A day in the life of Mark McCormack. Time management.

Another time I said that I never learned English at school (that’s the reason my English is so bad). Instead, I did study French.

Sometimes I feel I’m really dreaming when I look at this blog of mine (in pseudo English) because I never thought possible that I could learn English by myself. For me most of the Romance languages are very familiar: French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Aragonese, Galician, Portuguese, Occitan-Provençal, Asturian... But English, though it contains a great percentage of Latin words, always has been difficult for me. Yet I must say that now I read a lot in this language and even listen to audiobooks or watch movies as often as I can. English is the “lingua franca” of these days, so... But “my house” are Romance languages, as I’ve said; there I feel at ease, at home...

I remember that years ago I went on an English Course, six hours a week during four months. That has been the only English course that I’ve ever attended. Truly my “School in English” has been the Internet, because most of the sources I’ve always read on the net are in English.

I’ve next to me the “Student’s book” that I used for that course (“English File”, by Clive Oxenden and Paul Seligson, Oxford University Press). Time runs frantically, so most of the materials are outdated, letting aside grammar, vocabulary, and the like.

Some of the readings on that course catched the attention of the students (all adult people). In particular, this story, surely authentic, about Mark McCormack’s time management skills. We were all shocked in seeing how a person could control all his life in such a manner, apparently without a second out of control.

At that time, Mark McCormack’s approach on time management seemed to me unnatural and excessive. But the excerpt that I reproduce below of him has always interested me, in fact I’ve read it many times. Actually, I don’t think now his ideas are inadequate or even exaggerate ones. In today’s world full of temptations, distractions, possibilities... surely is not a bad thing to try to control our life, severely, rigorously and at the same time with love, wisdom and compassion (compassion for ourselves as well as for others).

I will return very soon to that very interesting (and even exciting) subject.

Juan Bielsa

 

A day in the life of Mark McCormack

1.- Mark McCormack is American. He’s sixty-three. He’s the manager of many famous people, including the Pope, Monica Seles and Alain Prost. He’s married with two sons and a daughter. He has forty-two offices in twenty countries, and homes in London, New York, Cleveland and Florida.

2.- I get up every morning at 4.30. If my notebook says “Do exercise”, I do some exercise. My secretary arrives at about 5.15, and she brings the newspaper. Then I have a shower and I get dressed. I usually have coffee and cereal for breakfast at the Carlton Tower Hotel (if I am with a client) or I just have a coffee at home.

3.- First I look at my yellow notebook. On the left are my meetings, on the right are my phonecalls. I’m a very good time-manager. I always plan my life exactly for the next six months. I write down everthing I do: how many hours I sleep, how many hours I see my children, and how many hours I spend in each city in the world. I have business meetings in my office from 9.00 a.m. until lunchtime. At 1.00 I usually have lunch at the Carlton, and I always sit at the same table. After lunch I call the USA, and after that I sleep until 6.00.

4.- At 7.00 I often have a drink with a friend or client in the bar. I usually have a Jack Daniels whisky. Then I have dinner at a restaurant. I never cook. In the evening, if my wife is with me, we sometimes go to the cinema. We have meetings to plan our life together. I go to bed at about 11.30. Sleeping is not a problem for me. It’s in my yellow notebook _so I go to bed and I sleep.

- My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

MISSION

The Universal Mind
Painting by Juan Bielsa

When I look in history for women and men of great accomplishment, almost always I see a common trait: they have a MISSION. Some authors call it “a magnificent obsession”.

Obviously there are “missions” of many kinds; some are clearly positive ones and others not so worthy, or even negative ones. I think that the only MISSION that can give us strength and perseverance, and endurance in the hard times, is only a WORTHY MISSION, a sincere passion for something very valuable, call it an “innocent” and gigantic passion without a gigantic ego.

If we have a GREAT MISSION, we can surmount many obstacles, we can endure a lot of hardships which probably would seem impossible to overcome otherwise. A MISSION can certainly give to us the necessary force to go ahead without excessive procastination or doubts, regardless of circumstances. A MISSION IS LOVE for what we do, and nothing is more powerful than love in the long run.

When we have a MISSION, call it if you want “a magnificent obsession”, we do daily what we HAVE to do, we do our inner duty, what dictates our consciousness, and so it can be possible for us not to pay too much attention to the infinite distractions _and temptations_ which we encounter every hour, every day, in our way.

In the recesses of my mind I have a great MISSION to accomplish. And you have YOUR MISSION, a very great one, I’m sure of that. All of us have a magnificent dream waiting to be accomplished and fulfilled daily. It is the deepest of all things, I think. We even can have some embarrassment to make public this GREAT DREAM, just because its greatness. In every valuable dream there are so many utopian drops and extraordinary possibilities... It can give colors and sense to all things in our life. A worthy MISSION can be the cornerstone of our life and a fabulous adventure.

A MISSION... Following the pace _certainly, with modesty and humility_ of Alexander, Columbus, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Edison, Madame Curie, Tesla, Mother Teresa... All of us have in reality entire continents to be discovered, continents of love and compassion, continents of understanding, continents of beauty, continents of peace and wonder, continents full of future and hope...

