Week 1

The Joy of Life (1905-1906) by Henri Matisse. 

Le Bonheur de Vivre

Oil on canvas, 69 1/2 x 94 3/4 in.                  

                                           

Welcome to Topics for Composition (ENC1145).  This course is designed for practice and growth in thinking and writing informed by comprehensive and credible research on the subject in focus.  The topic focus this quarter is broadly wellbeing, which may include several of many large and varied interests embedded in our sense of that word, for wellbeing relates to our individual and collective wellness and health.  The largest part of class focus will be on preventive and therapeutic practices and lifestyle choices that may protect us from or ameliorate certain illnesses or chronic conditions.  These practices include the usual suspects–healthy diet, exercise, fresh air, the cultivation of a sense of calm, purpose, meaning and community.

       In practice, we remind ourselves we are members of a society and biological community, one species among others, all of us dependent upon the life-sustaining resources of our planet home to thrive. Our individual decisions and behaviors, our thoughts and actions, affect ourselves and myriad others, for plainly we are members of an interdependent community.  The progress and ultimate fate of civilization as we know it depends upon our collective inputs, each of us playing a role, however small, in the larger scheme of things. 

   Other "therapies" we will consider include the health benefits that art and nature can bestow.  The Joy of Life, a 6x8 foot painting by Henri Matisse is reproduced above.  Take a few moments to look at it and to consider what it conveys to you, and how its various elements speak to a definition of human "health" and happiness.

----------------

How do we nurture and care for ourselves such that our life retains something of its original luster? Think of what informs the painting above, which depicts an idyll of sorts, a sunlit, blissful place where people relax and dance, make love and play, embraced by the trees, cushioned by the grass, all in sight of a blue sea and golden shore.  Matisse said that he wanted an art that would give to people a sense of calm and peace and comfort and deliberately excluded anything dark and troubling.  He surely saw that one very important function of art is to compensate for what we may lack; in this case, to restore to us a sense of peace and joy and loveliness, as our day to day life has contrived to hide it from us.

What are the antagonists of our health and bliss?  For Henry David Thoreau, 19th century naturalist and writer, it was the oppressive force of routine and material ambitions.  He sought to simplify his needs and free his time and energy to better know the wonders of the natural world, the writings of the wise, and his own being:  "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."  The worry and work of business and possessions contrived against the right development of one's mind and spirit, he believed.

But what if we haven't the luxury of a cabin, however small, in which to find sanctuary and cultivate awareness?

Only that day dawns to which are awake.

                                                   –Henry David Thoreau, Walden

La Vie, by Pablo Picasso (1903)

The painting above by Pablo Picasso depicts a couple, friends of the artist, whose relationship failed because of the young man's impotence.  He later killed himself and the artist's Blue Period has been traced in part to Picasso's sorrow at the loss.

Journalist and teacher Michael Pollan has been investigating the potential of certain  ancient practices involving hallucinogenic compounds and spirit guides to provide insight and relief by accessing parts of the brain we don't ordinarily.  His book How to Change Your Mind is a record of what he learned about how plant compounds can heal us, or help to release us from our "mental jails."  I have embedded an excerpt here. The therapy he describes shares traits with mindfulness practice, which we look at and practice, too, for its potential to allay anxiety and depression and open us to "the full spectrum of our conscious and unconscious possibilities," as Jon Kabat-Zinn writes in Wherever You Go There You Are.

Many people today live in crowded urban and suburban settings, some in areas plagued by gun violence and poverty and pollution, some spend hours and hours trapped in their commutes, continually rushed from here to there, trying to keep up, perhaps juggling several jobs and taking care of children and/or elderly parents–with very little or no financial security and little time or energy to see beyond the demands of the next day. Some live alone, with few resources and little support, and are lonely, technology having failed to solve the problem of creating true connections.  In some, even the well-off, the dysfunction and suffering may be hidden, psychic wounds exacting a slow toll until some sudden catastrophe manifests the pain, like suicide, rates of which have risen some 30% over the last 17 years across the US.  Many people today have debilitating health problems–addiction, anxiety, depression, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease.


We can learn to cope in non-destructive ways with the difficulties of life, and to nurture ourselves, increasing our store of vitality, but it takes effort and commitment. The quality of our life from the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual perspectives stands to gain from our efforts and commitment to health.

Freewrite:  What comes to mind when you think of wellbeing?

-----------------------------

Let's look at the wellness definition posted at the UCDavis campus wellness site and at how this campus has organized topics and services: https://shcs.ucdavis.edu/wellness/what-is-wellness



Homework:  Write one narrative essay of 350-500 words on the subject of wellbeing as you have come to know it. Title the piece, double space the lines, and indent for each successive paragraph, without extra-spacing between paragraphs. Bring it to class next week on a thumb drive and we'll spend time reviewing and revising the draft.

Read:  

1. Keys to Wellbeing:  https://greatergood.berkeley.edu   ; specifically, look into compassion
2. self-compassion v. self-esteem C Neff https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/try_selfcompassion/

To A Poor Old Woman   by William Carlos Williams 1883-1963

munching a plum on

the street a paper bag

of them in her hand

They taste good to her

They taste good

to her.  They taste

good to her

You can see it by

the way she gives herself

to the one half

sucked out in her hand

Comforted

a solace of ripe plums

seeming to fill the air

They taste good to her