#ArtsyNotes - Day 3

What occurs in our minds while we are sleeping is a subject where new discoveries are occurring faster than one would imagine. We understand the basis that sleep allows us to regenerate and to grow. A large piece of the puzzle was finding out what type of activity occurs with our mind while our bodies are in this slumber. I began reading “The Science of Sleep: Dreaming, Depression, and How REM Sleep Regulates Negative Emotions” by Maria Popova because this topic has always fascinated me. I’m also interested in understanding negatives in life because like that cliché saying “Light cannot exist without darkness” and I feel it’s better to understand the darkness and what its cause is for each of us individually. Simply put, I’m a fan of process and understanding one’s process.

Turns out, our dreams aid in the creation of our processes. Towards the latter end of the article, Popova references Rosalind D. Cartwrights writing “ The Twenty-four Hour Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives” which discusses how dreaming is a part of our cycle in forming habits, both intellectually and physically. Each time we take action, it creates an experience which in turn creates a memory. Experiences continue to happen forming new memories which we then dream about. We sort the information while sleeping and rank it according to what we should remember and what can be placed on the back burner. As we sort the information, we create new memories while dreaming about our experiences. Ultimately, a pattern occurs where how we think determines how we act which directs what our dreams will be. The feeling of the mind never “shutting off” is quite real and a very accurate statement at that.

The more patterns I discover the happier I am because I believe that everything is interconnected to some level. Cause and effect. Action and reaction. I always knew that dreaming was the brain’s rating system but did not fully come to appreciate how it is a part of our habit building process. The influence of thinking positively and being mindful in your speech and actions holds even more validity when it is reinforced not only while awake and fully conscious in the experience but also while you are asleep! Ah, patterns and process, these are a few of my favorite things.

#ArtsyNotes - Day 2

I’ve recently been striving to find that perfect balance of accomplishing my professional, emotional, and personal goals, all while maintaining a level of stability and calm persona. While trying to keep everything on track I found it was easier than it should be to find myself being distracted or not putting in 100% of my effort. I would sprinkle my all here and there but was not fully committing myself to everything at all times. It is understood that being completely attentive to each issue that presents itself in life won’t always happen; we’re human and mistakes occur.

All in all, what I want to accomplish in each aspect of my life is comprised of a simpler path than I have imagined. As Charles Bukowski once said, “My ambition is handicapped by laziness.” Now, this is not to say that I am a lazy person rather, that in the past few months life has just been so life-y and I have let it begin to get the best of me. Pointing to yesterday’s post, one of the Seven Deadly Sins of Speaking that I was applying to my thoughts was excuses. Projects and attendance at events were delayed because it was “not the right time.” But that’s just a whole lot of nonsense. It is very much a realistic idea to accomplish all I set out to do and my boyfriend has been that voice of support in reminding me that it all comes down to discipline. It’s as simple as that and I could not agree more with him. By continually pushing yourself and taking control of all situations you will reach your full potential. We create these roadblocks for ourselves that are completely unnecessary. My Grandmother said to me the other night that, “Being alone with your mind in the dark is one of the most dangerous things.” We can too easily bring doubt and negativity where it does not belong.

Everyday I remind myself to be conscious of my actions but most importantly what will result from them. Will my actions bring negativity or positivity to my life? Taking the easy route in my experience has generally brought nothing but plateaus that have yet to be conquered. Everything is a learning experience and it’s best to not feel blue when things do not go the way we intend. Instead, learn from the actions and results to create a path which leads to the desired outcome. Control your actions and thoughts for your own betterment, no one else will do this for you.

I chose to employ a pointilist style for the lettering of this piece because deep down inside I just love a good pun. It took a decent amount of time for what is being considered a “quick sketch” because each letter was formed by placing a dot one at a time to create the outline. This is a technique which I greatly enjoy producing and experimenting with - next time I’ll be mindful to maybe not use this style for a project right after an upper body intensive yoga class. Or perhaps therein lies the challenge!

#ArtsyNotes - Day 1

I love TED talks, not only for their information and enjoyable anecdotes, but for simply having spoken word playing while I am working on design projects. It has a pleasant effect and allows me to tune out to either take a break from a creative roadblock or to design without overthinking. Today I listened to Julian Treasure’s excerpt, “How to speak so that people want to listen.” In his brief monologue, he outlines how attitude, sound, and meaning all affect the degree to which others listen to us while speaking. The main section that really stood out to me was what he called the, “Seven Deadly Sins of Speaking” which are as follows:

• Gossip

• Judging

• Negativity

• Complaining

• Excuses

• Lying

• Dogmatism

All of these have their own forces to deter others from wanting and/or having the capabilities to listen to us carefully and attentively. Ultimately, this leads to inhibiting our own personal growth as well as cultivating meaningful relationships and developing a strong community. Spoken word is a staple of civilization and if it is not respected or paid attention to, we all lose. He ended the speech with one of the best portrayals of empathy I have ever heard:

“...what would the world be like if we were creating sound consciously and consuming sound consciously and designing all our environments consciously for sound? That would be a world that does sound beautiful, and one where understanding would be the norm, and that is an idea worth spreading.”

Paying attention to how we speak, what we are saying, and the context in which we are expressing ourselves is one of the most beneficial things a person can do. Today, challenge yourself to not give into any of the Seven Deadly Sins of Speaking and instead begin to pay attention to what you say and how you are saying it.