Intention

Most creatives today are multi-disciplined.

We are thinkers, writers, composers, arrangers, engineers, editors, performers, presenters, designers and on and on.

But the artist is a specific role.

The artist primarily brings an intention to the table.

And without an intention, every sound, scene, smell, taste, touch is arbitrary.

If you have many creative skills but you haven’t hit your stride as an artist..

It’s possible you’ve learned a skill without having decided what to say through it yet.

Check in

The detrimental effects of social isolation, both spiritually and physically, are now indisputable.

Numerous systematic reviews have shown an alarming increase in morbidity and mortality from isolation, with one study comparing its life-shortening impact to that of smoking 15 cigarettes daily.

While it’s challenging to engage with others during our most vulnerable moments, these studies emphasize the crucial role human contact plays in our well-being and recovery.

If you ever find yourself overwhelmed by loneliness, always remember: you’re not alone.

Please check in on your loved ones.

News

I’m finally catching up on enlightening history books like ‘Sapiens’ and ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’.

When the timeline of events is expanded to 15,000 years +, perspective on what really matters shifts dramatically.

Contrast this with the constant churn of daily news, which is forced to magnify the transient and mundane, right now, always.

And when we stuff our cognitive bandwidth with incessant noise, it’s no surprise we have no time nor space for clear thinking.

A measure of news worth knowing is when we repeatedly hear it from others first.

Otherwise, it’s probably better if we just switched it off.

Nationality

Today I unexpectedly teared up as I finally gave up my Japanese nationality.

This is because I’ve naturalised as a British citizen, and Japan does not allow for dual citizenship.

I think of the nursery rhymes, the hours spent learning to read, write and speak Japanese which feels like a thing of the past.

But identity transcends borders and documents, and I will always be Japanese by heritage and upbringing.

Nationality is but a narrow spectrum of our identity. A mere sociological construct that is becoming increasingly fluid in meaning.

Our identity is an amalgamation of everything that we’ve lived in our life time.

Gem

When we release a special record that flies under the radar, we produced a gem.

That special, understated and brilliant gem begging to be discovered.

The kind that tastemakers lose their mind over, the rare groove that’s yearned for.

And while it may not shine in the lime light today, it becomes your legacy that future generations will stumble upon and cherish.

The peak of a gem is never around the immediate reception.

Keep going.

Fist bump

Today I looked after a friendly crack head.

He was discovered in his hostel room, skin tinged blue, short of breath and brought in by paramedics.

I saw him shortly after his last hit, uttering incoherent rubbish. I initially had to walk away because of challenging behaviour.

Eventually he came down - surprisingly pleasantly - preoccupying himself with a scratch card and general banter with neighbouring patients.

Concerned he maybe overbearing to the other patients, I walked over when he raised his hand and said “Sorry for being a twat earlier, I wasn’t my self doc“.

Then he looked at me sincerely, poised for a fist bump, and I bumped his fist.

Plastic

Here’s the thing about over polished ideas.

They start to resemble someone who’s had excessive cosmetic surgery.

With shallow ideas over quantised, auto tuned and aggressively EQ’d we’d hope a meaning could be engineered into it.

But true meaning is never engineered into a track, it emerges first from a carefully crafted intention.

When we focus solely on surface-level enhancements, we miss the heart of creation.

Like plastic, superficial charm loses its allure fast.

Self Love

Love for ourself is not the same as arrogant, narcissistic inflated self worth.

Self love is the ability to accept ourselves as a human in progress.

When narcissists see themselves they do not see love.

They see someone unworthy of love.

And so they polish them selves in unhealthy ways so others validate them for them.

But when we practice self love, in the way a loving parent loves their child, we encourage ourselves to become better with grace.

And there is a comforting confidence in those who show up without being shackled to the need for external validation.

Quit

I’m having a particularly tough day today. I am not in the mood to write.

And relying on motivation is a difficult way to maintain practice.

Because it doesn’t matter who we are, our motivation to continue a practice will wane.

Seth Godin teaches us in “The Dip” if we’re going to start anything worthwhile, we should decide beforehand under which circumstances we’d quit.

