Huh? The title of this episode doesn't sound like something one would find in Circa 19xx Land. Well, Jennifer got a notion; Blame an off-the-cuff remark in Episode 27 for this one. She said something in that episode that tickled her own fancy...and here we are. In tonight's show Jennifer leads us on a virtual retreat in which we clean out our heads of toxic muck only to fill them up again with good, wholesome stuff. Dust off your old school notebooks and find a pencil, because we get assignments along the way. Jennifer designed a five-facet program to help us through a mental cleanse that's focused on Humor, Words, Music, Imagery, and Personal Surroundings. Ok, even she knows this is a wacky departure from our usual fare on Circa Sunday Night. But don't worry: she pulls in content that IS in our Circa Sunday Night wheelhouse, too. Here's to a new adventure! Dare to come along?
Show Links
The Honeymooners: "Better Living Through Television"
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Psalm 23
Winds on Velvet Album by Elliot Lawrence and His Orchestra
Victoria Magazine Website
Victoria Magazine on Instagram
Circa 19xx Land
Huh? The title of this episode doesn't sound like something one would find in Circa 19xx Land. Well, Jennifer got a notion; Blame an off-the-cuff remark in Episode 27 for this one. She said something in that episode that tickled her own fancy...and here we are. In tonight's show Jennifer leads us on a virtual retreat in which we clean out our heads of toxic muck only to fill them up again with good, wholesome stuff. Dust off your old school notebooks and find a pencil, because we get assignments along the way. Jennifer designed a five-facet program to help us through a mental cleanse that's focused on Humor, Words, Music, Imagery, and Personal Surroundings. Ok, even she knows this is a wacky departure from our usual fare on Circa Sunday Night. But don't worry: she pulls in content that IS in our Circa Sunday Night wheelhouse, too. Here's to a new adventure! Dare to come along?
Show Links
The Honeymooners: "Better Living Through Television"
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Psalm 23
Winds on Velvet Album by Elliot Lawrence and His Orchestra
Victoria Magazine Website
Victoria Magazine on Instagram
Circa 19xx Land
CSN Ep 28
Detox your Mind: A Virtual Retreat
Tonight’s show is a wild departure from our usual subjects here on Circa Sunday Night—and, as happens a LOT of the time, this is not the episode I had planned nor is it the one I had set out to produce when I sat down to write. But, you know how sometimes you get a thought, and you keep turning it over and over until finally, it just has to come out? No? That’s just me, huh? [laugh], well, that DID happen to me this week, and I decided, oh, heck with it, I’m going to turn this into a show.
So, what’s the thought?
Well, our last episode was about the Gilded Age, and at one point in my commentary I said something—completely by accident and without any forethought—that I think was actually pretty smart. Yeah—that rarely happens, so let’s all jot that down in our calendars. [laugh]. Anyway, it had to do with being careful about what you let into your brain. Hmmm, let’s see if we can remember exactly what I said…
[harps and memory]
Yeah, that was it. Well, shortly after I said that I started seeing all these ads for detoxing your body through special health drinks or supplements. I’m not really into all that, but I started thinking: “is there a way to detox your mind”—you know, clear out all the toxic sounds and images and fears and ugly clutter that has taken up residence in our brains. I have a bunch of junk in my mind—I mean, with the sensory overload we all have, how can we NOT? Well, just imagine if you could get all that out of there and begin again. [Breath out…sigh] Wouldn’t that feel like losing 50 pounds? How do we do that? I don’t know for sure. I’m not a psychologist. But I have some ideas—and I think we can bring in some cool stuff from the early 20th century to help us out.
OK, that’s going to be our show tonight. Yeah, it’s wild, and, like I said, a departure from our usual stuff, and kind of a content experiment. But, we live on the edge here in Circa 19xx Land!
To get all geared up for this adventure, how about a rousing theme song?
[Theme song]
Hey, everyone! So glad you’re here. I wish you were here in the room with me, because wow, it smells amazing in here. I haven’t talked about candles for a while, so you may have thought, Hmmm, maybe Jennifer isn’t into candles anymore. Uh, no. Still addicted. And tonight I’ve got a really good one going. I bought a couple of candles at Walmart after Christmas several weeks ago that were on clearance. Now I wish I would have bought more. What is this called…It’s Better Homes and Gardens, Cherry and Clove. I bought these in Springfield Missouri, but in Kansas City, they were no where to be found, so I don’t know if they were limited edition, or what. But just goes to show, you don’t have to buy really expensive candles to get an amazing scent. Ah, smells delicious—and no calories. How can you beat that?
