Posts made in September, 2008
All Is Creative: Risk, Risk, and Risk Some More.
Risk. The verb ‘risk’ is a scary one for many people. Merriam-webster defines it like so:
: To expose to hazard or danger.
…which is a reasonable definition for the purposes of this post. All of us take risks everyday that we don’t even give a thought to, simply to live and survive. We walk outside without fear of being randomly struck by lightning, but it happens. Many of us cross against traffic, not even at a stoplight, while statistics show that pedestrians are generally at serious risk with tons of high-velocity metal vehicles moving all around them. These are things generally taken for granted (though I’m sure you can find a handful of people who actively feel trepidation as they cross the street or walk outside, but they are considered ‘paranoid’ in their reactions to these situations by society). I read an interesting article on psychologytoday.com that researched the actual statistical risk factors involved in everyday things we fear, and the results/conclusions drawn were extremely interesting. It addressed questions like why do so many people in our society who do chronically, severely detrimental things such as smoking – which ‘shortens life’ an average of 5 years – do not fear their habit but instead have an intense fear towards flying in a plane – which shorten’s life an average of 1 day. at the end of the article there’s a quiz on risk-statistics with questions such as: “Which has killed more Americans, bird flu or mad cow disease? ” Answer: no American has died from either cause.
The actual risk involved in many situations/actions… is rarely directly related to our fears regarding them.
Many of us suffer from extremely irrational fears unrelated to actual risk-factors? Sort of. It depends on one’s view. It’s possible to look at it in a way where everything is a risk. It’s been said that all we really have in this life is “time”, which we can trade for “anything we want” (often time is traded for money.) So whenever we spend our time (or energy, or attention) on something, we are risking missing out on all the opportunities of directing our time/energy/attention elsewhere. Every time someone takes a pill, prescribed or not, they are risking a severe allergic or cross-medicated reaction, and at the same time choosing not to take the pill, they risk missing out on relief from malaise or pain. Every choice we make is one of risk. Some simple choices result in some of the most absurd and improbable deaths.
A pleasantly-phrased explanation may be gleaned from this short prose on risk, from an unknown source (but I’d love to know who wrote it,) and i appreciate it.
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to others is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.But risks must be taken,
because the greatest hazard in life is to do nothing.The person who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.Chained by their attitudes, they are a slave,
they forfeited their freedom.Only the person who risks can be free
How often have we not spoken up because we might look foolish? Ever encountered a guy or girl you felt strongly like speaking with, but chose not to? Can you remember why not? How often have we chosen not to help someone or passed on an opportunity because we feared being involved, perhaps a cause or relationship required some relatively small time committment, but we were scared to give up our freedom, and so it never came to be. What was the motivation? How do we want things to go?
Since we take risks unconsciously every day, just to live and survive… I propose that the people who truly excel in life, the people who thrive, take ‘risks’ consciously.
Even writing articles like this is a risk of sorts for me. On the one hand, I am pursuing my dream, doing my own thing relatively far outside of society’s recommended paths, and with every step I am open to the possibility of falling flat on my face, and yet — almost paradoxically — at the same time I have a deep, pervading knowledge that I am doing the ‘right thing’ and failure is ‘not what lies ahead for me’. I could be ridiculed or look stupid after ‘wasting’ my energy because I did not ‘succeed’. I could be bombarded with wrath and ire from people who do not appreciate the things I am saying. I’m not concerned about these things, which brings me to the most interesting view on the concept of risk for me personally.
Nothing is a risk.
What’s that? Nothing is a risk? This is my personal view on risk. Free-climbing the grand canyon, kissing someone with a deadly communicable disease, playing in traffic 
— none of these are off limits to me because none of them are risky. To properly wrap one’s head around this, it’s important to first be at home with this concept:
Everyone (with a physical body) dies a physical death.
If we’re ok realizing that everyone dies, then we realize that any action we take will either bring us closer to death a ‘little bit’ or a ‘lot‘.1
So let’s say we believe that every action we take brings us closer to death by a measure.
The next concept to understand is:
That no one knows rationally whether death is something to be avoided.
We truly have no idea if death is some trascendent form of awesomeness or just us becoming worm-food (though our physical/bodily instincts certainly jerk us away from it as if it is,) or something else altogether.
cartoon by rex babin
I know you’re still following so we have inevitable death, and human beings not even knowing if that is ‘good’ or ‘bad.’2 and to really demonstrate just how all up in the air it is, I’d like you to be open to the concept that every action others take, or nature takes, or whatever, has the potential to bring us closer or further from our deaths by a certain measure and:
It is our own actions in combination with the actions of others/nature/life that really decides the outcome.
