I love to create. Especially collaboratively. Sometimes it gets tricky when you have too many cooks in the kitchen, but I find that good ideas get reinforced with the right people at the table. Likewise, bad ideas get the axe before you waste too much time and energy going in the wrong direction.

At Awaken, almost everything is accomplished in teams of some sort. When we plan a new series or produce a video, it’s even more important that everyone is “fishing in the same stream.” There have been times when I’ve pitched an idea that sounded solid to me, but when I brought it to the team, for whatever reason, it is became obvious that the idea was incompatible with the focus of the project. Such is the nature of an idea.

You have to wade through them to find the ones that just leap off the page. That said, I’m currently working with a friend of mine at Awaken to collaborate on the art for the next series.  To give credit where credit is due, he did all of the work to create the scene, 3D text with beautiful shading, etc.

Here’s what he came up with:

He gave me permission (very important when working as a team) to play around with it.   So I did. It may not be the finished product, but it gives us options.                               Here’s what I came up with:

While the contents stayed the same (with the exception of the wind turbines), the effects change the tone entirely.

Final Thought:  Art is subjective. What I did, you may hate. You may love. Artistic collaboration takes three things:

1. holding your art loosely
2. humility
3. willingness to go with the better idea, even if it’s not yours

Good luck and play nice.

After:

I first heard about Darrell’s book when he appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon a few weeks ago. The interview was more like eavesdropping on two good friends having a serious conversation. Darrell alluded to rehab and addiction of some sort in the interview. For some reason I relate really well to people who have struggled with addiction. Maybe it makes them seem more human. In any case, the title alone told me he’d tell his story from the gut. Something that I find refreshing.

It was not until I started reading the book that I understood his story started with a disturbing childhood filled with abuse, alcoholism and grew to a paralyzing fear of death. He chronicled violent flashbacks to his childhood abuse and ways that he dealt with the fear as an adult. Namely, severe alcoholism, regular drug use, and cutting.

After 37 psychiatrists, a dozen incorrect diagnoses, and countless hospitalizations, he found himself healing in the safety of a psych ward.

Darrell’s main abuser was his mother, an avid church-goer to her community and a vindictive monster in her home. The disturbing irony is that Darrell learned how to impersonate voices from his mother. His only connection with her was mimicking people on the radio and in the neighborhood.

The thing that I didn’t understand until I read this book is that cutting is a way for him to say “someone, please fix me.” His cutting was a way of expressing his feelings of worthlessness and a plea for help.

He recounted his sandlot-esque love of baseball as a kid. He talked about high school crushes, his first job as a disc-jockey for a 3am time slot at a radio station in Melbourne, Florida. He talked about the first time he had sex as a 15 year old and how he thought God was waiting to “get him” for his indiscretion. He talked about working at a New York diner in the ’80’s and unknowingly charming mob bosses (that would later be convicted at the hands of then District Attorney, Rudy Giuliani) with his impression of Porky the Pig. Another twist of irony is that those same mobsters encouraged Darrell to do stand-up comedy. Darrell noted that he grew up feeling an imminent sense of evil. The cutting, alcohol and drug use were his way of distancing himself from his overwhelming fear and feelings of victimization.

Darrell made his story unapologetically accessible. It wasn’t polished. It was raw. Even though he seemed to jump from story to story, and skipped around his life, I followed him through each chapter, flashback and epiphany. It was fluid and allowed me to get as up-close a look as you can get from reading someone’s memoir. It was unfiltered and brilliant.

If you’re interested in hearing more of Darrell’s story, here’s a candid interview via CNN:

For those of you reading via email or RSS feed, here’s the link to the video: http://bit.ly/tOPA7n

We setup a make-shift grocery store in the school’s gymnasium. There, parents could fill 2 bags of groceries per student. One Hmong family relied on the eldest child, a 9 year old girl, to serve as translator for her father. She was the eldest of 5 and their parents were separated.

