KateWDIWTD

When I was a kid, I felt drawn to visual art. I spent hours and hours perfecting different self-developed techniques. Teachers scolded me to stop drawing during class. Other teachers asked me to design the class bulletin boards or decorations our classrooms. I won art awards. My teachers featured my art in school-wide showcases, fundraiser calendars, and even art events around the city in which we lived. As a high schooler, my art teacher facilitated some of us students exhibiting in a public art show downtown. I actually scored a private commission from someone who saw my piece at this event. I took home my school art pieces and worked on them at night, putting many more hours into my pieces than the other kids. I don’t think I was trying to be competitive. I just felt like the piece called for that much attention. So why did I feel so drawn to drawing?? (pun slightly intended) The truth is: … Read more

I find myself spending more time on exercise and meditation recently. I am reading an interesting book, The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk, MD. There is a lot in it, and a good amount of unpleasantness. The same can be said about life on Earth. I cannot speak to other planets. The thing that keeps sticking in me as I read it is that humans (all animals?) store a kind of emotional physical memory of trauma in our bodies when trauma occurs. And our reactions to future events are often dictated by the same feelings and physical sensations which were first brought on by the environmental stimuli of the past event, but which are then re-felt (as in “to feel again”) at the future event. The most classic example of this is a war veteran. Say the soldier developed a strong affinity with the other guys in his unit, and then one day in the field … Read more