Have you ever had a conversation with someone and thought, “Wow, it feels like no time has gone by at all”? I had one of these not too long ago. I hadn’t seen them in many years, but we picked back up into conversations that we had long ago. The same types of coversations anyway. They spent time telling me about life and I instinctively knew how to respond. It felt weird. They were just as I remembered. Very little had changed.

I have thought about this a lot. How much different am I now compared to then? Have I really changed all that much? In a word? Yes. I am very different than I was even 5 years ago. I spent a lot of time stuck in ruts over the years. I have learned from many of them. I don’t want to go back to them. I am very different, because I have chosen to be.

What is the old quote? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. The bad thing is this: most of the time we don’t realize we are doing the same thing over and over. When you are stuck in the rut, often times you don’t know you are stuck at all. You just think life is hard, or out to get you, or that it isn’t fair. We may even realize we are in a rut, but we stay on autopilot and keep doing the same things. Years go by and we are still there and don’t know why.

Here are 3 things to think about when facing a rut:

1. How long has it been since you have done something completely new? Do you drive the same way to work everyday? Do you eat the same things every week? Do you have the same conversations over and over? If you answered yes on any of these things, pick one new thing to do this week.

2. What are you putting into your mind? Are you reading and engaging your mind with positive uplifitng material? Or, do you veg out in front of the TV every spare minute? What you put in is what comes out.

3. Do you find yourself complaining about the same things over and over? Maybe it is time to ask yourself this question: What really is the problem? Talking about the problem seems so much easier than doing the work of solving the problem, but wouldn’t it be better to address the complaints now before any more time goes by?

What have you done when you have found yourself in a rut? How hard was it to escape?

We had a snow day today. I live in Oklahoma. Snow and Oklahoma and not usually friends. They have been making up for lost time over the last day. There is a 4 foot snow drift on my back porch. My poor dogs can even get into the back yard to do go…you know. (My daschund will hardly step foot out the back door.) It is 8 degrees outside my window right now (it was 72 just 3 days ago…what is up with that?).

It has been a great day. I have a clean office for the first time in a while (thank you Marixa for helping me get this done.) I got to be creatvie in the kitchen this evening. I took my first stab at home made Mac and Cheese. (Still a work in progress.) The best part of the day though was I had to slow down. And I did. I spent the day soaking up being here with Marixa and Trey. That is priceless.

There are not many days that come along where I have to stay home and there is nothing going on. Today was one of those days. I feel plugged into my family. It is a good feeling. One I need to cultivate on more than just snow days.

I hope, wherever you are, you are safe and warm.

How long can you stare at a blank screen and nothing appear? I have asked myself this questions several times and the answer is always the same. I sit down with the full intention of creating (posts, stories, songs, etc) and the void of white space engulfs me..until I put my fingers on the keyboard and start to type. The answer is, the screen only stays blank until I write something. I have to engage the process. It won’t do it by itself.

I have selective memory on this topic unfortunately. I have discovered this principle many times over the years. I once told Marixa that I wasn’t coming to bed until I wrote a new song. It had been six months since I had written anything and I felt that it was time. So, I came to be about an hour later. The song was written. I chose to engage and I got it done. Funny enough, it is still a song I hum to myself from time to time. I wrote it over 8 years ago.

I think the people that consistently produce really good stuff  are masters of this process. They are not more creative than most of us, but they are much better at demanding that the creativity flow out of them and become art or song or whatever else it is they do. Creativity can not be rigid by any means, but we must sit down at our craft and create. That is what the creative does. Day after day after day. Sometimes what we have created really stinks, but that isn’t the point. If we are truly creative, good will come.

There is a great scene from the movie Finding Forrester (one of my favorite movies, Marixa was not so thrilled) where Sean Connery’s character William Forrester is giving instruction to Rob Brown’s character Jamal Wallace. He points to a typewriter and instructs Jamal to write. The scene unfolds like this:

Forrester: Go ahead.

Wallace: Go ahead and what?

Forrester: Write.

Wallace: What are you doing?

Forrester: I’m writing like you will be when you start punching those keys. (Jamal looks uncertain) Is there a problem?

Wallace: No, I’m just thinking.

Forrester: No. No thinking. That comes later.

The old man is a master at his task. He sits himself down in front of the keys and he writes. This is a skill he helps teach Jamal throughout the rest of the movie. This is evidenced by the fact that Jamal’s teacher see such a rapid improvement in his work they question if it his own.

In my pursuit of the life I am meant to live I have to acknowledge that being creative is how God has wired me. Knowing this, it is my privilege to sit down to it. Whether it is through words, music, or food I choose to use my creativity. My job is to sit down and do it. No excuses. If only one person benefits, it was worth the time.