December 22, 2020
A different kind of Christmas. That’s the subject of my Stream Thinking writing exercise. One page. Ten minutes. No editing. How can you keep the Christmas of 2020 down to a page? A tough year. Not just for you, me, the neighborhood but the world. You already know that. We’ve become the generation of nations that’ve accepted the unexpected. We need a break. Space. To rejuvenate the inner spirit that makes being human unique and blessed with strength. I think it starts with a physical decision to stop saying, “I need.” We’re driving Amazon and Walmart crazy! I need. To be kept up to date with headlines every chance I get. I need to land my eyes on those addictive websites. I need each and every one of them lined up. Convinced there’s balance in life when you take them all in. This past weekend I heard something that wasted no time getting into my creative soul. The movie Sound Of Metal. Big time Heavy Metal drummer becomes deaf. Not slowly. Overnight. Boom! Out goes the lights. He had to disconnect from the world he once knew. To learn how to communicate. To embrace. To grow. It wasn’t easy. He wanted the implants. Life will be better again. You know back to normal. His mentor calmly invited him to try a daily exercise, “Walk into the room that I’ve provided for you and learn how to live deaf.” Stop! Rewind. Learn how to live deaf? Accept all that is real. Begin a process of learning in a way of not injuring. Get your mind off the quick fix back to normal. Learn how to live deaf. Instantly this movie grabbed me by the nap of the neck. As a globe we are living with something we don’t have control over and we’re wasting enormous amounts of energy and time trying to locate the implants. As mentioned. I’ve got a horrible problem with staying too close to the headlines. During this digital age every person has a voice. A single thought from their writing instrument can become what feels like the quick fix. Only to face plant the soul into another trashed out day of let’s pretend. What if we agreed to do the daily exercise from the movie? Walk into a room. No digital devices. A cup of coffee. A donut, writing instrument and pad of paper. No music. You. With yourself. Learning how to live deaf. How quickly will you become angry? Deprivation is a horrible place to walk. Do you stay in the room? Thinking of it as a place of misery and discipline? I’m a daily writer. I’ve experienced the jotting down of thought for 27 years. But never by myself. Wanna take a walk? A new journey? Learn to live deaf…