I love finding a picture like that. It makes me feel so many things in addition to inspiration. Another work of art in which I've found so much feeling is this Edvard Munch painting.



This copy of it really does not do the painting justice. In real life it is stunning and to me there are so many levels of metaphor. Perhaps we are like the hut and the light of a single star can pierce loneliness and darkness, but we must be vulnerable, willing to be pierced. Maybe there is a clarity in isolation that cannot be found elsewhere. But mostly, I like to think that we are all meant to be like that little star and pierce the darkness of this world with whatever joy or beauty we can muster. In the Emergency Room after the car accident I was trying not to completely freak out and found myself thinking, "I'm the little star, I'm the little star."

Also, there is inspiration in the work of another German Expressionist, Rainer Maria Rilke. He thinks the world is complicated, but also beautiful. He is an eternal optimist and reading his work helps me cultivate these things in my own life. Also, I found out Lady GaGa has a huge quotation of his tattooed on her arm. GaGa is the real deal. Here is a little snippet of Rilke.

"Let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always."

If you are ever feeling blue I recommend looking up some Rilke quotations, they are readily available on the internet. He also has great poems and collections of letters.


All of this is neither here nor there. But, applying for a job sometimes feels like a Sisyphean endeavor. I've apllied for 26 jobs and haven't nailed anything down yet. So for me, finding inspiration is as important as finding a job. Also, this post kind of became it's own thing, developing in way's I didn't expect. This is my favorite thing about the Book of One Thousand and One Nights. Although a woman who fears death tells the stories, she is a fearless storyteller. The stories go in their own unexpected directions.

So, this is what I'm learning today. Let life happen, let stories happen. When I get that job in Wisconsin my first apartment decoration will be a picture of a man airborne between cliffs.