Posts Tagged ‘Consumerism’
Irregular Intentionality: Making Sense Of Our Busy Lives
Blogging has been tough for me for a while. In truth, for nearly a year. Even though I had a break which was meant to help, on reflection I didn’t use that break as effectively as the one I had in 2014.
The recurrence of this issue though, has shown this problem was far deeper.
And I have absolutely no doubt what the real problem is.
It’s an issue with time management. An issue which many of us struggle with, and has become a major issue for me. I’m simply not creating enough space in my life to cultivate the habits, like free-writing, which help me find my voice & inspiration.
And I need to do something about it, or I’m not going to achieve what I’m capable of. Because if we don’t manage our time effectively, we won’t realise our full potential – in any area of life.
Read MoreLiz Gilbert & Why Our Calling Doesn’t Have To Pay The Bills
Author Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir ‘Eat Pray Love’ sold 10 million copies. But what many people don’t know, is that she was a ‘successful’, paid writer before that book. Maybe not to the degree that she is now, but still relatively successful.
But even so, as Gilbert shares in her recent book ‘Big Magic’, she only gave up her day job once ‘Eat Pray Love’ went huge. She had been freelance paid writer before then, but had kept a day job the whole time.
Because she saw – and still sees – writing as her calling, her vocation – whether it’s her day job or not.
Which highlights one of the biggest and most dangerous myths around calling:
That to pursue a vocation or calling means it has to become our day job, our primary source of income – otherwise we’ve failed in our calling.
And it’s a total lie.
Read MoreFear Can’t Dictate – Love Always Wins
I didn’t blog last week. In light of recent events in the world, I felt it was right to be silent, out of respect of the days of mourning set aside for the victims of the violence – in France, and in Lebanon too.
I felt a particularly strong sense of despair at these attacks. For a number of reasons – the more vulnerable place I’m at in my journey, having a good friend who lives in Paris. Like many of us, I needed time to process it all.
As I reflected, two words keep coming up for me in light of those attacks.
Fear. Love.
And right now, fear seems to be winning.
But I choose to say something different today. I say that love wins. And ultimately, it always will.
Read MoreDo Our Words Bleed?
For such a long time I’ve talked about authenticity. Now the word is becoming more and more like jargon.
And every time I hear it, or discuss it on Twitter with others, I’m feeling an accusing finger pointing my way. That nagging sense many don’t think I’m authentic.
And in my own mind, my greatest fear is fast becoming I’m simply not being authentic enough. Not living or writing with enough integrity or honesty. Still holding back from the real truth.
Read MoreMuppets, Umbrellas & The Truth About Story
I’ve always loved the Muppets. And every time I’ve watched a Muppet TV show or movie I seem to learn a lesson. Over this last Christmas, they might have taught me their biggest lesson of all.
So what do I mean? Well, let’s backtrack a little.
All life is a story. It’s a story which is being told by each of us, and somehow each of our stories intertwines with many others to create a bigger story. There’s stories being told around us each and every day.
But there’s two things we often forget about stories.
First, we have the power to shape our own story – we get to define our stories, they don’t just happen to us unless we give them the power to.
Second, our stories are like delicate flowers or ceramics – fragile, easily breakable, and delicate.
How do I know this? Because my until recently I’ve given authority to my circumstances to define much of who I am, rather than realising the power I had over my story.
Read MoreHow To Stay Authentic In The World Of Cyber Monday
It’s Cyber-Monday today. The Black Friday of the internet. In the UK alone there is expected to be expenditure of over £650 million. It’s the worst of consumerism. The worst of capitalism. The worst of marketing and business.
But business and marketing aren’t bad. Like anything, in the right context, they can be good – it’s the abuse and excess which taints them.
Which brings me to art. There are many artists who have and do make their living from their art. The work they create pays the bills. And we all need to pay bills.
So, naturally, for anyone wanting to make a living from their work, there becomes a huge temptation to create work which we know will sell. To invest our talent into work we know people will buy, which there is a guaranteed market for. And to market this work intensively.
