CREATIVE DRIVE

The newsletter that will get you off your duff

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NUMBER 43

Disruptions are there because you like them.

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Noise is everywhere. It's undeniably a part of the human environment. What's the issue with noise, though? Isn't it merely sound, however random or poorly timed it might be?

Some noise is acceptable and even essential. A volcanic eruption is a good example. If you're within earshot, your life might be at risk. The crying of a baby, too, is loud for a reason. Tiny Leroy is using his lungs, and soon he attempts to express his needs. The parent's ear is innately attuned to the sound of it.

Is the news just noise, though? No, it fails to qualify. The news isn't noise because it's subject to your permission. You can turn the coverage on and off to suit your whim. It's nothing in comparison to the work of being you; to the task of representing yourself to the world. You can get the news once and then set it aside till the next day. The rowdy redneck fervor of so-called rallies, racist public figures and devastating wars are terrible, but they shouldn't disturb the very real process of achieving your greatness. Negative events and dangerous antisocial trends are external to your mind and effort, so the noise they create amounts to deceitful chaos.

Your Mind on the Line

Let's explore the idea of noise in the context of creative production. Consider your ability to speak. It's a selective manifestation of thoughts you identify as they occur in your mind. Those thoughts, however, represent just a fraction of the creative activity within your brain. Meanwhile, with each new moment the environment feeds you an exponentially large amount of information.

Can you see the hierarchy? Let's take it from the top and work backward:

- The environment feeds us information.

- The brain responds with creative activity.

- The conscious mind selects and combines various impulses.

- The mechanism of speech produces a condensed, often limited result.

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This is probably more Zen-derived than it is psychologically absolute, but I can reasonably assume that each of us will identify with it. For many people, the mind is subject to racing thoughts: worries, frustrations, the confusion of choices and other things. Racing thoughts follow patterns, which repeat until we subdue them.

What do racing thoughts do for us? For one thing, they keep us awake. Sleep deprivation is basically what racing thoughts are good for. That's one reason that meditators meditate and sleep specialists specialize in sleep. It's why people who think they don't dream only wish they could. To meditate is to seek the emptiness of a pure mind that's free of disruptive, disturbing thoughts. To sleep is to pause the demands of physical activity and recharge. To dream is to rearrange and in some way reconcile the events and impulses of life experience.

[TEATIME: Please be patient during this brief intermission. Music will not be provided.]

Coincidence or Serendipity

My wife and I just listened to part of a radio show that dealt with the physiological significance of dreams. A specialist on the show emphasized the fact that unless you're a lucid dreamer–one who can choose and direct dreams–almost nothing can be done to prevent the repeated occurrence of upsetting ones. Dreams, he said, are the mind's effort to sort out the emotionally impactful events of our lives.

It is so strange that I would sit down to write about this subject and find that it was also being discussed live on-air. Moreover, three of my LinkedIn connections have sent messages that closely matched the topics of Creative Drive issues I was writing. As a young person I wondered about that kind of thing, and I innocently concluded that the brain is an electrochemical radio. After all, it has been suggested that, prior to the development of language, early hominids used telepathy.

We do dream, and certainly we daydream. Face the fact and move on. Realize that you have dreams, nightmares and the seemingly constant distraction of thought. If you'll do that, you can also challenge it:

- Choose the best, most enticing view in your home.

- Set up your computer right in front of that view.

- Set a timer for thirty minutes.

- Quickly write a brief but sensical headline and an economical subheading.

- Write five paragraphs–the opener, brief description, scenario A, scenario B, and the concluding restatement.

- Stop when you hear the "time's up" sound.

The World: Your Friend and Obstacle

The challenge of working with a view is to be so comfortable in that situation that you can ignore it. Whether your window looks out at Mount Kenya, the "Hollywood" sign or that nifty neighbor Judy Callahan in her front garden, you must assure yourself of the fact that neither the volcano, the sign or the effervescent Judy will disappear while you tap at the keyboard. So, go ahead. Try it.

Look at your work and see whether you were able to complete five paragraphs based on a headline and subheading within the span of half an hour. If you did it, congratulations are richly deserved. If you got close, again I congratulate you. If you didn't do more than the headline, subheading and opener, ask yourself the following question:

"Why is there so much f*%#ing noise in this place!?"

Calm down, and I'll tell you why. The room is full of noise because you allow it. Actually, you like the noise because it keeps you company. If you're not watching videos while you work, you're listening to music or the various goings-on outside.

"Oh, it's Thursday, and the trash truck always comes on Thursday!"

"It's Friday, and the people next door always have a cookout on the balcony."

"Well, it's Saturday, and the Pope was shopping at the mall here in town! It was on the news, too!"

Put Yourself in the Story

Imagine yourself in the middle of a vast desert. The landscape teems with critters, but they're unseen. Overhead loom heavy clouds laden with rain, which they'll release upon the distant mountains. The wind whistles and hisses softly as it ruffles the sagebrush. There are no people, nor is there machinery. There is only you and a little lizard several feet away, lifting two legs at a time from the sunbaked sand . . . .