Except you can only choose your own actions.
So the situation is this:
1. Everyone dies.
Dying may be a desirable step, an undesirable step, or a neutrally desired step.
2. Our actions in life combined with everyone/everything else’s actions in life affect how close we are to death at any given time.
We can only choose our own actions, and cannot control any of the external actions/choices occurring in life.
People can die from just about anything, in any way and besides that, trying to avoid it is futile. Now this is a very analytical, logical, mental-process-driven look at things, and it paints a view of nothing being a risk since the outcome is already decided and seems almost infinitely out of our control. So where does that leave us?
It leaves us with a completely blank canvas of life, to live as creatively as we please with every choice, with zero fear of the consequences, since it’s all a ‘crapshoot’ anyway.
So how do we decide what to do?
The upside of viewing all this in absence of logical, rational criteria, (besides variety of experience,) is that it allows people to live life as art and beauty and creativity. We can live and choose from our hearts, and do what we _feel_ is the right thing.
Won’t that result in paralyzed confusion with no criteria in making decisions, or even complete anarchy as everyone acts wild-crazy selfish with the proposed ‘no-consequence’ mentality?
Possibly. Paralyzed confusion and/or a type of hedonistic anarchy is a possible result. I’d love to reassure you 100% that this scenario would not occur, but nope, it’s a possibility.
Humanity has evolved extremely far from its beginnings. We’ve learned so much and taken huge strides. We’ve accomplished tremendous things. Perhaps at this point we’re on the edge of a change, in which we are finally ready for the kind of creative freedom I’m talking about. Perhaps that’s why people like me are writing articles like this.
Perhaps a few people can make the jump to living-from-the-heart with risk-assessment not necessary, all the while co-existing with the more conservative/reserved people who’s lives revolve in fear/risk-factors.
…or confusion and anarchy could rein. Hey, sure it could. that’s a possibility; That’s a risk 
1Even this is not necessarily true once we transcend the concept of time or if we understand ‘pre-destined’ times of death, or how one’s thoughts affect life in tandem with the plans of god/the universe, but that’s another post altogether. Or bunch of posts.
2There are a significant number of people who label any action that appears to have the result of keeping them alive or safe from death as ‘good’, and vice-versa.
3 regarding the photo above: lorenzo! is author of a book called 25 lessons – the art of living. in it he discusses his personal experience with risk, here is an excerpt: “Just as it happens to millions of others, I began to loop around as I fulfilled the various sacraments of modern life: professional job, marriage, children, better paying corporate job, moving out of the city to suburbia. As a result, I began to take a lot less risks, I began to play it safe and in turn my soul began to shrivel, as it yearned to be on the edge, it hungered to be out there venturing into the unknown, it was eager to strike a chord.”
All Is Creative: Learn New Skills, Embrace Personal Growth.
So you’ve always wanted to learn guitar, but never took the steps. or your friends have been trying to get you into rock-climbing or yoga and you’re interested but never quite make the jump for whatever reason. or perhaps you wanna do something subtler like break through shyness of some kind or just initiate conversation with strangers more.
many of us have been there: sitting with all kinds of hopes, dreams, interests and desires, all remaining unfulfilled for whatever reason. It is important to note, that this is a choice, and it is changeable.
much of what i teach touches on child-like characteristics or behaviours we may have abandoned since childhood, and for good reason. it is true their are certain childish ways to be done away with, but it is generally not prudent to throw the ‘baby out with the bathwater’ ( unless of course the baby is being annoying and crying and stuff and the bathwater is filthy 
) — children are at home with themselves, and ready to learn just about anything they truly desire to learn. the lesson to remember here, is do not let your fears stop you from learning a ‘new’ skill.
what are some common fears? “i won’t ‘get it’ or be good enough,” “if i fail i’ll look foolish or stupid and others will make fun of me,” “this will be a waste of my time or ‘nothing’ will come of it.”
i believe my father felt this way towards public speaking some time ago, and since then he’s been a teacher, a lecturer, and he is still asked to speak in all kinds of venues and is lauded for his connected and powerful communications and teachings.
