Shaping Your Environment

As I shared last Saturday, I recently moved back to Fullerton to live with my family.  There were a lot of reasons to do so, saving money being a BIG one. But the biggest factor, and one I would have solely based my decision on, was the fact that I was not comfortable in my own home.  There were a lot of contributing factors. Some tension with my roommate. The limited space. No parking lol.  An underlying influence from the onset of my stay was my mindset that this would be a temporary arrangement.  Initially, when I found the posting, I was pretty desperate to find a place close to work as my commute became unbearable. I needed to drive out almost every day of the week on top of evening gigs on the west side.  When I started conversations with my then potential roommate, I told him my situation and asked if he’d be open to a shorter term, and he was open to it.  After bringing the landlord into the conversation, it quickly turned into me signing a 12-month lease.  Even with the extended time, I still felt like this was a temporary solution, so I never really settled in.  I didn’t try to occupy any of the living room space.  I didn’t decorate my room. I didn’t have a desk where I could work.  It was really just a place to sleep and meal prep.  

Two and a half years later, I found myself in an uncomfortable situation.  Communication with my roommate became awkward.  I was constantly tense and agitated at home.  I was beginning to feel the effects of living in a small, overcrowded room. But long story short, a bunch of things lined up, and I was able to move out this past month, and the difference is night and day.  This time, I did the opposite. I put a lot of thought and intention into my room.  I created space for me to work.  I am now living in a much larger home with room to spread out.  Now, I feel like I’ve already found my peace again. I’ve been more inspired to create at home in the past month than the two and a half years there (which was truthfully not once). 

This roundtrip journey I’ve had back to Fullerton has had me thinking a lot about our environment and how deeply it can impact our creativity.   In Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act, he shares the concept of a Source from which all creativity is derived.  He then spends the early chapters guiding people in how to tune into that Source and the most crucial skill in this effort being awareness.  So often, we miss cues from The Source simply because we are unaware.  We aren’t paying attention.  I look back on my time at my old apartment and wonder what cues I missed because I wasn’t paying attention?  How often did I let the tension with my roommate distract me from something I was meant to see or hear?  With the fruitfulness of this past month I feel like it must have been a lot.

Our environment plays a huge role in our ability to tap into the Source and create.  Though I know not everyone has family close by that they can move back in with, the principle remains true, so we, as creators, must fight for an environment that allows us to tune in.  My mistake was not establishing that as a need early on.  There was certainly potential for me to be able to have more of a space to create, but because my mindset was on the short term, I didn’t set my roots down.  Maybe if I had identified this early, I would have approached conversations with my roommate differently? Who knows? But now that I’m past that season, I have been focused on maintaining this peace and keeping my home a place that invites me to create.

Here are a few areas I’ll be focusing on that I hope will help you, too:

Cleanliness

“A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind.  And an empty desk…. Is an empty mind” – The Office.  

All jokes aside, maintaining a clean environment is really just setting yourself up for success.  You don’t necessarily NEED it, especially when the creativity is flowing, but having a tidy workplace is certainly more inviting than a messy one and thats the key: setting yourself up for success vs hoping that you’ll stumble into something.

Mise en Place

Mise en place is a French culinary phrase I picked up at my time working for Chipotle.  It means “putting in place” or as we said it “everything in its place” which was the idea of gathering all of the necessary ingredients and tools you needed to complete the task at hand.  You would then organize it to be easily accessible and thus eliminating any wasted time going back and forth searching for things.  In the creative process, the disruption of having to pause to search for something you need can break your flow.  So take the time to set up your space with all of your needed tools at hand.  I like to go into a creative time with a goal in mind and then gather the music gear I think I’ll need to accomplish it.  We won’t always be perfect at this be we sure do set ourselves up better with a little more intention from the top.

All of my favorite things

I (maybe) for the first time ever actually decorated my room.  It has always been more of a practical place for me whether for rest or work but I’ve realized how much crafting the look and feel of a space can impact your creativity.  I placed artwork on the walls of my favorite films, video games, and music artists. I have a bunch of knick knacks that I’ve collected over the years that I’ve placed on shelves. I put together an inspiration board with words and photos and more artwork that draws my attention.  All of these things feel like they are feeding into me as I create. Try and do the same and see if you feel the same.

Relationship

“Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9)

As it is with most people living in LA we typically live with someone whether a roommate or family.  Even if you live alone you may have neighbors that are in close proximity.  These relationships can make or break your experience and so it is very important to foster healthy connections with these people.  I’m sure this has already sparked someone in your mind if you are experiencing the same kind of tension I was.  It is very much a weight that we carry that doesn’t just go away with time.  While I don’t have all the answers to building relationships I know for certain that we must become masters of it not just for the sake of creativity but as a responsibility as sons and daughters of God. Pray into how you can build these relationships even the ones where you feel attacked or hurt by and see how it begins to shift your ability to connect with God.

New environments

Especially for those whose options are limited at home but even for those who have a great home space, changing our environment can inspire us in different ways.  Go to a park. Go to the library or a coffee shop.  Find a nice bench to sit at.  Work from a friend’s place.  Different environments are well… they’re different. So naturally they provide a different experience with different opportunities to tune into the source.  You’d be amazed at how God will take advantage of the environment around us to speak new ideas to us.  So change it up!

Paying Attention

The Source is always looking for ways to speak to us.  You never know when or how it will choose to do so which is why it is so important to always be listening.  It could be through a movie or new song, maybe a random conversation you overhear, maybe it’s a sensation or feeling, maybe it’s from a line in a TV show that you’ve heard a million times but just now speaks to you in a different way.  The possibilities are endless.  I have heard my washer and dryer run a million times but it was only this month that it spoke to me and became the premise for the song I’m working on.  Especially when you are stuck on something, take a moment and observe the environment around you.  See if anything catches your eye or if you hear or maybe even smell something.  Listen for the inclination of The Source and you may find a new thread to follow in even the simplest of things.