Shifting Points of View: Fail Safe Fail Better

"Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, I have failed three times, and what happens when he says, I am a failure." S.J. Hayakwa

The first session of WORD Christchurch's Shifting Points of View sessions at the Christchurch Arts Festival is Fail Safe, Fail Better with Witi Ihimaera, Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel, Clementine Ford, Hana O'Regan, Glenn Colquhoun and Victor Rodger. It is on at the Great Hall in the Christchurch Arts Centre, this Friday 1 September, 7.30pm.

Failure. It's a great theme. When children learn by it, we call it exploration.

Margaret Mahy once said that her publisher would ask her to rewrite her stories up to eleven times.

The panel will bare their souls; sharing their failures, successes and how the lessons they bring have shaped their lives.

Its okay to fail. Buddhism suggests we take the lesson, learn, and evolve towards a higher truth.

Try this for an exercise in freedom. Think you're a failure at art? Take a piece of brown paper and screw it up into a ball. Freeing, or what? Tear out the rough shape of a leaf by hand. Decorate your leaf with a crayon. You can colour with dye and a paintbrush, or leave natural. Display your leaves around the room!

"You never fail until you stop trying." Albert Einstein

Come along to the Great Hall at Christchurch Arts Centre on Friday; reflect on life and how the struggle to survive can spark the creative mind.