Advice from a Tuesday Morning

Most days when I wake up, one of the first things I do is check my phone. This morning I read a series of frantic texts, two missed phone calls and one quick message all having to do with work-related stuff. Years ago, at a far more stressful job than I have now, I learned that when I'm at home, I'm at home. I don't care if there's a dire time crunch which can be heroically solved by no one but me. I'll shrug my shoulders (just you watch me) when i hear there's this gigantic huge colossal meeting tomorrow morning and can you do this one favor for me...

I set my phone down and decided to have a nice morning, instead. (it takes practice, but it can be accomplished) I chatted with my wife over coffee about philosophy and mathematics. I savored my bowl of peanut butter crunch. I petted my dogs on the way out the door and checked on my new (now blooming!) trumpeter vine. I sang along to my music and watched the early fall shadows dance across the road on the way to work. After I clocked in, then I took care of business. Right before the (expected and predictable) phone call from said frantic person, I suggested that there are more important things to life than work. I was polite and brief- and I was appreciated for it.

I feel like my day today has some logical chain linking through the next few emails I received...

This one is from one of my favorite (living) authors, Donald Miller. Miller writes,

"Nearly 80 years ago a psychologist named Viktor Frankl stood up to Sigmund Freud. Freud was saying that the primary desire of man was to pursue pleasure, but Frankl disagreed. He said the primary desire of every person was to experience a deep sense of meaning, and when they can’t find meaning, they numb themselves with pleasure.

Frankl said there are three components of a meaningful life.

Here they are: 

1. A project that demands your attention: Simply have something important that you’re working on that requires you to get out of bed every day. Turns out we weren’t designed to sit and study our belly buttons. We need to find a useful purpose in the world.

2. Unconditional friends: Life is best lived in community and so relationships matter. To experience a deep sense of meaning, we need to surround ourselves with people who love and accept us as we are. We need close, loving relationships.

3. A redemptive perspective on our suffering: Life is full of challenges and sometimes even tragedies. To experience meaning, we must redeem these difficult things by finding a perspective on them that betters our lives. To experience meaning, we can’t let tragedies take us down. We need to redeem them.

If 2015 was another one of those years that felt bland and routine, it’s time to make a new plan. Until we make a new plan and execute that plan, nothing will change."

Next I read from a literary e-magazine I receive:

"Do you feel the creative juices drying up? Has the stress of the day or the week or the “pick your period of time” got you struggling to put down a coherent passage on paper (computer screen)? Never fear because I have just the thing for you. Here are my five cures for those times when you lack the energy to be creative:

1. Free thought time: Find a hobby centered on creativity outside of writing. Get out of the writer head-space, and redirect your creativity to another activity--something that involves a different way to create. Whether it’s photography, sketching, painting, knitting, etc., alternate creative endeavors can give your creativity more depth and distinctiom.
   
   
2. A walk in the woods: Or on a greenway or in a park, walk wherever you connect with nature. Nature can do wonders to reboot your creativity. The crisp air, the smell of the greenery, the thrill of watching wildlife, there are countless ways in the wild to disconnect from hang-ups and kick-start your creativity.
   
   
3. Work it out by hand: Step away from the computer and your normal writing space, grab a pen and notepad, and start writing without judgement. Just let it flow. You will most likely do some of the worst writing you’ve ever done using this method, but the quality of writing isn’t the point. The point here is to clear your mind of all that junk so you can make way for creative excellence.
   
   
4. Meditate: I’m a student of Transcendental Meditation, and I can tell you from personal experience that meditation makes you feel more balanced and less stressed. Sitting in the dark with your eyes closed for 15-20 minutes focusing on nothing is an excellent way to make for a more fertile, creative mind.
   
   
5. Set yourself up to be inspired: A great book, film or play often inspires me to start creating. I find inspiration in the author’s/creator’s talent, and I’m driven to improve as an artist."

Your days are probably hurtling forwards. These months in particular are jam-packed with events and deadlines, due-dates and obligations... When it comes to writing, or working, or just living life- slow down and smell the roses. Enable yourself to be in a place or state of mind, as best you can, so you can enjoy life and relish the sheer gift which surrounds us. I realize I probably sound like a dirty, pot-smoking hippie... but either that's your thing, too or you're like me - and have realized with everything life throws at us, we would rather strive to be happy than rich, accepted, powerful or influential.

Happy Tuesday and Write On!

-Ryan