Learning to Walk Again

A song has really been staying in my head a lot lately – go figure! Anyway, it’s a track called “Learning to Walk Again” by Foo Fighters.

Seems like such a simple concept, but isn’t “reinvention” what design, creativity and life are ultimately all about?

First we learn, and then we start ‘moving’ and applying our learning. Some of that involves successes – we run, and some of that involves failures – we fall. We’re hopefully always in some kind of motion. Walking is a nice analogy for life, and certainly not a new one.

The grand, larger sweeps of our actions involve so many smaller swells, rising actions, and dives in under our heads – apparently now I have turned my metaphor into a swim! Regardless, being able to get a sense of the bigger picture always keeps you headed towards the prize – the goal that may change over time. Time is what helps mold us.

Staying present, but being willing to try things, succeed, fail, learn, grow… and grow older in the process.

I recently started drumming again… after some time away. It’s not like I ever actually forgot how to play, but the rediscovery came for me, as it was the same – but different. Now with electronic drums, and the access to hundreds of new sounds, it definitely feels like rediscovery. In my sentimental mind, I see myself playing in the garage when I was a teenager again – it’s that feeling that I’m talking about. It’s the equivalent of feeling like a kid again. All the training and experience in the world can be good, but to reconnect with the cursiosity and excitement is refreshing. How easy it is to forget as we get older.

I feel like I have the new opportunity to try things. It’s a beautiful thing when we can all take a step back to do something like that.

Creativity happens while we’re “failing often to succeed sooner,” and with little attachment to each little outcome, perhaps we can get towards our grander outcomes…

Even before Nirvana disbanded, Dave Grohl was busy considering new musical ventures. As if Nirvana wasn't enough: here's a great drummer... moving towards becoming a singer, songwriter and guitarist. Now there's a move I can relate to! I love it... it's inspirational, because he kept trying things.

Take a few words from Dave Grohl and the Foos:

“Learning to walk again… I believe I've waited long enough

Where do I begin?

Learning to talk again… Can't you see I've waited long enough

Where do I begin?”

Thanks Dave!

m

Learning: The Wherewithal to Change

I was just re-reading a little Csikszentmihalyi (say that ten times fast) and some of his writings on creativity.

“Television is a fantastic tool for increasing the range of what we can experience, but it can make us addicted to redundant information that appeals to the lowest common denominator of human interests.”

And it doesn’t end there: you could substitute so many other ‘things’ in place of the word television. What about ‘social networking,’ or something even more specific, like ‘Facebook?’

It doesn’t matter really, because that’s really not the point. The point is that all new innovations can have a dark side. That’s not to dismiss them as completely ‘bad’ or negative, but the ‘lowest common denominator’ is closer then you might realize. Heck, I love to stop thinking, and turn on the TV, or Netflix, or… well, you get the picture. We ALL need a dark side. hehehe…

Sometimes it seems like the very challenges we set out to solve 5-10 years ago only introduce new ones today. Kinda like overpopulation—perhaps at least partially brought about by medical advances and longer life spans.

Hence the reason that we need two things: awareness and creativity.

Awareness to see what’s happening around us…

And creativity to have the wherewithal to (at least try) to change it.

As someone that has spent a great deal of my life learning, and developing learning for others, I am realizing more and more everyday, how learning is a constant, looping, systemic process. Looping, because it involves action-reflection and passion-objective types of responses, systemic because it’s dynamically responding to every piece or variable of the puzzle…

It’s more complex than a straight line.

Cycles repeat, and loops boggle our brains, but refusal to allow our brains to go numb is perhaps the key to learning. Being pliable and flexible to allow for change as we dynamically respond to the fluctuations of life—now that’s exciting.

I love TV, the movies, Facebook, the web, my iPhone, my Windows Phone, and so on… But I sometimes catch myself growing a bit numb from the repetition of certain kinds of information—it’s just not healthy.

Whether it’s my brain, or exercise and my body, or numerous other examples I could mention, this brings me back to previous discussions on the need to ‘mix it up.’

Constantly being able to shift between action and reflection is a healthy and great example of ‘mixing it up.’ Maybe I’ll talk about it next time, but I’ll conclude this thought by saying life will always be about opposites, extremes, fluctuations, and the ability to keep adjusting to new situations.

Try not to let any single thing get you to used to the ‘lowest common denominator.’

What are your most luring situations or patterns in your typical day?