[Music]
[Sigh] This is the portion of our program in which I ask you to support the show. If you’ve been a listener for a while you know how uncomfortable this makes me. So, let’s just get it over with. If you want to support our little show, please share it with someone you know that enjoys old stuff like we do! Now, someone told me a few days ago that they were trying to leave the show a five-star review out on Apple Podcasts and couldn’t figure out how to do it, then tried on Stitcher and couldn’t figure that out either. So, I went out and tried it—and I couldn’t do it either! I have no idea how that works. Yeah, I know, that’s embarrassing. A REAL podcaster would have that down. Please don’t work hard on trying to leave a review. If you have made the effort—wow, that really has my heart. But you’re not responsible for promoting my hobby. Just showing up here and listening to the whole show is huge. But if you really want to support the show, let’s start hanging out on Youtube. Even I know how THAT works, and it makes it easier to connect, too. Let’s do a check on how many subscribers we have out there….Hey, we’re up to five now! Thanks mom and family! No, I’m kidding. No one in my family listens to the show, and I’m pretty sure they don’t know about the channel. Most of you are still listening on the other platforms, and that’s fine too. I’ll continue to air on those platforms. But if you feel moved to help me grow my Youtube channel, that would be awesome. Ok, sorry for all that. Moving on…
[Music]
Can we talk just a moment about HBO’s The Gilded Age for a second? No, we’re not going backwards…I know that’s what we did last time…but in this week’s episode of The Gilded Age there was a scene that was so visually stunning, that I literally had to rewind it and watch it a couple of times. I’m talking about Episode 6, and that one is called “Heads Have Rolled for Less.” Now, I’m going to be honest, I had hoped Gilded Age might be a replacement for Downton Abby for me. It is NOT going to be that. Some of the writing is pretty bad—the dialogue just doesn’t ring true. But the visuals continue to be amazing. The scene that I loved was a luncheon at the Russell’s mansion in their dining room. The guests walk into the dining room, and there are these tall crystal centerpieces down the table that are dripping with crystal swags and beautiful flowers. Gasp! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a more beautiful table set. Goodness. Then they sit at the table, and these little packets are on each plate. The packets are napkins tied in a satin bow. When the guests open them, the most amazing favors you ever saw are inside. The ladies got these lovely fans, and the gentlemen got what I think were card cases. Can you imagine attending a luncheon like that? The closest thing I’ve ever come to that was a corporate luncheon at a steakhouse where we all got cup koozies with the company logo on them. Yeah, not quite the same somehow.
[Music]
OK, so shall we finally get to our subject tonight? I know, it always takes me a bit to get there, but we always do, eventually. You know, we just talked about that beautiful luncheon at the Russel mansion, and that is a good lead-in to this idea of detoxing our minds, because I think putting beautiful images in our minds is part of that. Now, I don’t have any desire to surround myself with that level of luxury. I’m a simple girl. But there are so many ugly things in the world, I think a steady diet of beautiful images, sounds, songs, poetry, artwork, flowers and scenes from nature are truly soothing for our soul and something we really need today. And the good news—we can have all of that without having the financial reserves of the Guilded Age millionaires.
What I want to do is create a little detox program for us tonight—give us some good healthy food for our minds. But as a backdrop to this, I think we have to first detach ourselves from the news—and social media in general. There is a difference between being aware of what’s going on in the world, and wallowing in bad news to the point that we can do nothing but curl up in a little ball and give up on life. That’s not God’s plan for us. My little detox program can’t possibly work if we then turn around and put more toxic stuff in our heads. We need to strike a balance between being aware of the world and applying critical thinking to what we take in, and finding joy in the world. We don’t have to look very far to find toxic stuff. Toxic stuff meets us where we are. But joy and beauty are treasures we have to go after. That’s the premise of my program for us. To detox means to get rid of toxins. But then we need to fill up the resulting space with stuff that’s better for us.
So, what is my program? We’re going to fill our heads with beautiful things in five categories:
1. Humor
2. Words
3. Music
4. Imagery, and
5. Personal surroundings
I’ll get you started tonight, and set forth a mental detox plan, but I’m also going to invite you to explore these things further on your own.
How does that sound? We can think of this as a little virtual retreat. We’ll start our retreat with one of my favorite categories: humor.
