When you’re happy, you can start a happiness virus through your social network, according to a Harvard and UC San Diego study.
So update your Twitter and Facebook status with good things and spread the love!
No conclusive info about when you’re down, although I know that’s as good a people repellant as B.O.
I had the fortune to hear Peter Max—the artist synonymous with 60s style—talk about his life and career at the opening of a summer of love tribute at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco.
While I didn’t notice at the time, his seemingly charmed life actually draws upon several important “life lessons.” Here’s what I heard…and hopefully it is correct:
Intention and Focus Takes a New Turn Through Fate
Throughout his youth, Max had intended to become an astronomer. His life took a twist when a friend urged him to go to art school. When he learned his teacher had studied art alongside Norman Rockwell, he was hooked.
Max perfected the realism of John Singer Sargent and began approaching New York ad agencies for work in ad campaigns. After an art director got a sneak at a painting full of astronomy motifs at the bottom of Max’s pile of samples, he quickly herded together the other art directors. Max left with 14 assignments. It only multiplied from there.
Taking Initiative
At one point, Max designed the interior for a restaurant, Tin Lizzy, and convinced the owner that although the place was consistently booked, they should make a poster to immortalize the place as Toulouse Lautrec had with the Moulin Rouge.
Seizing Opportunities Based on Gut Feeling (or impulse)
As he stood swirling the colors for his soon to be famous posters, when the printer learned he was the artist he suggested they go into business making posters. At the time, posters of the Fillmore in San Francisco were all the rage.
It wasn’t too long after that the printer said a mind boggling million had been ordered. Then 7 million, distributed worldwide. Soon the calls came in from brands wanting Peter Max lines. All in all 72 licensed his work.
Knowing When to Say No
This incidental conversation had mushroomed (it was the ’60s afterall) into a major enterprise. Peter was, in fact, was so maxed out (sorry) that he decided to pass along the offer to illustrate the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine movie to the ‘German Peter Max.’ And as soon as one of his colleagues pointed out that the artwork licensing had become commercialized to a point where Max ran the risk as being remembered as a clothing designer—and he did not want that. So he put a stop to licensing his work for products.
Evolving With the Times and Your Desires
Over time Peter Max’s style evolved but he continues to work on interesting projects.
He told a great story about Gorbachav inviting him to do a big show in St. Petersburg with a reception from 14,000 fans lining many many blocks.
And in fact I need to research which of the 235 “Welcome to America” signs he designed for border entry points still exist. I really don’t think I’ve ever seen one, amazingly!
An audience member asked if he thought about painting as a realist. We all chuckled as he explained that he sometimes starts small realism style paintings but invariably starts swashing around bigger strokes - realism meets modern. Who knows, maybe he could have something there.
I hope his life lessons help you in some way as they did me. Now, spread the love 2007 style with a Peter Max e-card.
Tara joined SuperViva in 2006, and from the get-go saw the positive effects of making a life list.
For one thing, it helped her decide to become a counselor. Here are some recent stories she shared with me:
I’ve really found Superviva useful, especially recently as last year I finally met someone worth dating seriously (we’re actually getting married in less than two months) and upon looking at my life list together, we found that we have quite a lot of goals in common. Still, it prompted some reflection on both of our parts to see where we were both going and how we’d like to get there, as well as how it might clash with the other’s plans. Surprisingly, this life list helped me know that this was someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with - not that Alex wants to do EVERYTHING I want to do, but at least he supports all of my odder tendencies
And I guess that’s the most important thing.
Results of Her Life List Workshop
Now that I’m pursuing graduate work in counseling, I’ve found it even more useful. I even conducted a Life List Workshop at my local women’s center. The ladies found it extremely helpful to look at things they’d always wanted to do, things they’d yet to accomplish, and things they’d done and never taken notice of. I played a game with them and told them to write down a list of all the things they ever dreamed of accomplishing, even if it was something that didn’t seem within their constraints at the moment. I told them to “dream big” and pay no mind to limitations (financial, physical, or otherwise). They had a hard time at first because we (especially women) are so conditioned to be realistic and take care of others, but after awhile, they came around and had so much fun with it! I then went over their lists with them and helped them figure out ways they could make some of their more outlandish dreams come true in realistic ways - one woman wanted to go to space camp when she was younger, but obviously was in no condition to go now. So I helped her think of ways to accomplish what she’d sought to accomplish with this particular goal - why did she want to go to space camp in the first place? Would taking astronomy classes at the local community college, coupled with a mini-vacation to Kennedy Space Center, accomplish the same thing for her now?This technique also really helped some of the women see how and why their goals had changed over the years. Some of them said getting married and having kids meant they could never think of themselves and always of others - I encouraged them to find freedom in the little things, even as some of them continued to feel constrained by their life situations. All in all, it was a wonderful workshop and I recommended SuperViva bigtime!
Next: Life Lists for Prisoner Re-entry Program
I’m going to start volunteer teaching at a Prisoner Re-entry Initiative in my area; though my major task is to teach them basic life and employment skills, I think I’m going to start by having them develop a life list - I really believe that before you can teach someone you have to give them the confidence to learn and life lists are a really wonderful tool to make people “dream big.” Really I can’t thank you enough for constantly developing my concept of how life lists can be used - the website is just awesome and so useful for coming up with many new ways to spread the good word about allowing yourself to dream
(Currently Tara has her life list set to “private” while she updates it.)
New to SuperViva?
It’s quick and easy to start your life list on SuperViva with our “Super Lister.” You can make your entire list private or public, or make just specific goals private. Learn more or get started! Feel free to post any questions here or send an email.
Planning a social or coaching event? The SuperViva stickers add a fun, twist to help people socialize meaningfully. Get in touch if you’d like some.
From Aeronautics to Magic to Writing and Humanistic Studies, MIT OpenCourseWare makes available course materials from a number of MIT University. It’s hard to believe but true! Some include lecture notes, the curriculum, and other class materials.
For more online resources to kick off the school year, see the COLLEGE TOOLBOX: 60+ Tools For Back To School.
Seize Fall and start pursuing your goals to learn something new. I’ll be signing up for CPR and first-aid classes at the Red Cross, a very popular goal.
Greater Good Magazine “is a new voice of compassion, hope, and inspiration. Four times a year, it highlights ground breaking scientific research into the roots of altruistic human relationships, and fuses this research with inspiring stories of compassion in action. In the process, it provides a bridge between social scientists and parents, educators, community leaders, and policy makers.”
The magazine , published by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, is looking for contributors. This could be your chance to publish a magazine article, if you have such a goal—as many do.
Their writers “range from social scientists to journalists to teachers…Greater Good’s articles mix science reporting with storytelling, often highlighting groundbreaking academic research, but in a manner that’s engaging and accessible to a popular audience.”
Take a look at the areas for which they need writers as well as designers and photographers.
Good luck! Even if you don’t get published, feel grateful you had the gumption to try.
