Painting as a pastime

Painting as a pastime

A gifted American psychologist has said,

emotion; the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go.

It is useless to argue with the mind in this condition.

The stronger the will,

the more futile the task.

One can only gently insinuate something else into its convulsive

grasp

And if this something else is rightly chosen, if it is really

attended

by the illumination of another field of interest,

gradually,

and often quite swiftly,

the old undue grip relaxes

and the process of recuperation

and repair begins.

The cultivation of a hobby

and new forms of interest

is therefore a policy of first importance to a public man.

But this is not a business

that can be undertaken in a day

or swiftly improvised

by a mere command of the will.

The growth of alternative mental interests is a long process.

The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground;

they must be sedulously tended,

if the vivifying fruits

are to be at hand when needed.

To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two

or three hobbies,

and they must all be real.

It is no use starting late in life to say

in this or that.

only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great

knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work,

and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what

you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking,

human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled

to death,

those who are worried to death,

and those who are bored to death

It is no use offering the manual laborer, tired out with a hard

week's sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or

baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or

the professional or businessman, who has been working

or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry

about trifling things at the weekend.