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Lost Memory
One of the problems of writing your memoirs as you get older (and most of us don’t think about doing so until we’re in a position to think about the generations that follow us) is memory. When we’re young, we’re capable of amazing feats of memory (at least, I think so — I’m not sure I can recall exactly!) We could memorize masses of information — for school, for our jobs, for recipes, for hobbies, for any number of activities in which we took part. As we age though, sometimes it feels as if our brains have become constipated, full of useless trivia we no longer have any interest in…
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Practice and Discipline
It seems to me that there has been an enormous subterranean shift in the overall values of society since the inception of the internet and particularly since our enthusiastic adoption of mobile devices. We no longer value hard work, discipline and practice as the road to self-improvement. In my youth, a major component of education was an emphasis on learning basic communication skills, in writing, in mathematics, and in the study of history, geography and basic natural sciences, so that we could better understand and interact with the world in which we lived. Good students expected to go on to university in order to further their education. Employers expected a…
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Creative Resistance
In any creative endeavour, it’s critical to pay attention to where you encounter Resistance. These are the places which will give you the most trouble, but when you finally “get it”, will give you the most value and insight. For a brilliant treatise on Resistance and how insidious it can be for creative people, I highly recommend Steven Pressfield’s books, “The War of Art”, “Turning Pro” and “Do the Work”, in which he examines the many ways Resistance can make itself felt. He anthropomorphizes Resistance in such a way as to give it intention and desire. That desire is the work of our unconscious, finding sneaky, near-undetectable ways to sabotage…
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The Whole Truth
I do love teaching workshops. There’s so much give and take and I always learn something new. It’s a joy to see the lightbulb go on for people when they’ve been struggling with a problem for a long time – when something I’ve said trips a switch in their head and suddenly, they get the whole truth. This afternoon, I started a new workshop class at a local seniors’ centre. You never know whether you’ll get a good group or even if anyone will show up, but today we had a nice number – enough for lots of discussion but not so many that we couldn’t all contribute. It’s My…
