Love is most present Where mind is most silent Closed to new thoughts Happens near the transcendent When the world is rejected For what's found right here Hold steady in the moment Imprint each detail clear You won't realize it Until it's well over and gone These moments of mindlessness Will be what carry you along
P.s. I also published: 26 Cole Schafer Quotes from One Minute, Please? on Love in a World of Conditions, Screens, and Pain
There’s only so much creative juice available to us each day.
If we align our time/energy/effort properly, we can maximize the juice we’re able to squeeze. But, if we don’t take care of ourselves, carelessly wash away our most valuable hours, and/or succumb to passive entertainment… we miss our opportunity to squeeze creative juice at all.
…And what a shame to be given a ripe fruit and not get even one taste of its juice.
Set aside some proper time to squeeze, however, and you’ll reap the rewards. The first big squeeze, done at your peak time, will yield the greatest results. Wait for a while longer inside the day and you’ll get a second shot at the same, once squeezed fruit—it doesn’t replenish. And so it is for each attempt inside the day after that.
After the first two or three major squeezes, the additional squeezes won’t yield very good results. You’re better off releasing the fruit, resting, and allowing your creative juices to replenish. This is why working when you’re exhausted can feel like such a waste of energy/effort—you’re squeezing from an exhausted fruit.
And this is why, the people who are able to squeeze the most creative juice from life don’t do so in short stints of time. They routinely get their two to three big squeezes from the fruit that’s replenished each day and do so over an extended period of time. And if you want to squeeze the most creative juice from this life, that’s what you should plan for, too.
P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.
I’m the work hard, play hard type.
I have a hard time letting myself relax and play if I haven’t gotten my work done for the day first.
And once I’ve completed my work or exhausted whatever energy I had towards it, I try and cut loose from it completely and relax and play fully—I try not to let work bleed into play.
That said, I’m usually doing one or the other: working or playing. And what I recognized in myself just yesterday is that there’s a third option that I’m skipping over altogether: being.
While this might sound new-age-y… here’s what I mean: after work this past Saturday, I came home and did some additional work that I had on my to-do list. I lasted around 2 hours before I completely zonked out from fully depleted mental energy.
But, it was too early for me to “play hard” and so I found myself in this unusual gap where I didn’t have the mental energy to work, but didn’t hit the time in my schedule where I could play.
And then it occurred to me…
This is precisely the kind of time gap that I’ve been hoping for. A time where I had nothing pressing that needed to get done so that I could practice being present—aka meditating for extended periods of time.
And so I tried it.
I sat in my backyard, eyes closed, for double the time I would normally sit—40 minutes. And just practiced being. It was quite refreshing and something I think needs to be added to the work hard, play hard formula. At least it’ll be something I add to mine.
I don’t judge days by the amount of inspiration I’m feeling; I judge days by the amount of opportunity I’m given.
And each day, I’m granted 86,400 moments—86,400 opportunities to engage with and experience life.
Wait for inspiration to strike inside your moments—and you’ll be waiting around for much, if not all, of your 86,400 moments. Quite possibly more as days turn into weeks or months…
Start striking regardless of how you feel and what you might find is inspiration on the other side. On the side that appears mundane, average, ordinary, normal, expected…
For what is it that starts a fire? Is it a lightning strike? Yes—occasionally. Is it some tinder, kindling, firewood, and a match? Yes—much more consistently and reliably.
And what’s surrounding you right now? Lightning strikes? …Maybe if you’re in a creative phase or riding some high powered muse momentum. Is it some tinder, kindling, and firewood—aka blank papers/canvas, keyboards/pens, computers/connections? I’d say yes—undoubtedly.
Everything you need is already available to you.
All you have to do is categorize, organize, and light the damn match.
Believe it.
P.s. I ran out of words yesterday, so to catch up, I’m thankful for The Almonds Guy and today, funnily enough, I’m thankful for inspiration lightning strikes. Because while building fires manually works—inspiration strikes are exciting as hell and I gotta give them a shout out for being so.
I lost my voice yesterday.
And while it was fun “retracing my steps” and “looking all over the school” with some of my young students who were trying to help me “find” it—losing your voice isn’t fun business.
Especially not when your voice is such an integral part of your business. Which is why today, I’m thankful for it. It really is funny how you don’t think to appreciate a thing until it’s gone. I’m fairly confident this wouldn’t have made it to my 15 day list if this hadn’t happened.
None-the-less, here we are. And here I am, bracing myself for an upcoming series of Martial Arts graduation ceremonies, classes, and coaching sessions that require a functioning voice box (and a damn loud one at that). And a question I’ve been reflecting on that has guided me in many challenging situations before is, “What good can come from this?”
…And you know what’s funny about reflecting on that question? You tend to find good things buried inside even crappy situations. Because the reality is—I’m not getting it back today. No sense dwelling on that. But, letting my mind dwell in the realm of creative solutions can be helpful for sure.
And what I’m now seeing are excellent opportunities for team members and students to step up—not only to help me out, but to help themselves out by building skills inside higher pressure situations that they don’t normally get to step into.
So you know what I’m going to do today?
…Let those who are willing step into them.