Use the difficulty

I've developed quite a penchant for design blogs - they serve as a pleasant counterpoint to my life as a scientist, I suppose. The eye candy normally satisfies me, but I was pleased to discover a bit more in this post on Apartment Therapy last week.

Mark Chamberlain, a decorative painter, began with the above wall in light purple, not one of his favorite colors. When describing his approach, he launched into his favorite Michael Caine story:

"Michael Caine was a young actor rehearsing in stock somewhere, and when he opened the door to make an entrance there was a chair in the way and he stopped everything. The director bellowed out of the sound booth, 'Don’t stop, use the difficulty!'

Mr. Caine cried, 'What do you mean, I can’t work with that chair in the way.' The director replied, 'If it’s a comedy, trip over it; if it’s a tragedy, pick it up and throw it somewhere. Use the difficulty.'”

That's about as concrete of a life lesson as you're likely to get. If you'd like more of an abstraction, then I've got another artist, Corita Kent, to borrow a quote from:

"Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore, each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each, is to succeed."

If Chamberlain had gotten stuck in his initial discomfort, he never would have created such a striking wall. Corita Kent suggests that life works much the same way.

What discomforts do you have that might yield something beautiful if you could relax into them for a few minutes?