The Little Relationships in Life

“Creativity” is a difficult word to define but one definition I like is actually pretty simple: “Creativity is a wild mind with a disciplined eye.” What that means is that you have the ability to put lots of different ideas and information into your mind. You read a book, you go to a play, you watch the colors of a sunset and have a conversation with a friend. And then you have the discipline to see the relationship between all of the different ideas in a new way. You link a cow to a chicken to a campaign about a restaurant. You link ancient mythology to a running sneaker and a swoosh and a tagline of “Just Do It.”

You find the relationship between previously unrelated things.

I think that’s one of our biggest challenges when it comes to making and keeping resolutions. It’s the middle of January, the fun and ease of keeping the hopes we started the year with have faded a little. We’ll have to grind it out from here on out. And as we face that season, I think we can benefit from simply seeing the connections between two things.

That’s not encouraged often in society right now. We like to point the finger, to “blamestorm” if you will. But there’s powerful truth in seeing the cause and effect of life, in understanding the consequences of our actions.

I realized one at work a few months ago. I like donuts. That does not make me very unique, donuts are very likable pastries. But one morning at about 10, after a breakfast of donuts, I noticed a sudden wave of exhaustion. I had slept enough. I was actively exercising most days. Every other aspect of my life was monitored and measured, so why his sudden sleepiness? I missed it at first, because it was small. But after some careful consideration, I found the culprit.

The donuts.

I was reacting to the downside of a sugar rush. Sweets had temporarily energized me that morning, a brief but real burst of sugar driven energy was now disappearing. And on it’s heels came what felt like unexpected sleepiness. But it wasn’t unexpected. I had simply missed the relationship between my breakfast and my energy levels.

I didn’t swear off donuts that morning, but I did learn a lesson. Even something small, like a glazed donut can have a consequence.

And I don’t want to miss the relationships that exist in my day, even the tiny ones.

This post is categorized Live and tagged Tuesday Resolutions