Every now and then you get to see things from another perspective – whether you like it or not. A brief and unexceptional dream did it for me this morning.

I’m in college and walking to class when I see three guys playing football (there’s a five-a-side area directly open to the corridor, but let’s not worry about that). I’m tempted to join in. They seem a bit old for this place, and for me – sort of mature looking nineteen year olds. What are they doing here, I wonder, other than playing footy? Would they maybe welcome a seventeen year old gate-crashing their game?

Then it dawns on me I’m not seventeen – I’m actually twenty-seven. God that’s old for this place. Twenty-seven! That’s so… grown up.

But even as the thought sinks in I become aware of my real age, a staggeringly ancient forty-two. Somehow those footy players seem to have lost their air of maturity. In my dream I’m conscious of the yawning span of time between us. It feels achingly solid but… but… aaagh! The horror, the horror, at the dawning understanding that even forty-two is young. I’m not forty-two – I’m fifty-four.

Fifty-four? I’m fifty-four?

My god – I am fifty-four. How did this happen? I’m fifty-four.

And that’s how I woke up this fine July morning, wondering how on earth all that time had gone, and yearning for that easy, effortless power of young muscles.

Me being me I’m already turning it into a positive. I’ll take extra care to savour this day and everything about it.

No matter where you are in your life, I hope you can do the same.

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Other posts:
Sideways Saying # 4 – There Aren’t Enough Hours in the Day
Sideways Saying #3 – If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes

My head’s in a spin. I just came across the following quote from the great psychologist Abraham Maslow:

A first rate soup is more creative than a second rate painting.

Is it?

There are all sorts of ways of looking at this. I guess that certainly the original creation of a ‘first rate’ soup is a very creative act – but what about when you’ve got it down to a fine art (see what I did there?)

Creativity in a Savoury Crust?

Is that more creative? I’m going to use my own culinary masterpiece as an example: my hand crafted turkey pies – a slightly healthier version of an English pork pie – that is, with a hot water pastry crust, and a meat and jelly filling. I’ve been making these pies for 20 years or so – rarely change the recipe but have gradually refined my techniques. I take great pride in my pies and I hope that they are first rate.

Note: tragically and inexplicably I don’t have a photo of one of my pies. Entirely for the purposes of this blog I’ll bake one soon so that you can see (if not taste) one in all its glory.

But is my first rate pie more ‘creative’ than a ’second rate’ painting? Here’s what I think – ‘ NO! And not only that, it-s not even more creative than a ’second rate’ pie, or soup, that has been made creatively but hasn’t worked out properly.

Cobblers

In fact the whole idea that something ‘first rate’ (whatever that means) is necessarily more creative than something ’second rate’ is in my humble view a right load of old cobblers.

First of all there’s the thorny judgement of what is first or second rate. But more important is the question of whether someone at the height of proficiency in their own artistic sphere (I”m including cooking in that) is being ‘more creative’ than someone who is setting out on the journey.

And as I’ve said in other posts, making mistakes is all part of the creative process. Do we have to wait until we get it right before we can say to ourselves – now that’s creative? That sounds to me like a great recipe for stifling our joy and freedom to make creative cock-ups, and it adds unwanted judgement about the quality of our creative acts.

So – second rate paintings versus first rate soups and pies?

Here’s a thought: maybe that great 20^th century psychologist Abraham Maslow was simply a rubbish painter but first rate at making soup.

Yes – I’ll go for that.

Oh… I have a strange relationship with this one. I don’t believe it and I do believe it. Potentially I have way too many things to do in each twenty four hours but these days I’m much, much better at being satisfied with what I have done. So instead of stressing about what I haven’t managed to do with my day, now I congratulate myself on what I have done and sleep easy. Mostly.

And Now the Rant

But hell, the pressure is always there in today’s way of living. It’s so easy to get sucked into that whirlpool of mad activity and goals and things to do and things to have that we really can believe with all our hearts that we need more time!

Western culture, or maybe capitalist culture, I’m not sure which, has us acting like crazy people. We’re time sensitive, time conscious, cash rich/time poor (not everyone, I know), we’re supermums and dads rushing round being all things to everyone. We get to work early and stay late and we organize so many activities for our kids that neither they nor we have a minute of rest.

And having crammed so much in we still find to our everyday horror that there’s stuff we left out. No wonder we go to bed frazzled and dissatisfied.

But how many hours do we want exactly? And what are we going to do with it when we’ve got it?

Well, this is a blog about our creative instincts, so I’m guessing for many the answer would be to use the extra time being more creative. But how is it that an easy way to find out what we really, really want to do with our time is to ask ourselves what we are not doing with it now?

And how is it, exactly, that we can spend whole days or even weeks whizzing around like the proverbial blue-arse fly without getting close to the things we really want to do, or the people we really like to be with?