[Music]
Think of a time in your life when you laughed the hardest—I mean laughed so hard that you couldn’t breathe, that your side cramped up, that your face hurt and your eyes teared up. Oh, that’s a great feeling, isn’t it. There’s really nothing better than that. I can remember the thing I laughed at the hardest. It was something my brother-in-law had said and done, and I was literally buckled over I laughed so hard. I won’t relay it here because it was one of those things that wouldn’t translate well in the retelling. But I know you’ve had that experience and understand what I’m talking about.
Have you ever thought about what makes something funny? I haven’t either. But if you can believe it, there are some humor theories out there that try to nail this down.
· One of those theories is called the superiority theory of humor. This one is actually thousands of years old, and was suggested by Aristotle and Plato. The gist of this theory is that all humor is drawn from the misfortunes of others, that because of someone else’s misfortunes or mis-steps we feel superior to them. Wow, that sounds kind of mean, right? But if we’ve ever laughed at a character’s foolishness, it’s really because we think that WE know better and wouldn’t do such a foolish thing. Connected to this idea is the idea that humor involves some degree of conflict. That conflict may be between people, or a person and a thing, or a person and an animal, or whatever. But self-deprecating humor also falls into the category of superiority theory. When someone makes fun of himself, he essentially makes clear how the other person is superior in some way to him.
· Another theory is referred to as relief theory, and this one was put forth by someone from our era in Circa 19xx Land—Sigmund Freud, the famous founder of psychoanalysis around the turn of the twentieth century. Hey, by the way, I went out to Wikipedia to read up on Freud, and they had a picture of his couch. You know, THE couch, where psychoanalysis began. I sort of thought the couch was a joke or a myth. Not so. Anyway, the relief theory centers around the relief of tension. Let’s say there is a serious conflict, and then something unexpected and ridiculous happens. Humor is a product of that situation. The problem with relief theory—in my opinion—is that “shock” humor falls into this category. Relying, for example, on fowl language to shock people into laughing. To me, that’s cheating—just relying on “shock” to get a reaction—and it’s toxic, Which is the opposite of what we want.
· Another theory is incongruity theory. This is the idea that humor can result when our expectations don’t match up with reality. Sarcasm is a natural outgrowth of incongruity theory—and we often find humor in sarcasm.
· Now, I’m going to throw in my own theory, too. At least I think I’m making this one up: I’m calling it relatability theory. I think for us to see the humor in a situation, it needs to be relatable, no matter how ridiculous. Let’s say a character does something totally foolish. I think that foolish thing becomes funny when we can understand the logic behind that behavior—even if that logic is distorted or wrong or all goofed up.
So let me tell you about two things I saw this week that had set out to be humorous. Have you ever seen that show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? That’s an Amazon original series featuring Mrs. Maisel, a stand-up comedienne. I started watching it a couple of years ago because I was curious about it. It’s set in the late 1950s, early 1960s, and, of course, the clothes are awesome.
There have been some funny things in this show—interestingly enough, none of the things I have found funny in it are in the stand-up routines of the main character. Some of the situations within the show have been funny. Anyway, that show was disrupted—I guess due to COVID—so it’s back on for the first time since, I think, 2019, with a new season. I watched the first episode of this latest season, which opened with Mrs. Maisel doing a stand-up routine. It was NOT funny at all in my opinion. It was of the “shock” variety—lots of distracting language delivered with a lot of bitterness. Bitter doesn’t tend to be funny. After her set we see her in a cab with her manager, and she’s upset about something that’s happened—long story. Anyway, Mrs. Maisel shrieks at the cab driver to stop the car. Then, in a rant, she starts taking off her clothes there on the side of the street, because the outfit she’s wearing is one she wore when something bad had happened to her and she wants to put that bad thing behind her. Shedding her clothes is part of that. OK, that was totally unrelatable. You feel bad about this pit that the character has descended into. So, this is not the kind of thing to watch if we want to detox our brains.
Let’s contrast that with something else I saw this week—an old show that I’ve seen before, but retains both its humor and its charm.
[Honeymooners theme]
Ah, yes, the old Jackie Gleason and Audrey Meadows show, The Honeymooners from the 1950s. Now the Honeymooners is worthy of an entire episode of Circa Sunday Night in its own right, and maybe we’ll do that some time. But in terms of humor—the topic of our show this week--it’s soooo good. The episode I saw this week is one of the greats of all time, and definitely one of my favorites, called Better Living Through Television.
