Last night, I did my usual routine. I watched a CSI show online. I surfed through various news websites. I watched Rachel Maddow.

I am not the type who usually gets all depressed by bad news, but good grief! I found myself recalling the lyrics of an old Anne Murray song. The level of discord and disaster happening worldwide was really starting to get to me.

I found myself grasping for something positive. Something uplifting. Something totally non-serious.

A thought occurred to me… I suddenly remembered the words of one of my great artistic heroes, Henri Matisse.

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter – a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue. – Henri Matisse

Matisse has been criticized throughout history for painting seemingly frivolous paintings during a time that his expressionist contemporaries were painting the horrors of war and injustice.

Thank God he did paint something of beauty and balance instead. We really do need to relax into a good armchair now and then.

I have now bookmarked the Google images page for Matisse on my iPhone, and I plan to visit it often.

Somehow, this song seems less schmaltzy with the Indigo Girls chiming in.