This seemingly never-ending pandemic and the political state of the nation, along with dealing with the balance of work and life has me, like pretty much everyone else I know, thinking about how to conduct oneself in these turbulent times.
For me, it seems to come down to two simple issues: courage and kindness.
Read MoreAfter a long day of Zoom and work, I spend my evenings painting large canvases as a practice that centers me while also being able to throw me completely into moments of uncertainty and anxiety. There’s no “command-Z” for analog work –– if you screw up, you either have to incorporate it into the work or you start over.
Read MoreI had an engrossing and philosophical discussion with the founders of Tea Leaves, a really beautiful tea company that abides from the principles of “Education, Enlightenment and Enchantment.” Their company has purpose beyond selling its high-quality teas that include thinking about the impact of design on the world, from biodiversity to climate change. I was introduced to them via Albert Shum, CVP of Design at Microsoft.
During our discussion, we talked about the role of ceremonies in design thinking. Let me explain what I mean by “ceremonies.” I’ll use Japanese examples but ceremonies appear in all cultures.
Simply put, in my definition:
Ceremonies are rituals that allow you to transition from the worldly to the profound.
Read MoreWe’ve all heard of FOMO (fear of missing out), which in part drives the obsessiveness we have with social media as well as push notifications from your news outlet of choice. However, I feel that another, more common variant of this is fear of commitment.
Read MoreThere is every reason in the world not to do something creative and for yourself: you have to do the day job, you have to make money, you have to take care of the kids, you have to spend time with your spouse. All good and worthwhile things. And there will be more reasons not to allow yourself time to create.
Read MoreLet me tell you a secret: I’m terrible at taking my own advice. I’m usually in motion and rarely slow down. As time goes by, I feel an urgency to get things done. This has especially been aggravated by the times we are in. The way I’ve reacted to the on-going pandemic (and this week’s news that there’s already a second spike), the protests, the political divide in our country, and the early rise of fires in California, is to instinctively work harder on everything from my day job to my personal projects. Everything feels like a giant memento mori, reminding me that everything can, and often does, change in a moment.
Read MoreThese days…
I’ve been struggling with my own sense of outrage, sorrow and concern about the state of this country. We are living in a time of a pandemic and civil unrest while the political divide worsens under a divisive leadership that continues to believe that “might makes right.”
Great leaders have always brought people together. Martin Luther King. Mahatma Gandhi. John F. Kennedy. And the reaction to them was the same – they were all murdered. But their impact and philosophy live on to this day.
Read MoreThe question of power, how to get it, how to maintain it, and how to wield it has been an area of fascination since the ascent of man. It makes sense. Power increases status and money and the ability to thrive. Or so it has been assumed.
Read MoreI’ve been interviewed on several podcasts recently about creativity (based in part on principles I wrote about in The Art of Creative Rebellion) and a common theme has come up throughout most of the conversations – what can design do during and after this pandemic? If there ever was a design problem that needs to be addressed, this is the one. Here are some of my thoughts on the matter.
Read MoreWe often spend our days, and our lives, focused on “adult” issues that have been deemed by society to be proper engagements. There’s an underlying calculus to what we do: we work because we need money (obviously); we spend quality time with our families (well, we should); we work out to keep our bodies in shape (again, we should); we attend to the spiritual ceremonies that help us deal with the big questions. All these efforts have some kind of outcome that is quantifiable and we feel good about them. Very utilitarian. And all this is fine and good and we should be providers for ourselves and our loved ones. We should be strong community-focused, citizens who provide value, monetarily as well as in civil society.
Read MoreI’m writing this essay while feeling off. I’m not sure what it is – I woke up bone tired. I slept seven hours but feel like I’ve been up all night. Along with so many others (“Why Am I Having Weird Dreams Lately?” – NY Times), I’ve been having intense, vivid dreams. Aside from not working out as I used to pre-COVID 19, I’m doing all the right things: meditating, creatively writing, drawing, painting, doing podcasts, eating healthy, and while focusing my worktime efforts on my day job, I take breaks to get outside and get some vitamin D.
Read MoreOur focus is fragmented. Our naked attention is destroyed by bite-sized piranhas of dopamine-producing social media and cortisol inducing news alerts. When we relax, we rarely just sit and do nothing (or meditate). We are looking for another distraction. Usually, that means a TV show or movie. But we can get our story fix through another medium, one in which our focus is sharpened: reading books.