Now, the premise of this series is that Ralph and Alice Kramden are a married couple that have been together for 14 years—long past the honeymoon period, so the term “honeymooners” is somewhat—but not totally—ironic. That unexpected twist sets us up for humor right off the bat. So, they’ve settled into their relationship to the point where they get on each other’s nerves, argue with each other, but at the same time you get a sense that they really love each other and are good for each other. Ralph is a bus driver, Alice is a homemaker, and they live in a dumpy little two-room apartment. Ralph isn’t the smartest guy, and so when he comes up with money-making schemes (and he is ALWAYS coming up with new money making schemes), Alice, who is much more sensible, has to reign him in. This conflict between Ralph’s schemes and Alice’s sensibility calls into play the incongruity theory, right? And also, because Ralph tends to do very foolish things, the superiority theory.
The episode, Better Living Through Television, features that same formula. Ralph gets an idea! He finds out about a deal on some fancy can openers that have all these amazing gadgets on them. Not only can they open cans, but they can slice, they can dice, they can do all the things, right? He can buy 2,000 of these on can openers on the cheap, sell them, and make a fortune. He ropes his ever-gullible friend Ed Norton into going in with him on it. There’s a major obstacle in the way: Alice. She manages the money in the household, and Ed tells Ralph there’s no way Alice is going to let him have the money to buy the openers. When Alice isn’t within earshot, Ralph assures Ed that there’s nothing to worry about, that he’s the king of his castle, that Alice is his subject, and she’ll do anything he tells her to do. Now, we know already that this isn’t true. We know that Alice is never going to go for this plan, so already we’re geared up for a scene. And we get one.
[clip]
Now, this argument goes on for several minutes, and it’s truly brilliant—the writing here is fantastic, and Gleason and Meadows delivery is right on. What a fantastic episode this is. Anyway, I’m getting distracted. Alice puts her foot down and refuses to let Ralph have the money. BUT…Ralph goes out and buys them anyway, and that’s when the rest of his plan unfolds: he and Norton will go on local television and sell them by doing what is essentially a little info-mercial. They will demonstrate the tool on a kitchen set. Now, Norton is a dim-witted fellow (sort of, although sometimes he proves to be wiser than Ralph). So, we expect him to be the cause of the disaster—and we know this is going to end in disaster. But, it’s Ralph who completely messes up this scheme.
They head to the TV station and do a little rehearsal because they go live.
[Clip]
The rehearsal is ridiculous, but goes off pretty well. When they go live, that’s when things go off the rails, and IT IS hilarious. I’m going to stop there so you can discover this wonderful show on your own. I’m putting a link to this episode in the show notes. So, assignment number 1 in our Mental detox program is just to laugh at something silly. I think this episode of the Honeymooners is a great place to start. How does this episode reflect the humor theories?
· Well, we can see the superiority theory in play here because of the foolishness of Ralph’s scheme and especially how he falls apart when on television. We’re “better” than he is, more foolish. We would NEVER be so ridiculous, would we? Also in keeping with that theory, there’s conflict between Ralph’s idea and its execution, and also between Alice and Ralph because she doesn’t believe in him, and to some extent between Ralph and Ed Norton because Ed is dragged into the scheme—and tries his best to salvage it when Ralph botches it.
· I can see my own “relatability theory” here, too, in that we can relate to Ralph. Who among us hasn’t thought of zany ways to make money? We might not act on them, but because Ralph does, we can relate. One of the reasons Ralph’s sales scheme goes awry is because he is overcome by fear when he confronts the fact that there is a big television audience watching him. His dreams are thwarted by his fear. Who among us can’t relate to that?
This is such a great show. If you haven’t seen this before, I think you’ll really enjoy this detox assignment. You’re welcome.
[Musical interlude].
Ok, so we’ve just completed step one of our mental detox program: exploring humor. Now let’s move onto step 2: Words.
Words can be so beautiful, can’t they? I think that’s why people love to collect quotes. You know, for a long time, I thought I was the only one who did that. Then I found out that if you just type in “Quotes” of any subject in Google, a million results come back. There are quote directories, and people like to create images with meaningful quotes superimposed on them. Quotes are great because they can pack little bits of wisdom into just a few words.
