Donny's Blog

As shown in  Fig. 1 ,  Fig. 2 , participants with very superior (130 and above) intelligence were significantly prone to  rumination  leading to mood disorders, and worry leading to anxiety disorders. However, the relationship between genius and madness is not a new notion. It is well known that many historical intellectuals such as Leonardo da Vinci, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, and Pablo Picasso were plagued by overexcitabilities leading to documented pervasive affective and mood disturbances ( Ehrenwald, 1984 ). Sir Isaac Newton viewed his gifted creativity as a product of intense, prolonged rumination. He brooded over past mistakes and worried excessively which eventually led him to suffer a nervous breakdown in 1693 ( Westfall, 1981 ).  Those who surround such individuals tend to be overwhelmed by their intense way of seeing and feeling “too much.” This can lead to increased familial and relational conflicts ( Morawska & Sanders, 2009 ) and painfu...

Cognitive and noncognitive predictors of success https://www.pnas.org/content/116/47/23499 For example, cognitive ability has been found in some samples to be linearly related to academic achievement ( 49 , 50 ) but among the very brightest, concavely related to both leadership ( 51 ) and mental health ( 52 ). Despite the enormous statistical power of the this investigation, we found concave curvilinear effects for only one—although arguably, the most important—measure of success: graduation. Whereas deficits of ability clearly impede success, benefits at the uppermost echelons are less clear, and in fact, it may be that individuals with “everything going for them” get up and go elsewhere. This explanation is consistent with laboratory research showing that having multiple alternatives for achieving one’s goals can diminish commitment to any particular path ( 53 ). There may be severe limits to how well any set of personal attributes can forecast an individual’s destiny. People cha...

I'm all over the place when it comes to making art, but I think I've come up with a good category system: characters original fan art art music comics studies video games writing * * in development

Children who have developed under an emotionally void parent will most likely develop into a teenager and adult who struggles to emotionally attach to others and receive/demonstrate love.  https://blogs.psychcentral.com/caregivers/2016/03/7-consequences-of-having-an-emotionally-detached-parent/ What is it about William Wegman's photos of his dogs done in commercial methods that makes it fine art whereas cute pictures of puppies might be called kitsch or popular art? A big differentiator is the lack of sentimentality and emotional content. There's also the dry humor. How much does this say about the art world and the type of people who can relate to unemotional art. Socioeconomically, the art world is by and for rich people in New York City. Rich people who send their kids to boarding school. Busy people who spend most of their time on work, rather than caring for their children. These people may have grown up in a similar way, with limited emotional closeness and suppo...

Back in my twenties I went through a decluttering binge when I basically got rid of everything I owned. Perhaps I was depressed and did the opposite of how a hoarder deals. But in my thirties I really regretted it. i really missed a lot of the things I threw away. i wished i still had them. i can still think of old records, art work, photos that are gone now. i probably think about an 11x17 art portfolio i threw away at least a couple times every year. this time, i'm desiring to go minimal again but hope to approach it in a better way. i think part of the problem before was that i compulsive and indiscriminate about throwing things away. i just got rid of almost everything. i think i also had to move and couldn't bring much with me, so it was a time enforced decluttering. i'm probably going to move again and would like to be able to travel lightly. i've been inspired by mario kondo but more recently by fumio sasaki, who wrote "goodbye, things." i can...

what about the value of space? mental space, physical space, financial space, emotional space, temporal space. inspired by Hoarders S6 E13, they talk about the value of empty space. Andy Warhol actually did an art piece about the value of space too. when a hoarder clears out their junk, they realize the beauty of empty space. physical space is important. to breath, to be able to move around freely. it affects your mental and physical health. mental space is similar to physical space, where your mind can become cluttered or preoccupied. in that situation there's no mental space to reflect or wander. having mental space is important for managing stress too. financial space  is the difference between income and expenses, assets and liabilities. being overwhelmed with debt and expenses is very stressful. but having more money than you need alleviates stress and give you options to invest your money, or use it, or just to have for the value of space. emotional space  thi...

Is there a way for me to be an artist, that is more conducive to living a minimalist lifestyle. One approach is to go digital. That does save on physical space, but then you end up with a bunch of digital things to keep track of. Another approach might be to just spend more time and put more detail into each piece. This would decrease the rate of accumulation of things and make each individual piece (potentially) of higher quality. Another idea would be to just not attach too much importance to regular sketches and doodles. just make em, document the best and throw the rest away. I do a lot of that already. Perhaps I can just make digital art? Video games perhaps. Just make music. Real, tangible art is something pretty magical; I'm not sure I could ever stop making real things. What about just doing performance art. Social art. Other things to consider. For now though This is a line of inquiry I'm going to continue. A line of development of my art practice and proces...

I think I'm a borderline hoarder. I've always wanted to be a professional comic artist. The two are evidently intertwined. I also want to live a more minimalist life. I realize I simply don't have the space for all my books, art supplies and comics that I own, nor the the energy to manage all my stuff. I really just wish I had a bigger home, but perhaps that would just extend the situation. I also don't have time to do all the art projects and read all the books I have, but still I cling to all these things. It feels like a mental and temporal burden. It's like a sort of mental / temporal debt, all these dreams, ideas and projects. Though each item is paid for in money, but have not been paid for in time and effort. Those are still due. And the problem is, I have more to do than time to do it. That's the definition of stress. Not having the resources to cope with the demands of life. For my own mental health, I would like clear my life of these things and ...

I got a text at 6 in the morning that my friend might have to put her cat down. 6am is usually about the time I go to sleep and I tried texting back without any response. I wanted to be there. I cat-sitted for a week; this cat and another cat. He was some kind of sick at the time, with bleeding and mucus from his nose. I was hoping it was a sinus infection, but there was a possibility of a tumor. ...Several months later I got the text. I went to sleep and woke up around 2pm and we took the cat to the vet. ...It was serious and the decision was made to put the cat to sleep. This part is really the reason for this whole post. During the euthanasia procedure, while we were both crying and kissing and petting him, though sleepy and sick, he moved his head toward each one of us, in turn. As if, to comfort us each, individually and say goodbye to each of us individually.