Read MoreSo here’s my advice: Whatever you choose to do, do it without concern for how it compares or will be received by the unseen masses. You know deep inside what is Quality for you. You know if something is any good or works. You have your own standards. And if the work isn’t up to your standards, don’t fret. Just keep going. Do another painting, another chapter, another song. No one has to read your first draft but you.
Think and plan. But then true learning comes from the doing. The messy process of lurching towards truth.
Read MoreWe can’t control how we are born: our gender, our race, the country of our birth. However, we are highly influenced by societal and family influences as we grow up. Our creation myths are provided to us – this is your religion, this is your nationality, this is your sexuality, this is how we think about things because, well, it’s “always been that way.” Any supposed aberration from the established rules is considered a threat, which is why homophobia, xenophobia, racism, misogyny tend to flourish in closed environments. Different = bad. It’s probably a biological survival leftover from our ancestors, wherein conformity to the tribe and its needs superseded the needs of the individual. A nonconformist could, in fact, be a threat to the health of the group. Any kind of questioning of the status quo was dangerous. Rebels were dangerous.
Read MoreDuring these times, I often hear from friends and associates that they are either bored or feel like they have to write the great American novel or develop the next great startup idea given that Airbnb, Pinterest, Uber, Square, et al arose out of the ashes of the great recession of 2008. Oh, and Sir Isaac Newton spent his bubonic plague time working from home on things like inventing calculus, analyzing color, light and the spectrum as well as studying gravity which led to his creation of the laws of motion.
Read MoreSo how do I make a personal creative practice while balancing the demands of reality? The answer is pretty simple. I make “sacred time and space” for my personal endeavors. You can choose any hour you like at any time of day (4 am, 3 pm, midnight, whatever floats your boat) but the rules are that you simply do that one thing that is only for you, whether it’s yoga, meditation, writing, playing guitar, making art or chopping wood. You can only do that one thing and nothing else. If you are composing music on a piano, you either play or you sit and do nothing. No social media, no TV. No nothing but simply the task at hand.
Read MoreHumans like stability for obvious reasons. Routines are comforting and you can often accomplish much by systematizing your day: the morning ritual of breakfast, then the commute, then work, lunch, more work, maybe a workout and then home for dinner. But this is an overlay of a human system on a world that has its own rhythms and is, for the most part, indifferent to our timelines and needs. We are sometimes reminded of this when an earthquake strikes or fires threaten our homes or in the most current and pressing case, our lives are at risk because of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. In all of these cases, our routines are disrupted and what is truly important in our lives comes to the fore.
Read MoreWe are all going to be spending a lot more time at home for the coming weeks, if not months. Besides adjusting to perhaps working from a shared office and having to balance spending time with our mates, spouses, children and pets while juggling the Zoom video calls, emails and Slack channels, it’s a good time to allow for contemplation: the ability to center for a moment, without distractions, both digital and analog, for a period of time. As I’ve mentioned in past essays, I find it helpful to use an app like Headspace or Waking Up to stop the monkey mind from constantly whirling in a manic fugue of thoughts that often just lead to anxiety, rather than constructive action.
Read MoreCoronavirus, political strife, wild swings in the stock market, and climate change (fires in Australia still rage and the west coast of the US will deal with it again soon). Compound all of these issues with a barrage of media hammering us from our smartphones as well as misinformation from the right and left and it’s no wonder that the world is more stressed than ever. Add to this the daily challenges of taking care of family, financial and work stresses, health issues, just getting to and from work, it’s no wonder that the world suffers from anxiety and depression. Therapy and prescription medications can provide some help. Alcohol and drugs only provide temporary relief and exacerbate the underlying issues. Religion and philosophy can provide a framework for handling the great unknowns (why are we here and what happens when we die) but ultimately the amygdala (two almond-shaped clusters deep in the brain) which is responsible for processing emotional responses works far faster than the logical frontal lobes.
Read MoreIn my experience, designers, artists, and writers tend to be an introverted lot who prefer to work behind the scenes. Of course, there are always the exceptions to the rule: Yayoi Kusama is as recognizable as her incredible body of work, Takashi Murakami looks like a character from one of his own artworks and the colorful and sartorially elegant Karim Rashid is as visually recognizable as his astonishing furniture designs.
But, in general, most of my creative friends prefer to just make things rather than promote them. But without promoting your work, it has about as much chance of making it as blindly posting an audio file to SoundCloud and just hoping someone stumbles into it. Of course, you could get lucky like 14-year old Billie Eilish was when she uploaded “Ocean Eyes” to SoundCloud one night in 2016 and woke up to find it had gone viral. But this is the exception, not the rule.
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