Juan Bielsa

- My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

Fashion and art

Fashion and art, happily married
Beauty can adopt many forms.
(Scan from ÚNICA, magazine in Spanish)

In a previous article I wrote about how in Zen there are many ways through art to attaining inner peace and wisdom. And in general in Japan, for example, there is not a clear differentiation between arts and crafts. Even the most humble manual labor can be a fabulous way into comprehension of Reality.

In the same way, I think that potentially many activities can be transformed in true art if we confront them with humility, reverence, meditation and the necessary (and continuing) apprenticeship. Even blogging can be a meditative experience and an art, why not...

There are no minor arts.
Poetry and meditation.

Oriental painters and artists always liked to mix different arts and activities. So, we can find many times a poem in a painting describing the feelings and experiences resulting from its contemplation.

I always liked that approach.

And in Zen, as I previously said, there are not major arts and minor arts.

So, for me as well there are no “minor” arts, if the artist approach them with poetry and contemplation. Poetry, in reality (and in the sense ancient Greeks understood It) is the connection between men and the Universal Mind. Contemplation and meditation are an exercise of receptivity, to be open into transcendence, humility, Silence. At least that is the way I see them.

A painter in Fashionland

So when I approach some apparently mundane activities like fashion, styles, trends... I see all of this with the eyes of a painter and a poet, with a sense of reverence in many cases, I can see wonderful combinations of colors, delicate nuances, I see creative rhythms and textures, I see an honest effort to express creativity clothing the human body.

And when models are on the catwalk in performance, if models and designers did their job with dedication and love, I can see sublime elegance, I can see real works of art, a living art, “body art”. I even see marvelous paintings being carried by models themselves, over their bodies.

Fashion and summer
The limit is elegance. When elegance is lost, all is lost.
(Scan from ÚNICA, magazine in Spanish)

Fashion designers are not different from us, painters, in many ways. Perhaps some of us have a greater sense of transcedence and durability of our work, but in reality all that matters is contributing to the world with inner beauty and elegance, as in spirituality all that matters, I think, is compassion.

No sunset is lost.
Every experience is a fountain of learning.

I must admit that lately I don’t paint as much as I should do, but I have now more clear ideas about art than before, I know much better what I like to do, what my vision of art is.

During seven or eight years I did not write a single poem (and I’m a poet in a minoritary, wonderful language, Aragonese...), but I remember that period, nevertheless, as the most poetic in all my life. I WAS a poet then, although I did not write any poem. I watched every day, in silence, like praying, the most magnificent sunsets in the deserts, I inhabited the purplish mountains in my dreams...

When I’ll begin to paint anew, my paintings will have the colors of my lands of poetry, the colors of my meditations, of all my failures from which I learned some humility, lessons from the Silence.

When I’ll begin to paint anew my paintings will have the colors of fashion, of beautiful movies, the colors of women and elegance, of sunsets' purples, of books that one reads with the heart, of little and great things, the colors of life, victories, defeats.

Juan Bielsa

- My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

 

Real metaphysics

Marilyn Monroe
The way of art, love and elegance

I've said other times that I like very much metaphysics. I like to investigate in this field, and to do it freely and with an open mind. I use for that purpose different tools from different areas (psychology, physics, self development...)

This activity of mine can lead sometimes to some personal conclusions. But I don't think is necessary to explain such "conclusions" in blogs like this or otherwise.

Everybody has opinions about life, existence, the universe... and surely they can be much more profound (or practical...) than mine. But even in this case I don't think is the essential part trying to show all of this to apprehend the most important aspects of a human being or his personality and convictions.

I don't think that philosophy or metaphysics, or even religion are absolutely necessary to apprehend "Reality", "Beauty", God...

In Zen Buddhism is not particularly valued or appreciated any discussion or digression about metaphysical or religious questions. What has real value is an EVIDENCE of wisdom, knowledge or reality. This EVIDENCE can only be offered by an artist or person after many years of learning and practicing a "do", a way into BEAUTY. I'd say that even the experiences of our life, if we learn from them, can be a wonderful apprenticeship into it, a magnificent WAY.

If you can create a genuine work of art, a great PAINTING or DRAWING (even if only with a few strokes of the brush...) then you are a very RELIGIOUS person. At least in the sense that I understand this term.

If you can create a true POEM (even if this poem only consists of a few verses) then you have a sure knowledge and you are not cheating.

If you can offer to us a piece of BEAUTY or LOVE, then you are a true metaphysician. If you are a good person, a kind person, if you love and practice peace and compassion, then you are very, very religious, regardless of anything else. That is practice, good deeds, real metaphysics, true religion. That is all that matters. That is what we need in this world, I think.

We all know that some traditional activities can be a "do", a WAY: the way of flowers (Ikebana), the way of calligraphy (Shakyo), and others. But there are many other ways to access into the realm of BEAUTY: humility, meditation, silence, prayer, empathy, recitations, dancing, music...Or, as we have said earlier, life itself can be a "do", a fountain of learning. Happiness, distresses... every experience teaches something important.