have you ever felt this way? i have. i felt this way about dancing for a long time, when it came down to it, i was afraid of looking foolish and not being good enough (had a bit of a perfectionist streak at the time.) now, some years later, i am fine with it, and simply choose not to engage in it very often. usually its on the street or in my house, and sure i could stand to learn some actual techniques like ballroom or salsa — and i will, when the time is right. when i am not putting so much energy and focus into my creativity and art and this blog. that is my main drive and desire lately, and that is really what should guide one towards learning new skills: not fears pushing you away from things, but allowing your desires to drive you past/through the fear you may feel.
i won’t ‘get it’ or be good enough:
sometimes we are naturally gifted with an innate talent for a certain skill, and sometimes the one’s that do not come easy are dismissed with phrases like the one above. thoughts like that are self-judging and essentially predicting the future.
i might fail and look foolish:
first of all, yes, you *might* fail in an endeavour, but its just as possible that you *might not.* anything could happen, a stranger could swoop in and help, an undiscovered/unknown talent could flourish, or you could end up being waaaaay better than you were when you last tried it, simply because you’ve grown and become a different person.
secondly, if you’re surrounded by people who judge someone harshly as they are in the process of learning and growing, perhaps take that as a wonderful wake up call to learn-in-front-of / associate with a different crowd…
thirdly, look at anyone who is considered ‘good’ at a certain thing, they have almost certainly failed once, and likely many times, as they practiced and developed it. awesome guitar players have generally missed fingerings more than we know. great artists tend to have tons of junk sketches, old works, and tossed away doodles. athletes almost always end up injuring themselves in pursuit of their craft.
trying will be a waste of time:
for most of my teens and early 20s, i believed that “renting was a waste of time” and that “bothering to rent was like throwing away money.”
how did i end up renting then? i just tried it.
when i made that decision, i was spending 10 hour work days in hard, physical labour at a warehouse across town. i spent 2.5 hours getting there and 2.5 hours getting back home for a total of 15 hour work days, and that’s only if work didn’t end up going late. i just barely made time for my girlfriend and family and friends at the time, which is fine but it was often by sacrificing food, sleep, or… dare i say it… showers i was prone to getting sick, i was pretty miserable, and life was telling me rather strongly that the situation had to change.
so i took some of my paycheck and rented a place closer to work. i chose to engage in the action i had previously judged as a waste of time.
not only did renting close to work relieve tons of burden from me time & travel wise, it taught me a ton of things about living on my own, gave me more self-confidence and self-reliance, and opened up cooking as an artform when i realized i was responsible for my own groceries + recipes with the resources around me. learning these valuable things has helped me realize the strong force in life i always have been, but chose not to acknowledge. a few hundred a month for rent in trade for priceless self-discovery and realization of who i really am? that deal is a no-brainer when i look back on it. during the time though i fought it tooth and nail, remaining miserable for as long as i could manage. hah
it was not necessary for me to take the route i did, there are easier ways. my desire is for others to benefit from the easier ways, heed my words, and embrace things sooner, rather than later – you may find it most certainly was anything but a waste of time.
so, am i practicing what i preach?
some people realize their full worth from the beautiful near-perfection reached from specializing in one thing, some are more jack of all trades-types. the latter are often considered ‘master of none’ but we can look to leonardo da vinci’s renaissance-man skill-set and note his high degree of competency. for myself, my range of talents are broad, growing, and i intend for that to continue throughout my life.
recently i’ve taken steps towards improving my martial arts/sparring/body awareness with my brother drew — which if i’d never tried, i’d never have realized i have a strong natural aptitude for and it feels great.
i’ve also been getting into creating DJ sets with my brother nick, combining my tremendous taste and broad library with the flare for composing and blending things into a unified work — which is an awesome art in its own right.
on the horizon i’m hoping to create my own music as well, and who knows what doors that will open.
i’m also learning tons about creativity (and i intend to help others do the same,) the web, and ‘business.’
anyone have anything to contribute? a story? a wish? a “j i hate you and your articles?”
what do you want to learn?
Read MoreHow To Get a Handle on Attention and Opportunity
Pay attention to this article… and don’t miss any opportunities along the way
Pay Attention!
It’s likely you’ve heard this admonishment at least once in your life. Most children hear it many times, though we may fail to heed the true-meaning behind it. I propose that the phrase ‘pay attention’ is wisdom of a high order, though it is often said in haste and without conscious thought.
People may tell you to pay attention to a lecture, or pay attention to their misery (or their accomplishment) or pay attention to the dangerous live-wire hanging menacingly inches above your head, and that’s all well and good, but I’m writing about paying attention to life, the universe, and everything.