This way, when the going gets tough (it will), what is being challenged is not our will power, but our principle.

I told my self I’d write each day unless I physically couldn’t do so. And so here I am.

Begrudgingly yours.

Great story

Few things to remember when you fuck up.

1. You’ll be okay. It won’t feel like it in the moment, but you will be okay.

2. When you’re eventually okay, you’ll have something to talk about.

3. The greater the fuck up, the greater the story.

Keep going.

Frame

The boundaries of my daily posts are:

1. Observations on emotions

2. Targeted towards fellow artists

3. Contained within a phone screen

4. Published daily.

These save me from making unnecessary decisions like - should I write today? How should I deliver it? Who should it concern?

By defining these boundaries, my energy is spent thinking about the main idea, rather than wavering on the basic format.

If you seek a cohesive body of work, set some thoughtful limitations then execute it.

Your limitations paradoxically become a frame for your ideas to thrive in.

Introversion

I feel my personality has done a 180 since my teenage years.

Or maybe I was just trying to be someone I wasn’t.

I grew up in a culture that believed extraversion was unquestionably the better personality trait.

So I spent much of my life convincing myself I could be extraverted.

And this has cost me a lot of happiness.

Being extraverted is neither better nor worse than introversion, and both shine for different reasons.

You have every reason to love how you are.

Eureka

Style isn’t something we plan.

It emerges out of the chaos of creativity.

And those who tirelessly show up, endlessly experiment and embrace unfamiliar approaches all know a particular moment.

That moment when the muse strikes us in a moment of thundering clarity, and we say:

This it.

This is me.

Materialism

Materialism in the west is an easy measure of success to understand. More = better.

But what is harder to measure in a materialistic paradigm, is the value that we offer on a deeper human level.

The ability to listen, care and connect with one another.

Perhaps this wouldn’t be an issue if material wealth correlated with happiness to infinity.

But Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Kahneman shows, our happiness only correlates with wealth up to a certain point. (Around $70,000/year).

Excess wealth brings with it a proportionate amounts of pain to its luxuries.

More money, more problems.

Bento

“Oh isn’t this adorable”

I can still recall the day my primary school teacher showcased my little bento box to the entire class.

My mum had got up early to craft my first ever lunch box. She filled it with seaweed wrapped rice balls.

And as I opened my bento box, a panic set in. No one else had rice balls, everyone had square, peanut butter jelly sandwiches.

Then feeling like curling up and dying as my teacher made a song and dance of it.

Ironically today, a bento box at work would get a little ‘ohhh’ and an ‘ahhh’.

And the things that once made us feel out of place often ends up becoming our unique charm.

Gratification

A rule of thumb that’s helping me know if my time is well spent.

The more effortless a pleasure, the more addictive and less constructive.

Screens, junk food, drink/drugs, griping, gambling, mindless shopping.

But the more effortful, the more likely it is to build something meaningful later.

Exercise, developing skill, making time for family/friends, solving problems..

And i’ll be the first to admit when I’m not conscious of my actions, my lizard brain will revert straight back to easy pleasure.

And that gratification is less gratifying when it becomes the default option.

Rest

Sometimes, it’s what you need.

Same in and within music.

Dream

Dreaming is a skill.

Reaching inwards and asking what you’d like to leave behind takes practice.

With every new milestone, achievement, asset, system in place the terms of how we dream change.

And to keep evolving our dream without stagnation takes practice.

With every new chapter comes doubt, insecurity, stress, hate, failure..

But to maintain optimism and resilience amidst this takes practice.

Dreaming is a skill.

And I hope you practice it too.

Appreciation

A foot bridge near my house has received a lick of new paint.

It’s taken three chaps clad in orange suits three full days to finish re-painting it.

I happened to pass by everyday and saw the process from start to finish.

The men would crack on in silence without a hint of a facial expression.

On the last day, as they were finishing up I thought I’d let them know it looked really nice.

And one of them broke into a small smile, responding “hearing that really makes a difference”.

Appreciation brings more meaning to every walk of life.

Professional

Is it a certificate?

Is it when we’re paid?

Is it when we sound a certain way?

Or maybe it’s when we show up even when we don’t feel like it.