Poetry can do that, too, and so can short little passages such as those found in a book like 1,000 Beautiful Things, one my favorite books in my own personal library. I did a whole Circa Sunday Night show last year based on that book. For those of you who are new, 1,000 Beautiful Things is an old book I picked up in a thrift store that was published in 1947 (although I think there were some later editions, too). It’s an anthology collected by Marjory Barrows of poems and short dramatic and literary passages that you can read a bit at a time. And I’ve discovered several little gems in there. I love the title, too: 1,000 Beautiful Things. Just what the doctor ordered, right? I know very little of Marjorie Barrows, but I enjoy spending time in her book.
So, for this part of our detox, I wanted to bring in some beautiful words that we can just float away on. I considered some poems, and even some old song lyrics. But I decided to turn to faith for the ultimate detox.
[record scratch sound]
Now, fear not, nor be dismayed! This is not a religious podcast. So, if you hear that we’re going to look at words about faith and think—nope! Not into that! Bear with me. I don’t feel the least bit qualified to do a religious podcast even if I wanted to. But I am a religious person, and I make no apologies for that. My faith is the most precious thing I have, so naturally that will come to the surface from time to time.
At the beginning of the year I started a little Bible in One Year program. So, every morning, first thing, I make a cup of coffee and tune into the Bible in One Year podcast from Ascension Presents. I’ve read large segments of the Bible already, but I’m bound and determined to read the whole thing cover to cover this year. I started on January 1, and here we are in March, and I’m still on it. Let’s hope I can keep this going all the way.
I’m discovering so many beautiful passages along the way, that just calls to mind so many ideas that give us a glimpse of the eternal reality of life. I thought I would share a couple of them with you.
The first is drawn from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and it speaks about the relationship between God and Man.
God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in the every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and heirs.
So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel. He told them: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Strengthened by this mission, the apostles went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.
Faith is man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a super abundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life. The desire for God is written in the human heart because man is created by God and for God and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will we find truth and happiness.
God can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by man. Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference, the cares and riches of this world, the scandal of bad example on the part of believers, currents of thought hostile to religion, and finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call. But God never ceases His call to every man to seek him.
Oh, my, isn’t that lovely? Oh, yes. Especially that last part. We might forget God, or even reject him—and we all have to some extent, even those of us who are faithful. The walk of faith isn’t easy. It’s a quest, within this supernatural world that we live in, full of twists and turns. But while we may reject God, he never rejects us. He spends our whole lives trying to get our attention because he loves us, and he wants us to love him. How beautiful that is—and how completely opposite of what we see in the World every day.
OK, how about some more beautiful words? Here is a passage from Psalm 23, which I know you have heard a million times, but it’s a perennial top ten hit for a reason. Here is everyone’s favorite segment:
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.
Ah, that just cuts right through the poison in our lives, doesn’t it? What is this saying? It’s saying ultimately, that we can trust God. There is nothing we shall want—meaning there is nothing we shall lack. I love the imagery of the green pastures and the quiet waters. Step away from the noise of the world, seek God in the quiet, and he will strengthen and restore you. We have no reason to fear—even when the clouds are gathering, and storms are on the horizon, because God is with us, and He has made us for something greater.
I feel more peaceful already, don’t you? Ok, so I just shared with you some words that I think are beautiful that we can fill our heads with. What about you? Do you have a favorite quote, or book, or poem that contains wisdom or imagery that is really meaningful to you, that’s purely and simply beautiful? Assignment number 2 is to revisit those favorite passages and fill your head with them. Or, if you don’t have any favorites, maybe your mission should be to find some. There is a world of books out there, just waiting to be cracked open and discovered.
[Music]
OK, so, we’ve tackled Humor, Words, now let’s direct our attention to step three in our mental detox program: Music!
I love music—and, of course, I especially love old music. Before Christmas, out on Instagram stories I had invited people to ask me questions that I might address here on the show. Well, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m terrible at social media. I’m out there very inconsistently, I get bored with it very easily, and therefore I just don’t do much with it. I haven’t actually posted out on Instagram since before New Years. Yeah, I know, “and I call myself a podcaster.” You know what I need? I need a social media manager who can just do that part for me. Not going to happen. But anyway, I asked for question, I got almost none. But, one question I did get was about the music I talk about and use on the show: What is my favorite music, what do I listen to when I’m not doing the podcast?
Well, I love the old music of the 1930s—and that’s the era I draw from most often for the show. A fave on the show that I like to feature is the Ray Noble Orchestra—particularly with the singer Al Bowlly. Ray Noble was a British band leader, composer, arranger, and I believe he did some radio work and even some acting, too, although I’ve never seen anything on film that he did. Al Bowlly was with Noble’s orchestra in the 1930s. Al grew up in South Africa, but ended up in England, and he died back in the 1940s in London. I love their sound for Circa 19xx Land.