I noticed the father declined to take the allotted amount of groceries. Perhaps he didn’t understand or maybe he was just too proud. As I helped them collect the rest of the groceries and a new pair of shoes for each child, I realized that this is the face of hunger in our community: a 9 year old girl, serving as translator and moral support for her father and the acting head of household for her 4 siblings.

We’re back at Jackson Elementary this Thursday, December 8th. There are no words to describe the sense of fulfillment that I felt as we served these young families. Please pray for each student, family and volunteer that participates in this tremendous effort.

Here’s a short video of our time at Jackson Elementary last month:

If you’re viewing this via email, watch the video here: http://bit.ly/w4mASC

This morning I watched the sunrise.

In the silence, I felt two things.

Small and grateful.

I felt small because I was reminded of how something as gigantically distant as the sun can have such a profound affect on me. Not only does it make life on earth possible/sustainable, but it is mood-altering.

If we were to do a science experiment and have 5 people sit in direct sunlight and 5 people sit in indirect sunlight, who would happier?  My guess is that those who sat in direct sunlight would find themselves smiling a little more often.

As one of my former theology professors would say it “warms the cockles of my heart.” (This is an old English saying that was used to signify a deep sense of contentment and satisfaction.) It always sounded weird when he said it, but it eventually began to grow on me.

Back to watching the sunrise.

I felt grateful because it was simple.  Completely uncompressed. I wasn’t in a rush.  The kids were still in bed.  I took a few deep breaths and felt the buoyancy of the moment.  And I felt like I could probably be the next spokesperson for a Folgers commercial.

47 percent of all Americans say they are stressed on a regular basis and on the brink of burnout (apa.org).

Why is that?  

I think we’re over-saturated.

Rather than listing all the ways we’re stressed and making us needlessly hyperventilate into a brown paper bag, let’s just agree that there’s too much happening and it’s too often.

That said, if you really need to make traction towards less stress, take an inventory of all the things that make your blood pressure spike and make a plan to address them in a healthy way.

Smallness and gratitude are things that remind me that I am not the center of the universe.

Here’s to watching more sunrises.

In honor of this momentous occasion, I bring you the song to end all songs.  The Omega of music itself: P-A-J-A-M-A In The USA.  [you're welcome.]

Coincidentally, friends of mine have a nephew that was born today. So, I want to dedicate this song to him.

Before you read, check out Part 1.

If you’ve ever known someone who is artistic or musical in any way, you may stand back to watch in bewilderment at times and just wonder what is going through their heads.  You may also relate to the following scene:

You’re at the grocery store and you’re 3rd in line at the checkout.  Just ahead of you is a person who neglected to use a shopping cart.  They’re dropping things left and right.  Their arms are full with frozen dinners and various cans of soup, obviously ill-equipped. Yet they still feel the need to load up on items in the impulse aisle.  You watch in silent amazement as the person grabs a few more items:

• A stick of gum.
• Some AA batteries.
• The latest issue of Time Magazine.
• A Diet Coke.
• And a miniature squirt gun.

You think to yourself…

“Either this guy is McGyver’s long lost twin brother or he’s completely out of his mind.”

On the surface, that’s what creativity may look like.  But just under the surface, there is a logical dance between inspiration and possibilities.  Internally, Creatives are constantly making mental connections with ideas and are always testing the water for potential.

A few tips to my fellow creatives:

Create a bucket list for potential ideas.

I learned this from a few friends of mine.  Have an app on your phone, a running word doc, or even make a voice memo on your phone if you happen to be driving.  Return to these ideas often.

Don’t broadcast underdeveloped ideas. 

They make you sound crazy.  No one goes to the crazy person for advice.  Only share ideas you want people to take seriously.

Act on your creative impulses when you have discretionary time.

Otherwise, make a note of the idea(s) and shut that party down.  Ideas find their most natural voice when they’ve had a bit of time to stew in the slow cooker.  It’s like a bunch of young bucks (deer) during rutting season.  They’ve got a lot more passion and vigor when all that “creativity” has been pent up all winter.