- ISBN13: 9781577316046
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Creative people will experience depression--that's a given. It's a given because they are regularly confronted by doubts about the meaningfulness of their efforts. Theirs is a kind of depression that does not respond to pharmaceutical treatment. What's required is healing in the realm of meaning. In this groundbreaking book, Eric Maisel teaches creative people how to handle these recurrent crises of meaning and how to successfully manage the anxieties of the creati... More >>
The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
In “The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person’s Path through Depression” Dr. Eric Maisel presents a number of useful tools and concepts. One of Maisel’s immediately useful suggestions which I’ve taken into my own life and practice is a vocabulary of meaning to know and affirm clearly the meaning I’m creating in my life.
Maisel introduces ideas and phrases such as “meaning effort,” “meaning drain,” and “meaning container.” To these I have added “meaning anchor,” and “meaning pay-off.” For instance, two of my meaning anchors are my work with my 92-year-old father as creative companion and my mission on my weblog Riehlife to regularly create connections through the arts and across cultures and generations. Reading Dr. Maisel’s “The Van Gogh Blues” has helped me reframe my life efforts to feel greater strength and purpose. I strongly recommend this book to creative people everywhere, especially those prone to life’s palette of blues.
Janet Grace Riehl, author Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary
Rating: 5 / 5
Finally, I found a book that might actually help me and some of my dearest loved ones. I adore this book; and would love to meet the author. This book is for every “artist” who struggles w/ the “blues” or depression, yet knows that traditional medicine and therapy won’t help much. I’m going to revisit this review when I’m done w/the book (I’m only about 1/4 into it); but until then, I’ll just say, I finally feel I’m on the right track. Even in just the first chapter, I knew, this book was for me. Even my husband picked it up and said, “Wow. This is so you!” (in a good way). I can’t wait to share it w/ others that I know are troubled/plagued w/ similar issues. Hope this helps you in your search…
Rating: 5 / 5
Eric visited Rainmaker’s Prayers blog during his virtual tour for his newly released book “The Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person’s Path Through Depression.” Shinan asked some difficult questions and Eric gave some brilliant answers that we feel are important enough to share with the world. So I’ve included them in this customer review.
Shinan Barclay : In the face of global warming/global cooling, Eric Maisel’s book: “The Van Gogh Blues ,” inspired me to compile an anthology entitled “Rainmaker’s Prayers,Align with Global Harmony.” How do I encourage clients and contributors to find and create meaning in their life?
Eric Maisel: By helping them make the paradigm shift from finding meaning to making meaning. There is no meaning to find; it is not lost. There is only meaning to make; meaning is a choice. Once people really understand
this distinction, they realize that they know enough already to make these choices and they can begin to stand behind their own meaning
decisions.
Shinan Barclay: With climate change and the extinction of thousands of species, many people feel hopeless and helpless. How do you encourage people to find meaning among the uncertainty and confusion of evironmental upheavals?
Eric Maisel: By reminding them that they have a life to lead and they can lead it authentically or inauthentically. They are not in charge of the
universe–no one is. They are in charge of only and precisely their own
life. They can make their life a thing of moral beauty by their choices or they can watch more television. Until the world actually ends, we have
the obligation to take charge of our life and aim it in the direction
of our choosing; that is what “making ethics” means.
Shinan Barclay: Some data says that major corporations control the media, i.e. television, newspapers and magazine, and that the American population is spoon-fed and numbed by “corporate propaganda.” How can we create meaning in an inauthentic world?
Eric: Only with great difficulty–but life is difficulty. There never was
a guarantee that life would be easy. You think through what would
amount to right action in this kind of environment–where you can make the
most difference or any difference–and then you step in that
direction, recognizing that you can’t alter the world’s configuration, All you can do is make yourself proud by your own efforts. You heroically
try; that’s it, period.
Rainmaker’s Prayers, Align with Global Harmony
Rating: 5 / 5
The problem with so many self help books is an author will write a book and then rewrite the some book ten time under different title so it seem you have read it all before. Not so with Dr Eric Maisel, when I started reading The Van Gogh Blues, new ideas just jumped out of every page.
For most of my working life I have worked in the Television industry as a documentary cinematographer and director and am now in my seventies I am facing retirement but retiring does not stop the creative desire to practice ones art and of late I have had growing feeling of loss a kind of sadness that my work seemed to be over. However, reading the Van Gogh Blue, I suddenly felt a new energy and a possibility of bringing meaning back into my life.
Every person who has worked in a creative fields and is approaching their senior years should read this book.
Rating: 5 / 5
We all know the story of the brilliant yet tortured Van Gogh. His mind blowing creativity was only matched by bouts of deeply destructive depression. We’ve also become accustomed to hearing gossip about rock stars, artists, actors, and writers whose drug use, alcoholism, or suicide make the evening news. It seems the pairing of creativity and self destruction is a natural one.
The Van Gogh Blues doesn’t seek to break this stereotype. Instead, it looks to examine the reason why creative people tend to have such extreme highs and lows. The answer seems so obvious that most of us probably would never have thought of it.
People who create tend to put all of their effort into their work. I do it myself, I can sit for hours and just type fully immersed in my own words and thoughts. Having such clarity of focus and such a single minded drive is fantastic.
However, once the project is complete, the creating is done. Suddenly, there is no more purpose. The individual is suddenly lost without any sort of direction. I can relate. I always know it’s time to get back to my writing when I start to get depressed. Over time, I’ve learned that I have to a project. I have to create.
Rating: 5 / 5