Tuning Out and Tuning In

Yesterday a neighbor reminded me of an important lesson: to hear the voice of God we have to get very quiet and very alone.

It has not been that way for me lately. I am an information junkie. With my lap top computer connected wirelessly to the internet I can receive and send information all day any day. It is convenient.

Perhaps that convenience is part of my current problem. You see, there is a lot going on right now and I should be really focused on discerning how to accomplish the things ahead. Most days I find myself overwhelmed. So, when overwhelmed I escape. And with my computer and the world wide web at my finger tips I can lose myself in a game, book, videos, or countless other distractions right there. After these distractions I rarely find myself fulfilled. Rather, I am more often disappointed that I am even further behind.

Here is the place for discipline. Francis Bacon said

If money be not thy servant,
it will be thy master

For me, my computer, TV or just mindless conversation can take over and monopolize my time. Even if I know there is something pressing I ought to do and really desire to do it, I often slip into time-wasting habits. Discipline -- teaching my self to do the right thing -- is so very important. When I get ready to go to a time-waster is when I am going to go to something that helps me tune in to that voice these distractions often tune out. Some things that help me tune in are

• taking a stroll
• writing notes
• prayer and meditation
• exercise
• power nap

I'm not giving up my computer. No, it is the primary tool for me to get work done! But when I am drawn to use it for distractions rather than production it becomes my "master". So, I am tuning out the distractions of instant information and entertainment and tuning in to those practices that get me closer to the answers I need in this time of transition.

inspired: Notes about my sabbath

Saturdays are my sabbath. Somebody came up with the idea that people should take a break from work and rest on Saturdays. I think it's a great idea too many of us overlook in this hustle-bustle society. Okay, I know this audience never worries themselves with busy-ness, but some people do *wink.

With the computer and TV turned off, I spent much of my day outside my apartment savoring the wysteria across the walk. The solitude was wonderful. Princess (my Lhasa Apso) and I listened to birds, watched bees, and visited neighbors who passed by.

The most amazing part of the day was that wysteria. Oh, to bottle up that fragrance and share it with you all. Its blossoms were a soft sweetness that complimented the delicate purple flowers. Insects hurried about enjoying the nectar, surely returning to the university nearby with its honeybee boxes.

I need a day of rest. It inspires me with the simpler things. I revert to pen and paper to write out ideas and paint the natural world around me. I listen to the songs of the birds and the breeze in the trees. I am revived and ready to face another week.

There's a lot more about creativity at Water Cooler Wednesdays. Join the conversation at http://randyelrod.typepad.com/ethos/2008/04/watercooler-wed.html.

Recommended: Spaghetti Sauce

Malcolm Gladwell shares a story of innovation in marketing spaghetti sauce and how it relates to our tastes as people.

Evolution of Creative Expression

I remember our first computer. It was a Tandy from Radio Shack. The year was 1990. It came with programs that sparked my creativity: a MIDI player / recorder, simple drawing program, word processor, and database. I spent hours on the machine using these programs to express my thoughts and learn new things. Drawing floor plans, typing, and listening to and making my own MIDI files was fun.

Up to the nineties, most people used a typewriter to publish their words, instruments to perform music and paper and pen to draw. There was an organic relationship between the creator and his work. Our personality, mistakes and diligence were all reflected in what we made.

Mankind has used tools since our beginnings. We mixed pigment in out mouths and spat on walls to produce vivid imagery. We chipped away at stone to create figures of the world around us. We beat against objects to produce tones and rhythms. Over time our tools became more complex and communicated more succinctly our thoughts.

We entered the computer age with enthusiasm. But the first computers, while functional, were limited. They did not reflect the true range of expression of the creator of the piece. Music was tonal and synthesized; lines and textures were limited by the included features of the machine, the printer, and the monitor; printed material was generic and difficult to format on those line-feed printers.

The machines matured as we pushed them to their limits and beyond. They housed games we could play, collected and stored our music, and connected us across distance and time. Typographers added stylistic fonts and engineers teamed with designers to build hardware and software that enabled the machines to mimic our own range of expression. In many ways, the computer caught up with our own physical methods of expression.

Now the computer has surpassed our ability of physical communication. Movie makers are masters of using computers to express concepts beyond our physical world. Musicians use computer technology to clean up and fill in voices within their productions. Writers communicate ideas across language and media with one publication of their work.

Join Water Cooler Wednesdays.

On Creativity

The following thoughts are taken from my presentation Creativity, A gift worth using.

Do you ever have ideas about how something works, how to make it better, or just to make something? A friend of mine commented one time that she'd like to get inside my head some time because I bounce many of my ideas -and there are lots- off her. For some reason I get crazy ideas all of the time for a solution to a problem, a poem, a song, a story, or something to draw. It's almost like there's an innate something in me that longs to create.

Fortunately, I am surrounded by fellow creatives, and have been for a long time. My former worship pastor and friend, Randy, is one of those guys who is constantly creating, pushing the envelope. He has taken this desire to new heights, building networks of creativity-minded people. Many of my closest college friends were highly creative, sometimes it was constructive, like in drama and comedy; others it was downright destructive, involving explosives in close proximity to ourselves.

Into adulthood, some of my closest friends and strongest influences are highly creative. Barry, for instance, makes expressive spiritual art from found objects like broomsticks, marbles and tin barrels. Other friends express themselves through music, language, writing, business, and various other media.

Men and women from across the world, in all cultures, throughout time feel that drive to create. It is almost, if not absolutely, inherent in our species. What drives a prehistoric person to make pigment and paint his kill on the wall of a cave, or a monk to build intricate designs in sand, or a shepherd to play his stringed instrument? It is more than a subtle urge. It is the outflow of the creative spirit of the One in whose image we are made.

Consider the first verses of the Bible:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

Here in Genesis we see that our universe begins as God's creation.

Immersed in Inspiration

Three years ago I left life as I knew it in Pinellas county, Florida, and moved to Nacogdoches, Texas. The state's oldest town, Nacogdoches is not large, but has a lot of character. Its old architecture, colorful flowers, and natural landscape inspired a creativity I'd lost in the hustle and bustle of West Florida.

The town is entering a revival, encouraging people to move into abandoned buildings and houses downtown and bring back the community feel. Sitting outside my school, I take in the ancient mounds of the Caddo Indians who once lived here, the statuesque Old University Building, colorful gables on century-old homes, and a European cottage plopped in this East Texas town.

I leave my apartment, looking across rolling hilltops capped with varied trees hiding roof-tops with steeples and water towers poking above the arbors. Driving past the university, I observe the botanical gardens with azaleas and other beautiful plants flowering in season. Even the people, an eclectic group of country folk, proper southerners with old money, Hispanic-, African- and Native-Americans, and a conglomerate of people drawn to the university speak to the town's diversity.

Some consider Nacogdoches a backward town, weighed down by old people who do not want change and an economy that lags behind our neighbors. We have our share of low-paying jobs and few opportunities for advancement, like you see in larger towns and the cities. The university, hospitals, and the schools pay better than other places around here. But we're doing pretty good. We may not have a thriving metropolis, but we have character. That's what makes Nacogdoches unique.

If you're ever in my town, stop by the Convention Visitor's Bureau downtown to find out about Nacogdoches' interesting history and the sites nestled around the community. Visit the stores downtown (but not on a Monday, almost everybody's closed); I recommend The Glass House, The Good Book, House of Versailles, Heart of Texas, and Lyric's. Get a snack at a local shoppe. Take in some art in our galleries. Then get in your car and ride around town, seeing and enjoying the sites that make this town fun. Maybe then you'll see why this old Texas town inspires me.