Did I say days and weeks just now? It can be years. Years of insane rushing and ‘achieving’ and promising ourselves that one day – one day soon – we’re going to slow down enough to smell the roses – maybe even plant some roses.

This is not something we should be saving for retirement.

We Are Greedy

When it comes down to it we’re greedy about the things we want to do with our days and the things we want to have in our lives. We’re like kids in a sweet shop/candy store – I want that – and I want this, and this and yes, lots of that and…

I guess our whole modern society is a bit like that. We are surround by so much stuff and so many tempting options. We have so much to choose from we end up not being able to.

But we have to choose. We have to choose not to have some stuff and not to do some things. Then we can finally find the time to do what’s really important better. So make some choices.

• Choose how to spend your time
• Choose how to relax without guilt
• Choose to reject other people’s definitions of success
• Choose to do less

And you know what? It’s the people who choose to do less who often end up getting a lot more out of life (yet another paradox – I love ‘em).

• More enjoyment of what they do choose to do
• More achievement in the areas they care about
• Morelong term fulfilment

All this is providing you choose with care. Because if you choose only to please other people – to conform to their view of how your world should be and how you should be using your time, then all the time in the world won’t be enough.

Right… must dash!

I hope this make some sort of sense by the end……

Two Weeks Ago

Surfing blogs… here’s one’ first anniversary of blog… hurray! happy happy… celebration! self congratulation…

Ooh… there’s a thought – can’t be far off the anniversary of my blog… better check… when? Ooh… only two weeks away!… must remember to celebrate… self congratulate… happy happy… hurrah

***

One Day Ago<

Creative Instinct’s birthday tomorrow. Hurray! Ah… what to write? Happy happy, self congratulate, celebrate, ya-hey!…………………… wait…… boring… boring… stuck… hmmm… no… definitely stuck… what are others writing? Google it…… oh… okay…

Museum archivists blog… newsgroup in East Indiana… this old lady…

This old lady – blogging is hard work… takes time… can only read two books per week now because blogging takes her time… managed to blog for a year… won’t do two. Shame. She’s doing alright.

Next blog – long haired chocolate tan dachshund, name of Luckie Girl… what? dammit… a year old dachshund’s been blogging a week longer’n I have?… oh… look at that… I can chat with Luckie Girl if I want… not sure though… is it dogs only?… are Girl Girl and Huskee Boy really dogs or… no… no. Bad thought.

What.s this? Luckie Girl was featured site August 2007 on dogswithblogs.com.au. Wow! Doggies blogging all round the world… are there blogs for creative doggies too?… should I do some posts for them?…………

…grrnahgraaao… (that’s me growling, not the doggies)… still stuck…

Everybody does a 1^st birthday post… I want to do a first birthday post too… milestone… celebrate. But I don’t want to write it… boring boring… birthday yada yada didn’t I do well yada ya………. I mean – I’m pleased ‘n I’m happy – yes I am………… but resisting this big time…… probably read too many anniversary blog posts……

What the hell am I going to write?…… thinking……. thinking…… ah!… bright idea… stream of consciousness description of this creative process… sounds great…… sounds crackers more like…… sod it…………  going to go for it… going to do it………

So………

Two Weeks Ago

Surfing blogs… here’s one… first anniversary of………………

***

Anyhow – It’s the Creative Instinct 1^st anniversary. Lots achieved – lots, lots more to do.

I’d like to offer a big thank you to everyone who’s read and commented so far – and massive gratitude to the people who have helped, and continue to help me with it.

And if you’ve read this far, then thanks for indulging me with this particular whimsy.

Here’s to year two of The Creative Instinct!

A bit of a rant.

My wife, Lynda is looking for a new studio closer to home. Just a few miles away is the Ridgeway Craft Centre. It’s a joint facility that is also a local visitor attraction because all the art and craft studios are open to the public, with products made on the premises for sale.

This is a place that has an amazing four studio spaces available. Studio spaces around our locality are rarer than a Jackson Pollock still life. And yet this place has four!

Want to know why? Here’s the email Lynda just received saying why they don’t want her – or, presumably, any other painters.

Lynda;
Thank you for your enquiry with regard to our vacant units at Ridgeway Craft Centre, I am sorry to have to tell you that after canvassing the existing tenants on your proposed usage of the site, objections were raised by traders involved in similar business activities, therefore it is with regret that we would be unable to arrange viewings at this time.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.

Regards
Gareth Harper
Estates Technician
Estates & Valuations
North East Derbyshire District Council.

This objection is without anyone even knowing what kind of paintings Lynda produces. And then there is the stupidly small minded idea that having painters together is a bad thing for ‘business’. Surely it’s the other way around. More artists together, more people coming to see a range of art.

Shame on you, painters of the Ridgeway Craft Centre!