The 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.
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I’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.
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We 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.
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I’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.
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Our 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.
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During 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.
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So 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.
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Humans 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.
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We 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.
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