Thursday, August 9, 2018

The Wisdom of Pooh by Brenda Whiteside

I saw the movie, Christopher Robin, yesterday. I was thoroughly enchanted and entertained, but then I've always been a Winnie-the-Pooh fan. Christopher Robin never really figured into my love of the Pooh stories and film. I honestly don't remember the boy in the books I read to my son. In one house we lived, my son's room was the hundred acre wood. I painted a huge tree to sit under when we read or when he looked at books, and Pooh and his friends were there, too.

Much of Pooh's wisdom comes in very handy for a writer:

People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day. Pooh's kind of nothing is really something, the best kind of something. Dreaming and imagining, exploring your feelings and finding what makes you happy are useful when you're creating fiction to entertain others.

Doing nothing leads to the very best kind of something. Staring at a blank computer screen or page, letting your imagination take flight does lead to the very best kind of something.

There's always time for a smackeral of wonder. This really needs no explanation because it really is just the plain truth.

There is so much more wisdom from Pooh and his friends, and the grown up Christopher Robin comes to realize he knew so much more as a child when he roamed the hundred acre wood with them. Life happens, and we'd all do well to remember what it was that made us happy as children. For some reason, I'm inspired to dive back into my current MS with renewed imagination.

By the way, my latest novel, The Deep Well of Love and Murder, is available:
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Brenda and her husband are gypsies at heart having lived in six states and two countries. Currently, they split their time between the Lake Roosevelt basin in Central Arizona and the pines in the north. Wherever Brenda opens her laptop, she spends most of her time writing stories of discovery and love entangled with suspense.

Visit Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com
She blogs on the 9th and 24th of every month: http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com
She blogs about life’s latest adventure and has fun guests on her personal blog: https://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/

14 comments:

Margo Hoornstra said...

Funny, I just read, really read, your bio at the end of your post. Very well done. Now that I'm off that tangent LOL, Pooh really did/does have a lot to say. We all could do well to be more mindful of his meanings. Hear, hear to your new found enthusiasm!! Go for it!

Alison Henderson said...

I love Pooh, too, and I'm so glad you liked the movie. I just finished reading a less-than-encouraging review in the newspaper, but critics are so rarely right. They love things I hate and vice versa.

Brenda Whiteside said...

Thanks, Margo. And yes, Pooh is not a bear of very little brain!

Brenda Whiteside said...

Alison, FDW did not share my sentiments. He felt it was slow to start and that the first half was depressing. The technique was to bring the viewer from little boy to adult with a time lapse sequence. We had to know how he'd lost site of his childhood and how he came to be a droll man. I found it dramatic and interesting where Frank found it depressing. It all takes place in another time period and England so the lighting is rather dark too. But that just put me there, you know? Once Pooh arrives in his life there is lots of funny stuff as well as heart tugging. Eh, men!

Jannine Gallant said...

Making something out of nothing was the whole theme of Seinfeld, although I think Pooh is much nicer than Jerry and his buddies were. LOL Most children (and adults) love Pooh and can learn from those wonderful characters. Eeyore is a clinically depressed donkey, but his friends still include him. Tigger probably has ADD. They all have issues, yet they manage to get along. I'm glad they inspired you to dig into your book. Maybe I need a dose of Pooh to get me moving a little faster on mine.

Brenda Whiteside said...

Yep, Jannine. If only humans would always be so kind and inclusive.

Andrea Downing said...

What a lovely, original post Brenda. And very well said and interpreted! Thanks for the smile of the day.

Brenda Whiteside said...

You're welcome, Andi!

remullins said...

I can never think of Pooh bear without my happy memory of playing 'pooh sticks'. My children and I played the game on a little bridge spanning a creek which runs though the land where I now live. Unfortunately, this bridge was wiped out during massive flooding last year. We are rebuilding but it won't be quite the same.
Great post.

Brenda Whiteside said...

What a great memory, Robbin.

Leah St. James said...

I love Winnie the Pooh, but I probably won't see the movie, not until it's out on streaming/DVD at least. Thanks for the reminder about the lovely messages in the story. And you're right, they're great messages for writers!

Diane Burton said...

I'll have to see that movie. Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed (still do) the Winnie the Pooh stories. Love reading them to the grandkids.

Brenda Whiteside said...

Thanks, Leah. It's worth the wait.

Brenda Whiteside said...

They are great stories, Diane.