When I’m not doing the podcast, though, I tend to listen to Capitol Records-era jazz of the 1950s—and easy listening music of the same era. Which leads me to a guy I want to introduce you to tonight, because I’m willing to bet you haven’t heard of him.
Please meet Mr Elliott Lawrence.
Elliott Lawrence is a bandleader who died not so long ago in July of last year – of 2021. I think he was in his 90s. I honestly can’t remember how I was introduced to his music—but it was long ago, and when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I put on my favorite Elliott Lawrence album, Winds on Velvet, and it puts me in a completely different frame of mind.
You may not have heard of Elliott Lawrence, but he had an illustrious career. Now, the music of his that I know what from his jazz band era, in the 1940 and especially the 1950s. But that’s only part of his story. After 1960 he started composing and arranging scores for television, film, and the Broadway stage. He won a Tony Award in 1962, and then from 1965 to 2011—wait, can that be right? Let me check my notes…because in 2011 he would have been, what? In his 80s? Wow. Yes, that’s correct, from 1965 to 2011, he was the musical director for the Tony Awards telecast. He was also musical director for other big TV specials, like Kennedy Center Honors. He won multiple Emmy Awards for his work on Television.
Hey, and here’s something I didn’t know: he scored the big-screen motion pictures, Network and The French Connection.
Well, besides all that, he brought a song into the world that is so quiet and beautiful, that it’s the perfect balm for our weary souls. The song is called “Azure Mist.”
[Clip…]
Isn’t that pretty? Ok, so The Album Winds on Velvet was, from what I can tell, was released in 1966. I LOVE this album. Now, you might be saying, ‘Jennifer that music sounds like elevator music, or something my grandma might have listened to.’ Well, maybe it is. But I ask you to give it a chance. I think it’s the perfect music to dream lovely dreams to. “Azure Mist” is my favorite song on the album, but actually, I think all the songs are fantastic. Lucky for us, I found that you can listen to the entire album out on Youtube…so that’s your next assignment: to listen to Winds on Velvet in its entirety, and maybe give “Azure Mist,” a couple of listens. You can thank me later.
[music]
Now we come to step four in our mental detox program, and that’s imagery.
In some ways, this might be the most important component to our mental detox, because we take in so much stuff visually. It’s by far the most dominant of our senses; about 80% of what we perceive in the world is visual. Now here’s why this is important to this idea of detoxing our minds: once images go into our head—are they ever really gone? Some things we take in never make it past our short-term memory, and then they’re gone. But other things—things that are particularly graphic, or traumatizing, or associated with strong feelings, may linger in long-term memory indefinitely. If those things are beautiful and pure, hooray! That’s going to have a positive effect on us. If they are ugly or brutal or painful, they WILL have an affect on us, shape our outlook, and certainly impact our mental health. I mean, how could they NOT?
That’s why I made that comment in our last episode about why it’s so important to watch what you put in your mind just as you watch what food you put in your body.
Now, when I was considering what we could look at that’s beautiful, gosh, there are so many options. There are online museums, botanical gardens, and so on. What to choose? Well, for our detox program I decided to go with what is on my nightstand: the latest issue of Victoria Magazine.
I’ve been subscribing to Victoria for years and years. You know what Victoria is? It’s like this little personal retreat that arrives in your mailbox every other month. It takes you to beautiful villages and cottages, and elegant and stately mansions. Each year there are writers and artists “in residence” who submit articles or paintings to the magazine throughout the year, and sprinkled throughout the magazine are wonderful quotes from Victorian-era authors and other notable personalities that capture in just a few words a meaningful and beautiful sentiment or idea.
But I think what I like best about Victoria magazine—oh, and I guess I should mention that this is not a commercial for Victoria—they aren’t sponsoring this podcast or anything—but what I like best about it are the photographs. There isn’t a magazine out there that has more beautiful photographs. You know, I used to subscribe to Victoria so I would get issues in the mail, but I don’t do that any more. I buy them individually when they come out in the store. When they came in the mail the covers would often be beat up or creased, or the mailing label would mar the cover somehow. I like to keep these magazines in my library, and I care for them like my books so they are pristine, so I buy them.
