Painting Your Life

Every person, whether they realize it or not, has a central theme (called an invariant organizing principle in psychology) that runs throughout their life. It is not necessarily a theme in the sense of a movie, but rather it is a theme that dictates your predispositions in certain situations. These themes often show themselves in the work of artists or in the books of writers. Stephen King, for example, writes mostly of inanimate objects being the central antagonists of his books because, at a very young age, he witnessed a friend of his get hit by a train. He has stated that he doesn't remember the incident, but clearly it impacted his entire life.

So, I've come up with a little exercise to determine what theme runs throughout your unconscious processes. First, close your eyes. Actually, don't close your eyes yet because you have to read the rest of this. If you did close your eyes, shame on you. Close your eyes after reading this whole spiel. Anyway, close your eyes and allow your mind to wander for a minute or so. Once you feel that your mind is sufficiently meandering, imagine an empty, white room. The room can be of whatever shape your heart so desires since it is a representation of your mind. Once you see your room, paint the walls whatever color you feel most comfortable with. You don't have to paint a solid color; you could paint your own mural or a terrible drawing of a boat on water, whatever you so desire.

Once you've painted the walls, add pictures to the walls. They could be of family or artist's paintings, simple-framed or framed by the most elaborate scheme known to man. Once you have done that, populate the room with items you feel would suit YOUR room. This includes everything: furniture, technology, pets, a life-sized model of a stormtrooper, cars, snagglepuss, whatever. Finally, think of what people you would want in your room. It doesn't matter if they're dead, alive, fictional, or Justin Bieber.

If you've done this and can see your room clearly, congratulations! The color you painted your room best represents your overall character, with the pictures on the walls representing that which you most respect and/or treasure. The items in your room are your idiosyncrasies and unique characteristics, while the people are those you trust and/or care for the most.

There, I've just told you how to be introspective. I think you owe me 5 bucks. If this didn't work for you, there is another exercise you can do: find random images, not ones you've searched for, and write short 200-400 word stories about them. The stories should include what happened in the picture, what is happening, and what is going to happen. Write, say, 10 of them, and read them over to find a theme. Give them to friends, family, your dog to eat, whomever you so desire, and ask them to see if they could find a theme.

If that didn't work for you either, then go draw or paint something. If you lack the artistic ability to do either of those things, I'm not sure why you've been reading up to this point anyway. Stop it. Seriously, stop reading. There is nothing more for you here. If you are continuing to read this regardless of what I have previously typed, I believe that you have too much leisure time on your hands. Get a hobby. I have heard that baseball cards are becoming worthwhile again.

That's all for now,
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