And so I say, in conclusion, that people we think are not especially religious can be the most religious of all. They have given to us, or offered to us, pieces of Heaven, wonderful works of art, or splendid deeds and example. They have never pretended to be metaphysical thinkers, or even religious people in some cases. But they have grasped from heaven, through his life or his suffering or his humility, pieces of real BEAUTY, golden pieces of LOVE.

Yes, that's all that really matters.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

 

"The wizard of Oz" and Judy Garland

Judy Garland
as Dorothy Gale in "The wizard of Oz"

Many years ago, I liked very much to paint and draw using only a few colors, two colors in most cases. The results were not less satisfactory than when I used a lot of colors.

I think that in painting and drawing there are many possibilities available, many ways of work, but in the end there are no "better" ways or methods than others. Some techniques may appear at first sight far less sophisticated than others, much more "simple", but the results can be exactly as rich and full of nuances as the most "complexes" ones.

It can be a very satisfying activity to work with many colors, but it is never a good thing to be "intoxicated" by so many chromatic possibilities at our disposal.

Piagordo, the country where I live
Three colors: simplicity, poetry and magic
Photograph by Juan Bielsa

Many years ago I was enchanted and like living in a world of magic when painting and drawing with only two or three colors. And that same feeling I've experienced again when I recently watched the old (and great) movie "The wizard of Oz ". I'm pretty sure you've seen it. I had already seen this movie long time ago, but I had forgotten in many ways how wonderful this picture is, how full of magic.

"The wizard of Oz", as a picture in this case, is a classic for children... but don't be fooled by that, in reality is a present for all of us who want to keep some of the innocence of life, some of its fantasy. I truly think this movie is amazing, a miracle of art. And Judy Garland... what can we say about her performarce here? We can say that she is the perfect angel that could give life and credibility to the role of "Dorothy Gale". Even Toto, her dog in the picture, performs without equal.

Judy Garland (as Dorothy Gale) and Toto
Singing "Over the rainbow"

In some parts of "The wizard of Oz", at first and in the end, you'll be struck by the wise use of color, which adds an aged and mythical flavor to the movie and makes all appear under a light of DREAM. And this relates with which I said earlier about the intelligent use of a few colors in the palette of the artist.

Many years have passed since the days "The wizard of Oz" was made, in 1939, but all of its magic remains the same and one could rightly say that this movie is far more beautiful and magical than most of the movies that are produced today. Quality and imagination will never have whatsoever to do with "special effects" and more "advanced" techniques.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

 

Marilyn Monroe, forever

Marilyn Monroe
Eternal

During all my life I didn’t pay much attention to Marilyn as an actress or even a celebrity. Of course, I knew what everyone knows and I had seen her many times on television, books or magazines.

It is true that like most people I always found Marilyn, as an icon in this case, beautiful and potentially interesting, but never found sufficient motivation to investigade more closely her life or her career as an actress. For me were even more familiar the artistic interpretations that Andy Warhol made of her than her movies. I knew her, as I’ve already said, as a simple icon of a certain time, but I had always missed the most important part of her: her ART.

But all that was about to change. One day, some five years ago, I bought a newspaper and it offered the possibility of buying also a film of Marilyn at a good price, and even was announced that the entire collection of Marilyn’s movies will be available in the next weeks. Well, I bought the dvd containing the movie, without many expectations I must say. I remember, that movie was “The seven year itch”, a classic that I enjoyed very much and I’ve seen many times since.

I saw that movie... and... I fell in love with Marilyn. Forever. Not with Marilyn’s myth, not with a “scandalous” Marilyn, not with an “obscure” or distressed Marilyn. No. I fall in love with THE ACTRESS Marilyn. I remember well: with the newspaper came along a second dvd, as a bonus in this case. In this dvd one could see, if one liked it, all the events that surrounded Marilyn’s death, real facts in same cases as well as many guesses or suppositions. But you know what, I hardly saw some minutes of that dvd, and now I don’t know where it is, perhaps lost. I don’t care, because I found these stories about the causes of her death, real or imaginaries, disgusting. I don’t was interested at all on all that.

I bought, week by week, all Marilyn’s movies, and certainly some of them were better than others. There were among them extraordinary movies and ordinary ones. But, you know what, always there was a light on all of them, there was Marilyn’s light, an EXTRAORDINARY ACTRESS, regardless the myth, regardless of the tragedy of her life. And watching her in these movies one can even sense how marvelous being she was along with her tremendous value as an actress.

The real myth incarnated by Marilyn always will be present, forever, in her wonderful performances in so many unforgettable movies. There is no need to always recapitulate the tragic circumstances of her life or death to make her a myth. It is a myth by the virtue of the real worth of her ART. Many people have been shocked by the extraordinary quality of Marilyn as an actress when they’ve seen without prejudices her performances. It is not possible describe the emotions and feelings that Marilyn can awake through her actings. For me, she is a true magician than can uncover for us beauties of the world as well as beauties of the soul.

Oh, Marilyn, what a great soul you had, what a great soul you will always have, eternal. You are more than a myth, you are an angel whose true land was not this Earth of ours, but a realm of goodness and wonders and beauty. What a heritage of light! Marilyn, thank you forever for existing.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com