Monday, February 3, 2014

What I learned II

Wow.  Andrew Solomon's, "Depression. The Secret we Share" is a TED Talk not to be missed.  It has haunted me since I listened to it weeks ago.  Chances are, if you don't struggle yourself someone very close to you does and for that, I recommend that everyone takes a listen to his genius lecture.

One particular line of his that I have not been able to let go of is: "The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality."  

On this Monday morning as we mourn the loss of yet another great artist, Phillip Seymor Hoffman, I ask you to take 20 minutes and listen to this one.  

(Picasso's The Blue Room (1901) was one of his first paintings in his well known Blue Period.  Most scholars agree this period marked the beginning of a severe depression for him and much of the work done in this time portrayed images of poverty, isolation and despair)