Economics of Life

The fundamental idea of economics regards our use of resources. I've recently taken a strong interest in the study of economics, and by "recent" I mean over the past three years. Now, curiously enough, I haven't taken such an interest in my own personal economics. There is a old adage; it runs something to the effect of "don't miss the forest for the tree in front of you." The notion here is that we can get so terribly distracted by the day-in, day-out shenanigans of life that we miss the big picture--the details can swallow all of our attention. The result is that we miss out on the greater glory of each moment, we miss the entire symphony because one fluke flute sets us off.

I tend to have my issue with the opposite problem: I miss the trees right in front of me because I am so enamored by the forest. Now this is great in many respects, until I run head-first into an mighty oak. When I wake up to reality, lying on the forest floor, the swaying leaves above my eyes carry the banner of a message: PAY ATTENTION AND DISCIPLINE YOUR EYES. In terms of life vision, I'd call this "discernment." I have fallen prey in the past to great ideas that showed some mystical promise but failed to provide the foundation I needed for life in the present. Now in a more tangible sense of physicality and psyche, I'm seeing a need to exercise some economic know-how in management of my own resources, namely: time, money, creative capital.

Most will recognize this basic life-management as "discipline." Yes, the economics of life is discipline, and my efforts over the past few weeks have been to turn knowledge(say, economic principles) into practice(applied economics). As such, I have ramped up the nutrition of my diet, increased the frequency of my physical work-outs, committed to some form of mental exercise every day(yay Sudoku!) and I've made a conscious effort to exercise my spiritual muscles on a daily basis.

The inspiration for this came from an underlying need in life to get my "house" in order; call it spring cleaning of my temple, my essence. Prompted by my sister, Miriam Conners, to look for creative management resources for my brother, Benjamin Conners, I found some books by John Maxwell through my wonderful sister, India Winbush. The Maxwellian insight got my gears turning and gave me just the final nudge I needed to engage with some serious evaluation of my long-term goals in life. The great question here is: "what do I deem important?" So I arrived at the conclusion that in my life, I am most interested in holding good health in three areas:

1. Spiritual
2. Mental
3. Physical

Now this translated to the need for frequent exercise in each area. Until this past Saturday, however, I was missing one crucial element: creativity. I suppose it is something that I take for granted--my insight, flow, poet. I have always viewed my creativity as an untamable enigma. It's tied to a force which ebbs and flows, not necessarily bound to any temporal measure, but inexplicably tied to metaphysical natures: euphoria of love, deep emotions of challenge or loss, grandeur of justice. So then there are conditions, however difficult to define, in which my creativity thrives. Is it possible then, to cultivate creativity? Well this question brushes upon the canvas of my life thesis: How can we turn creative capital into fluid currency? For years I have been considering this question in light of our global and local community economies. Never, until a couple days ago, when my dear friend Rachel Hill made the simple comment "you should be a writer," did I take this thesis question and apply it to my own life. A number of months ago, another dear old friend, Mikaella Ashley, told me the same thing. The fact that I should have found such a rich impact this time around from the very same words speak to the importance of actively nurturing awareness in our lives. Last year, I wasn't thinking "how can I make myself better?", "in what areas in my life should I apply greater discipline?", "What are my personal goals, not goals for my work, my study, or the world, but those things that are of supreme value to me and for me in the days of my future?"

Because I have prepared the soil in my life, the seeds that come along can immediately thrive on the nutrients I've cultivated. There is a great lesson buried here, one that has the potential to enrich my entire life. I realized that writing is one of those creative expressions which I supremely enjoy. I have always known this, but there is a difference between a realization and a revelation. The former is a connection of two dots, the latter is a construction of a foundation upon which wisdom may accrue. This is to say, the revelation of writing as something I enjoy compounded with my awareness of the need to budget my resources and I came to see that my creativity is something I greatly value and I never want to see it accidentally fall by the wayside. I believe it is possible to cultivate an environment in which creativity may thrive. The most important thing for any environment begins with space. With regards to creativity, the first thing I must do is set aside the time, because few things are more important to me than my creative expression.

All of this to say, this blog is a reflection of my creative discipline, a branch of the economics of life.