As any artist will tell you, there is a cost to the work we create. Both in time, energy and money. And in time I’ve discovered, if we want to create better quality work, help more people, and expand our reach, then business and marketing have to be part of what we do.
But there’s something missing here.
Authenticity.
We need to balance authenticity with the reality of business and marketing. So how and why do we do this?
Read MoreThe Secrets You Find At The End Of Yourself
In recent weeks life has been difficult. This very weekend I had an experience which brought me to the end of myself. Issues with finances, work, health and relationships. I was sitting at home, but I wasn’t feeling depressed. It had gone beyond this.
I was just not bothered.
I mean this not in a lazy way at all. Nor in a negative, suicidal sense. But more like indifference. To life. Pressures with money, with bad habits, diet, work, career. Tough choices, pressurised situations. And I felt indifferent.
Maybe not too much of a surprise. Many struggle with this.
But what made me sit up and notice, was how little I cared about the things I am most passionate about. And it opened my eyes to a truths. Truths I already knew of in theory, but had never experienced in such a personal way.
It revealed the lies about where I – and many of us – put our security. And the amazing blessing of having it grounded where it should be.
Read MoreWhat Miami Vice Taught Me About Identity
In the 1980’s there was a TV show called ‘Miami Vice’, about two undercover police officers from, surprisingly enough, Miami. The image & clothing of the police officers, and it’s location, gave it a particular image which made it an iconic show of the 1980’s.
Toward the end of season 2, one of the principal characters, Sonny Crockett (played by Don Johnson, left in picture), poses undercover as a drug dealer ‘Sonny Burnett’. This is a false self with his own backstory.
But when Sonny gets hit on the head and gets amnesia, he only remembers the identity of Sonny Burnett. So he goes ahead and lives out that identity, not remembering he is an undercover police officer, existing solely as Sonny Burnett.
He’s not Sonny Burnett. It’s not his true identity. However, he continues to live and act like he is. And this story, and it’s resolution, is a great example of a fundamental truth about identity. In the words of Rob Bell:
“What we do comes out of who we believe we are”
In other words, our identity defines our reality.
Read MoreDefy The Dipthong…Discover Your Voice
I’ve been writing for many years now – I try to not to remember exactly how many, as it reminds me of my age. I’ve written a 50,000 book and two other shorter books, and countless blog posts. and one thing I’ve learned, amongst many, is all writers have their own unique style. For example, you can use lots of words in big paragraphs, almost ongoing forever and ever, or you can
use
one
word
paragraphs.
And you can begin sentences with the word ‘and’ (I have a friend who does this a lot..).
None of these habits, or ‘quirks’ are in the rulebook of writing. I’m not sure I know many writers who sit down to write have a big book called ‘The Rules & Laws of Writing’ which they constantly check to ensure their writing fits the model.
Which is because there should never be lots of legalistic rules when it comes to writing. Every writer should be free to express themselves in their own language, their own style, their own unique way.
Including you.
Read MoreHow Not Writing Saved My Writing (& Changed My Life)
For the longest time, my identity in life was a writer. My value, worth and security was all tied up with how I did as a writer. Success in writing made me feel more valuable, and failure made me feel I’d failed as a person. Everything I was had been tied into how I performed, how much I achieved, how good I was.
Many people say writing every day is vital, and it improves you. So, as you do if you want to improve, I began writing every day.
It did improve me. But it allowed fear a route in. I become afraid to stop writing – because I thought if I stopped, I would fall behind my peers, and I wouldn’t get where I wanted to.
So I never stopped. I poured out energy every day writing. I burned myself out, and the quality of the work decreased as a result. And at the end of the day I felt a failure because it doesn’t do as well as I’d hoped, and it wasn’t my best work. I felt guilty going even one day without writing. My life had become controlled by writing.
That’s how easy and subtly these habits, roles or statuses can begin to control us.
And it comes from grounding our identity in the what we do, rather than who we are.
Which is why we need to reclaim the principle of sabbath.
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