The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary
In celebration of being average
Catherine Gray
Having read it
★★★★☆
A thoroughly enjoyable read that presents the ordinary with plenty of humour and realism!
It has got a few swear words (although, the alternative, children-present approach suggested of, ‘Oh, shut the front door’ was good) but lots of perspective and it was great to read quite a few passages and see that I’m doing okay with being a bit ordinary and my attitudes to life (and work), while maybe seeming odd and unengaged to others, prove rather beneficial.
It was also good to see lots of references, and the odd quote, from other authors and persons that I’ve already read of and about, understood and aimed to learn from: a little comfort to the soul.
Brilliant stuff.
A good passage
Advertisers profiteer from, and deliberately peddle, our dissatisfaction. It’s no coincidence that the most ‘extraordinary’ things are the most expensive.
A second good passage
We long to be outside and barefoot, particularly in tempestuous times. Professor Cregan-Reid brings up ‘biophilia’; a theory coined by biologist and naturalist Edward O. Wilson, to describe human gravitation and attraction to other living organisms. ‘Our bodies crave to be outdoors doing things they recognize as simulations of hunting and gathering,’ says Cregan-Reid. He goes on to to point out studies which show that people recuperate more quickly after operations when they can see green space. ‘The human eye is adapted to see more shades of green than any other colour,’ he adds. ‘Green is like the room temperature of our visual spectrum, since it’s right in the middle, and is the colour our brain has to do the least processing to see.’
A third good passage
1. Creatives have to work goshdang hard to learn their craft, mostly by observing and learning from those creatives who have blazed the same trails. 2. Inspiration does not alight upon you, you seize it. Also, deadlines are not napalm for creativity, as many believe, they are just a necessary part of the process, otherwise you could tinker for-ev-ah. And more tinkering, does not necessarily a better creation make. 3. If you pick up a pen, or a paintbrush, or bust out a running man, you too are a writer, artist, or dancer. Creativity is also not about whether others appreciate your work, or buy it, or clap, or anything. It’s about how it makes you feel.