Youth and Short Attention Spans.
When you were little, what got your attention? Shiny things? Magic tricks? Toys? Novelties and New Things? Other people?
Children are commonly thought to have short attention spans and thought to require training or teaching to ‘improve’ their focus. Yet they can play a single sport or stay at a single park for hours and hours on end — fully present and immersed in their environment — and neither hunger, nor adults, nor anyone can truly sway them from it until they are ready. That’s focus. That’s mastery of attention.
Perhaps children’s ‘short attention spans’ is not what is driving them, perhaps they’re simply far more open and attuned to opportunity. Kids are able to switch from activity to activity without limit or habit or neurosis or doubt. They’re ready and eager to learn something new. They’re ready to give their bodies a stretch or a break if they’ve spent too much time in one position, or maybe they shift in order to socialize with a different person. Children understand and embrace their need for a variety of stimuli to focus their attention on with no apology or doubt.
Many adults attempt to ‘stay youthful,’ many adults appreciate youthfulness in others. Many spiritual masters can seem almost child-like, and many of them have taught child-like-ness as a key to spiritual mastery.
This is because children generally have it right, and adults (like myself) have but to remember how we used to behave, and the inner-rules we used to follow before we ‘learned all of society’s bad habits’ along with it’s good. Children do not lock themselves into one task and ignore the needs of their bodies because they are worried about deadlines and not having ‘enough time’ to get things done. They’re not worried that they won’t make rent or that they need to find a mate now, otherwise it may be ‘too late to start a relationship’.
By not thinking these things, by managing their thoughts, they’re open to opportunities, and take them as they come.
There is much to be re-learned from our own childhoods, things that we’ve somehow dismissed as negative.
Multi-tasking and Focus.
We live in ‘the information age,’ and its been said that the irony is, despite all this information at our finger tips, we’re all generally ‘dumber’. The majority of people don’t actually multi-task efficiently, they are instead less-focused, less-driven, and spend less time on any given single task. People are being born into a world that pressures them to dilute their attention with a million distractions.
"[The symptoms of this are] when people find that they’re not working to their full potential; when they know that they could be producing more but in fact they’re producing less; when they know they’re smarter than their output demonstrates; when they start answering questions in ways that are more superficial, more hurried than they usually would; when their reservoir of new ideas starts to run dry; when they find themselves working ever-longer hours and sleeping less, exercising less, spending free time with friends less and in general putting in more hours but getting less production overall." – Dr. Edward Hallowell.
The internet is an extremely powerful information tool, but if we allow it to become twisted into what we believe productivity is, rather than seeing it as a tool to help us be more productive in ways we might not have been, it could be considered a problem. It’s quite easy to get distracted if one doesn’t pay attention.
For example, I’m a pretty good chef (if I do say so myself,) and cooking feels a lot like art to me, but I have degraded the quality of many dishes I’ve prepared by getting too involved with my computer while it cooked (burned). I’ve also degraded the output of my creative production and blog, while stopping to cook food (though some might claim this to be a necessity 
)
Often multi-tasking spreads our focus too thin and we’re not present or aware of enough to recognize opportunities as they unfold. I’d like to note though that through mastery over one’s thoughts and attention, a form of ‘multi-tasking’ is definitely an option. I’m not hating on it altogether and I feel pretty comfortable with it in my life.
Okay so we’ve discussed attention…
What Exactly is an ‘Opportunity?’
This is where the subject becomes a little trickier, as its personal for everyone. I’ll start with an example from my life, as I’m sometimes inclined to do: This weekend, I was pretty wrapped up in setting up an online store for SpiritSentient.com (now temporarily offline) and I’d committed a year ago to my cousin Gerry’s yearly labour day bash. Although many people wanted me to go, I seriously considered staying home to focus my attention on work, and hopefully start getting sales through the store, as money had appeared to be tight in my life at the time. Despite appearances, I know about opportunities, abundance, and attention, and In the end, I decided to take a break, spend time with family and friends, and get outdoors.
In doing this, I had the opportunity to show my art to tons of people who’d never seen it, and I benefitted from very strong interest in it. I was also able to brighten a child’s life by giving her a canvas print as a gift. After doing so, her father (my uncle,) proposed a commissioned work, so it turns out I may have gotten more money going to this labour day party than I would’ve shut up in my house working on my computer, which I sorely needed a break from anyway. So I got my break, some fun, exposure for my art, and a possible commission all because I took the opportunity to spend time with my family and friends.
