THINK about it...

How much time do you spend THINKING about your life?

It's funny with humans, right? None of us know what the other is thinking. I often find myself wondering if YOU spend as much time thinking about your life and work as I spend thinking about mine. Naturally, I assume you're DON'T, which makes me feel like a wastrel who should be working more and thinking less.

However...

If you don't stop to THINK about what to do, how is it that you decide to do what you end up doing? Or are you on auto-pilot?

Recently, in meetings with people, dealing with life, just day-to-day-ing it, I've found myself wondering if they've stopped to actively *consider* the track they're on. It's amazing to me how, if you don't really work at it, your life tends to just curve wherever it wants to curve. This is especially problematic when you're in a relationship with someone. There you are, living your lives, not really thinking (or talking) about 'em, just doing what you do each day and, a few years in, you find yourselves drifting apart.

"How did this happen?" you ask.

I'm not *sure* of the answer but I have a sneaking suspicion that a) you didn't spend much time thinking about why you're here and what you're supposed to be doing with your time and b) as a result, you didn't really *talk* to your partner, didn't really actively 'dream' with them (which is just speculative thinking) and, therefore, it's no wonder that you're finding yourself ending up with not much in common.

First, take a moment or two each day to stop and think.

Second, take a moment or two later in that same day to talk it over with the love of your life.

You'll be the better for it.

T

Pep talk...

Great light last night on the train ride home from downtown. I ended up taking a few pictures. The one above got a question online which I figured I'd answer here.

The caption I wrote to go with the above shot ran something like, "I imagine you're not in a hurry to live here so, the question is, what are you doing about it?"

The comment I got wondered 'who' I was writing that caption for.

Me.

And maybe you.

See, the thought behind the caption is, I don't think many people start out in life thinking "You know what, when I grow up what I really want, is to live in the projects by the train tracks..." Yet, there they were (the projects, with people living in them) flashing past as my train roared by.

Who are those people? How did they end up there? What could they have changed in their life, thoughts, and actions, to maybe re-route their destiny so that it didn't make a stop in the projects?

Now, keep in mind, I have a good friend who has spent much of her working life engaged in helping homeless men in downtown Toronto. I'll never forget her searing comment to me one time that many of those men didn't have the same choices I had (the choices I assume can be anyones for the taking at any time) because they weren't *raised* in a way that gave them the means to even think in terms of choice, work-ethic, and hustle, like I have been raised/trained to think.

(I still haven't fully come to terms with her comment, many years later)

Certainly, I take her point and recognize that she's an expert in that area, whereas I'm a 'neo-yuppie' on the train headed back to my 'mansion' (when you compare it to the alternative) in the suburbs, from a day mastering the teaser trailer for my latest feature-length project at one of the city's swankiest post-houses. Who am *I* to comment on (or comment in such a way that it can be misconstrued as ridicule) the plight of people stuck in the projects?

Well, here we get to the heart of it.

I'm a believer.

In Jesus.

And the story of Jesus is a story of redemption.

And, see, if the story of Jesus is a 'true' story then that means, given my theological leanings, that there's really no such thing as a life so impossibly dark that new life can't spring froth from within it--or put in the language of the original concept--everyone can move out of the projects if they *choose* to move out of the projects.

"But they don't have a choice..." I hear her saying.

Really? They *really* don't have a choice? I'm not saying I *know* that they do, but I am saying that I believe it's possible that they can.

I mean, if I just decided to let the weight of life, of sorrow, of disappointment, of wrong choices (made by me and by those who've done things to me) crush me to the point that I stopped 'trying' it's very likely that I could end up living by those tracks.

So, I see those projects, backlit by the fading light of the evening sun, and first, I think to myself "Wow, great shot!" then I think to myself "Gee, you know, I'm two or three steps from living there, and I really don't want to live there and, come to think of it, I bet nobody wants to live there..."

So I take a picture, and post a caption asking myself (and maybe you) what you're doing about it...

T

Dream making...

You just gotta' keep putting belief into action.

I have to constantly remind myself to keep taking stock. See, in the midst of things, I tend to get a little 'down', feeling like my life is going nowhere and that I'm accomplishing nothing. It helps, when I'm in that place, to remind myself of the tangible evidences I'm in possession of that *prove* that we're making progress.

I have a real tendency to hold up one or two or three key 'goals' as *the* measuring sticks by which I'll decide whether my life is on track or not. Naturally, being in show-business, said milestones are fairly significant, which greatly increases the difficulty with which they will be attained.

The bigger the dream, the harder it is to 'make' it come true.

So, today, when I sat down to color correct the trailer for our next feature-length project I had a moment where I was reminded that this is a fairly big deal, that to even 'have' a 'second' feature-length project is something I would have given my left (you know what) for ten years ago. Yet, here I am, in the day-to-day of my life, and I feel stressed rather than thankful, dissatisfied with our progress rather than grateful.

That little title on screen today reminded me to repent and do the first works, reminded me to rediscover the wonder of youth. Reminded me to be thankful and to keep doing my part to help 'make' my/our dreams come true.

T

Effectively speaking...

Okay, here's the question.

Are you 'broadcasting to no-one'?

I was walking to my car, after a quick supermarket visit, and noticed music playing. "Strange" I thought, "Why would there be music out here? I wonder where it's coming from?"

I looked around.

There.

Megaphones. On the side of the building, facing an empty parking lot.

Broadcasting to no-one.

I immediately pulled out my phone and snapped the above shot, because it had occurred to me that I (and you) might be wasting parts of my/our life/lives, and work, broadcasting to no-one. Specifically, I got to wondering about the effort we expend in our lives and how much of that effort is focused in areas that will not yield much of a result.

The reason to consider this, is because your resources are finite. This is part of what it means to be 'human'. There's just not *that* much of you to go around. So, the effort you expend, because it's limited, better be expended effectively, no?

Am I broadcasting to no-one?

Are you?

How can I be more effective as a writer/producer/director? How can I be more effective as a preacher/pastor?

How can you be more effective in what you do?

Where should I be putting my focus, and where should you be putting yours?

T

Back to life...

Nice little 'happy accident' on my windshield yesterday.

The 'Tree of Life' decided to pay me a visit.

Yes, it's actually SALT that had trickled down the windshield, which I shot, flipped, and tweaked a bit to yield the above tree.

A reminder to me to keep my eyes open, 'cause you never know when hope's gonna' show up.

Keep your eyes open.

Having a hard time with that lately? Yeah, me too.

This new year, the wife and I have a lot of work to do. We're approaching (gasp) middle age and are feeling some pressure to be sure we're spending our life the way we ought to be spending it. So, I think, we're going to intentionally go on a few 'dates' in the next couple months where we'll just talk about life, what we're doing, what we think we're supposed to be doing, and what potential changes we need to consider making to align the two. One thing we've learned in 15 years together is that, if you don't talk about things, then make adjustments based on your talking, you don't end up living the life you've always wanted, you end up living the life you end up living.

So, two things for you today good friend.

1) Keep your eyes open.

2) Make sure you talk about what you see and make the right adjustments based on it.

Life (in my opinion) 'aint worth much if it's just lived 'as-is'.

Just sayin'...

T