I’m recording this on Sunday, March 6, and I just brought home the March/April issue. (They come out every other month). I haven’t read this one yet, but in looking at the table of contents I can see that they have a piece that features the Swan House in Atlanta, Georgia. I’ve been to the Swan House. It’s in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, and of all the mansions I have visited—yeah, there’s been a lot of those—Swan House is in my top 2 or 3. It was built in 1928, and—well, check out the magazine and you’ll get a glimpse of how beautiful it is. Oh, but you know what, you may have already seen Swan House, because it was in the movie The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. It was the evil president’s house. What was his name? Snow? Was it President Snow? I think that’s what it was. Anyway, Swan House is recognizable by this big terraced fountain that leads from the lawn to the house. Hmmm, it is such a dreamy place.
OK, I’m getting myself distracted. The point is, that Victoria magazine offers beautiful visuals to just drink in. And here’s the good news: they have a beautiful website and Instagram account where you can look at their photographs even if you are not a subscriber. So, that’s assignment number 4: Go out to the Victoria website and look at their beautiful visuals. I’ll put a link in the show notes.
[Music]
And now for the last component of our mental detox program: Surroundings.
This has to do with the environment in which you find yourself. I think it’s very important to have beautiful things wherever you spend the most of your time: A sunny window, a lovely scent, a pretty book—flowers. Yeah, let’s talk about flowers. I’ve only recently discovered the magic of flowers in my house. I never bothered with them before because, well, they aren’t cheap, and they don’t last. If I was going to incorporate flowers in my décor it was going to be faux flowers that I could invest in and keep for a long time. But while faux flowers are pretty realistic-looking these days, they don’t feel the same, and of course, they don’t smell the same. And I think I had it all wrong when it came to favoring permanence over the real thing. Flowers are fleeting little masterpieces that are meant to be enjoyed for as long as they last.
My point is, our surroundings have a dramatics psychological effect on us. An ugly space can shape our outlook, can make us feel like we’re in too deep, that we’re in a place we can’t get out of. We project our ugly space onto the wider world, so that everything we experience is ugly.
No, we can’t have that. So what should we do? Well, I believe life is what we make it, and we can begin by creating a space for ourselves that reflects the world we want to see. We don’t need a lot of money to do this. We can just start with a corner of a room, a chair and a table, good light, and something beautiful to look at. The magazine House Beautiful has a motto: A beautiful life begins at home. That’s really true, isn’t it?
So, what’s your assignment? I was going to urge you to bring flowers into your home, but in my neck of the woods it’s still winter and we are living in a colorless world for the next few weeks. Flowers in the shop are expensive. So instead, I’m sending you on a shopping excursion: and because this is Circa 19xx Land, let’s go old school—seek out an antique mall or thrift store and buy the most beautiful little vase you can find. I visit antique malls several times a month, and I can tell you that there are beautiful old little charmers all over the place, and they are often very inexpensive. Aim for a vase that is pretty even without flowers in it so you can enjoy it until Spring officially arrives, and you have something to fill it with. And when you bring it home, put it in your pretty little corner on your table near the window. A beautiful life begins at home.
[Music]
Ok, so let’s recap your assignments:
1. Watch the Honeymooners episode: Better Living Through Television (or really any episode of the Honeymooners)
2. Revisit poems, Scriptural passages, stories, quotes, or other readings that are beautiful and bring you peace. If you don't already have some favorites, go out and explore to see if you can discover some new ones.
3. Listen to Winds on Velvet by Elliott Lawrence and his Orchestra. As you listen to that dreamy music, close your eyes and let yourself drift away. Just trust me on this. You'll thank me later.
4. Give yourself a feast for the eyes by checking out Victoria Magazine's website or Instagram page.
5. Go shopping! Buy yourself the prettiest little vase you can find at an antique mall or thrift store, and use that as a starting point for creating a beautiful little space for yourself.
Ok, well that just about does it for our show tonight. I know this episode was different than what we usually do on Circa Sunday Night—and it was a whole lot of me talking. Hey, if you’re out on Youtube, let me know in the Comments section if you like this kind of format—oh, and if you do the assignments, I’d love to hear all about it! And, if you do go out there, please take a moment to subscribe. Yeah, I know, I till don’t have much out there, but I’d like to grow my channel if I can, and if you’d like to support the show, that’s the easiest way to do it.
Oh, wow, another work week is ahead, but turn that frown upside down because Friday will be here before we know it. Have a great week, and I’ll see you soon.