WRITE ABOUT IT. Describe that place, and be sure to include your friend the lizard. Ignore the fact that you're fundamentally alone in the desert. Forget the ringing in your ears, too. The ringing is a byproduct of urban life, and it takes approximately three days in the wilderness for it to stop.

If you really were alone in a very quiet place, you probably wouldn't fare any better than in an urban environment. Your wandering mind would focus on the whistling wind or on some trash truck doing the rounds. You'd indulge in some fantasy picnic with the charming Judy from next door, and time would continue without you.

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The Wellness Excuse

What about wellness breaks? Certainly one can be a good thing, but what will overindulgence do? How about another walk? Why would you need a second jaunt in the same day? Timeouts are for children, but you aren't a kid. Your mature mind can muster the fortitude to continue. As the dream researcher said, children can remember entire dreams but most adults don't. We learn to subdue that process because it generally isn't essential for our survival. What matters more is the present, with its responsibilities and concerns. So, as a creative person you should devote your time to productivity.

What happened with that brilliant idea you had a couple of weeks ago while you languished on the couch like a forgotten bag of laundry? Exactly. Nothing happened because you weren't in such a situation that you could write it down and work with it.

Remember That Idea?

The same thing happened with the song, melody or beat that came to you in an instant just a few days ago. It occurred when the conclusion to a report appeared in your mind, maybe while you were at the supermarket. Would you remember it and make the deadline? What about that particularly subtle point you thought you might research for the current translation project? Did some other task come along and replace it?

Everything we think we might do can be subordinated and even erased by something of less importance. Even my tea break would've been a distraction if it weren't for the happy coincidence of a relevant topic on a radio show. We can't trust or anticipate coincidence, though. It's only slightly more reliable than hitchhiking.

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A Lesson: Fine Either Way

As a young man I used my writing ability to become a music journalist and critic. Within a year of my first published byline, I became the associate editor for a small but well-known publishing company. The editorial and advertising offices were arranged along an interior hallway on the upper floor of a two-story brick building on Sunset Boulevard. The first floor housed the production area and an additional space for writing. Initially I worked in that first-floor space, often in the company of another associate editor. When the air didn't ring with the din of music and laughter from the production crew, we could hear tele-sales people in an adjoining office harass their delinquent office-supply customers with threats of collection. (That operation was soon raided by the FBI.)

The racket was constant. Eventually I moved upstairs and into a little space that adjoined the office of the managing editor, who was a music fan. He had the stuff going all the time. It was irritating as heck for the first week or so after he joined our team, but then I realized a couple of things: First, he wasn't playing the music for my benefit, so I was out of the equation. Second, his editorial output couldn't match mine because he tended to focus on his Springsteen bootleg tapes and whatever. So, I decided to shut it out. I didn't need earplugs, either. I simply paid no attention to it.

A Change in Perspective

A year later I was a copywriter at an ad agency in Tokyo, where the sensory overload was undeniable. Sometimes I'd feel wiped out by the time I got home from work. However, despite the fact that I had my own cubicle in the relatively spacious "creative" portion of the company's office, I didn't listen to music while I worked. There were four other copywriters, and they listened to music throughout the day. They took long lunches, which usually included beer–in Japan that's okay–and they'd yack their heads off regardless of the pressure to produce. I was on a mission, though. For one thing, I was young but determined to be a writer. Variously, they were exiles from New Jersey, a technology lover from Australia and a former artist manager from London. Copywriting was the job, but it wasn't their obsession.

It's different for me now. I can listen to music or have relative silence as a write. Either way, I'm fine. The office windows can be open to birdsong, the rush of nearby cars and the clatter of equipment on farm fields, and I'll smile. For me, it's sound but nothing more. The writing is my focus. Similarly, when I listen to music, I tune in to it. I experience it. Music can be entertaining, but it's only noise if it serves no purpose.

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Sit down and create something. Write anything, but focus on the page. Get in close, but relax. Hear the words in your mind as you key them in. Live those sentences as intimate expressions of who you are. In order to do that, you can't allow the myriad wonders of the outside world to steal your attention. The same applies if you're a musician, a voice actor or any other creatively inclined person. Emphasize your task for each minute you give to it.

- You won't have to work longer just to get a satisfactory result. You might even work less.

- You won't feel drained after you complete the task.

- You'll look and feel younger, and your spouse will like you even more.

- You'll get better at the thing you love to do!

Isn't silence wonderful!? Isn't nature incredible!? Aren't you happy to have a newfound ability!? You can flip the switch on a world of cacophonous sound. You can shut it out and wade into the realm of your mind and then share your creativity with others.

A QUICK EXERCISE

This is a good time to try out a headline and subheading; to see what we can develop from it. Below that banner you'll find a phrase to help develop your opening paragraph. Here we go:

[head] SOARING WITHIN THE KALEIDOSCOPE

[subhead] Life's Best Moments as Seen from the Soul

[opener] The most stunning aspect of life–the most unnerving reality–is that it cannot be held captive. However much we . . . .

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Have fun with the exercise, and I'll see you next time.

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THANK YOU for reading this issue of Creative Drive. I hope you'll share your discovery with friends. Remember, we offer advertising space at very affordable rates. Get in touch!

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? Copyright 2024 by Lawrence Payne. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated or distributed without permission from the author.