yenew's Blurty

Work as a form of art
Ever think that art is too abstract? Too expensive? Too irrelevant? Read on.

Art is a part of our lives, and especially in our working lives. Work is a form of visual art - to act like everything is normal (Aristotle's Golden Mean applies): look busy when you're actually not; look carefree when you're
dying under mountains of work; appear sane when you're actually deranged; seem like a siao on-ster when you're everything but.

Like in most other areas, communication is a vital art in the workplace. Learning to speak right, present right, and listen right are crucial elements contributing to your survival in this cutthroat society. Know when to say how much, think of 1001 ways how to interpret into a person's words, and 1,000,001 ways in which your simple message can be misinterpreted by another. Focus on the nonverbal art of it - how sitting up, in a lean-forward position towards your lappie shows how much of an enthusiastic worker you are.

Working can also be an sonic fest, right at your own workstation. Download the latest MP3 players, ripping softwares to create your own library of music files. If you're close enough to your fellow wage-earners, share
the files so that everyone can benefit from your library. Now I'm into Wala Wala, New Age, on top of my usual Hillsong albums. Broaden your horizon, and the first step is what you choose to hear!

Hey wait. What about physical art? Before you decide to strike a Yoga or Pilates pose at your desk, read on.

The whole adventure of working is doing all the above-named arts in the most camouflaged form. Never neglect the physical arts at work. Practise the latest stance I learnt - Thinking on your feet (information courtesy of
Terrie). As we all know, the easiest way to develop a BELLY is to hibernate in your comfy chair after a good old lunch with your makan kakis. The easiest way to counter that is to pose the Thinker's Pose on your feet.
Being able to think on your feet not only shows how good you deal with adversities, and also, how nice you'll look after developing this habit.

Office workers tend to develop many health problems (we shan't talk about air-borne illnesses caused by bad ventilation systems in old office buildings for now). We all tend to look like Liang Po Po after a while, because we're almost plastered to the piles of paper, computer screens and what nots, in a position our body wasn't created for. To counter that, ask yourself every 30min, "Have you rested your eyes/ wrists/ fingers/ neck/
back/ knees?" STRETCH your way to better health. There you go... art of stretching.

So let us never forget about the arts as we go about our lives, for in every situation, there's an opportunity to practise some form of art.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Music: The Lord was there