It’s still very personal though, for another person, the reverse case might apply… it might go something like: they were invited to a party, but decided to buckle down and get some work done instead, just in time to impress or acquire some new customers or an important referral, and I cannot say for certain which direction anyone should go. Either way, each individual has feelings about their choices, and each of us knows what opportunity to take, they key is remaining open to them. The timing on taking opportunities tend to be guided by ‘gut-feeling’ or ‘instinct’ and the proof is generally in the pudding. An opportunity taken with proper timing generates impressive results (feelings).
How is this all tied in to creativity?
There are benefits from being creative that are sometimes tricky to instantly and physically measure, but it can be far more valuable than many people imagine. One of them is the sense of fulfillment you can get from accessing and acknowledging your own creative ideas. Coming up with something ‘good’ or ‘new’ in your life can make one feel alive and vibrant, passionate and driven, and can start a large cycle of passionate and inspired action that is far superior to seeking money or fretting about keeping it. These ‘strokes of genius’ tend to occur when we snatch an opportunity life places in front of us. Those opportunities are often one’s ‘next-level’ in disguise, requiring us to take a step (‘small’ or ‘large’) to uncover it.
I have missed many opportunities in the past. I’m not regretful about this, it’s just a fact. I often got so caught up in the rules, what I should be doing, and how things looked to others, that I missed opportunities going on all around me. It’s fine, and it can happen I made a choice to listen my feelings, whatever reality seems to be telling me, and to not to miss them any more. On top of that there’s always more opportunities around the corner waiting for us to accept them, and that’s the most beautiful part of it all. So take stock, open your senses to all the opportunities life presents.
Interestingly, I was not inspired to write an article when i went to sleep last night, I was focused on my online store, but when I woke up and found I could not access SpiritSentient.com and I was unable to continue work.
This could’ve been viewed like a huge problem, but trusted my feelings, and I chose to look at it as an opportunity to focus on something else, such as writing articles, so that’s what I did. As I was writing, an old employer and great friend of mine (John) stopped by to visit. We went for coffee and got to talking and we ended up deciding to try selling my art at his organic honey stand: art to attract people off the street, and honey to sweeten the deal, as it were An opportunity presented itself in the middle of my writing a blog on opportunity, I like it.
How Can I Recognize Opportunity?
I briefly touched on ‘gut-feeling’ and listening to your body to know when opportunity is near, and this is a very effective method of discernment. If you get those butterflies in your stomach pushing toward one thing or another, it’s can be taken as a sign. Nature gives many methods, tools, and techniques to guide all living things towards healthy actions for them. If you find it easier to pay attention to your mind than your body, perhaps you can notice your mind trying to talk you out of/into something with judgements such as “oh this is a bad activity, nothing good can come of it” or “you’re better than this, don’t waste your time with it” — those types of thoughts are pretty strong judgments and are usually quick to steer us away from opportunities which often have incredibly positive reprecussions for us. Either way, it’s up to each of us to pay proper attention to our bodies and minds and hearts and the signals that they send.
Another very good sign that life is presenting you with a ‘chance’ is when it repeatedly brings you a specific opportunity. For example, more and more lately, I’ve had women encouraging me to dance, and I very often turn down these invitations. It’s not that I cannot dance, or that I’m afraid I won’t be good (I’m actually pretty decent: behold, a chef and a dancer is I –) I just generally am not feeling that into it. Some people prefer not to workout or not to play ball, getting their activity a different way, similarly I prefer to keep my dancing to a minimum. The flipside of this though, is that I am well aware that there could be powerful opportunities hidden in the experience, and so I make sure I am consciously open to them and not just dismissing them out of hand. As it stands I did take one of the invitees up on it, briefly, and it felt great
The concepts I’ve discussed here may seem a bit foreign, or abstract, or unbelievable but I encourage you to remain open, aware, and attentive to the opportunities that life presents…
You may be very pleasantly surprised at just how effective that “extra” bit of attention can be.
Read More
"For the first time, I can honestly say I am truly living. Thank you Jay for empowering me to live the life I have imagined." - Tori Mongrain, Artist
"Jason, an hour with you is easily worth $700.00, thank you. I asked everything and you answered me brilliantly." - Arthur Hung, Dancer
"Being around [Jason] is being around happiness and goodness, and everyone would do well to be where he's going." - Kheiran Khan, Gamer
"Jason is truly a visionary. He is what I would call a 'Master Motivator'." - Darryl Cole, Real Estate Agent
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