God is in control, and thats a good thing!
This is a post that I have written for today on Veritas Mizzou’s blog. I hope you like it!
God is in control, and that’s a good thing!
If you guys are like me you tend to try and control as many things in your life as possible. This could include finances, grades, work, what people think of your image, how smart you are, what kind of car you drive, if you can eat, what you wear, what you read and watch, who you talk to and what about, to name just a few. Every now and then we are thrown a curve ball; an F on our latest test, a speeding ticket on the way to church, fired from work and no income, some topic or global phenomenon we cant understand, amongst many other ‘inconveniences’ in our days. At this point if you are anything like me you get frustrated, defeated, mad, angry, sad and just plain upset. We like to control our lives, it’s a known fact, we try and do as much as we can to control every aspect of our lives, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
The other day I was reading a passage out of Luke that helped me calm some of my anxiety about situations in life. Jesus speaking to his disciples said;
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? … O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you.” Luke 12: 22-26, 29-31 (ESV)
What a wonderful passage, this little section here in Luke helps me remember that I need not worry or be anxious for I have an awesome God! In this little section there are three reasons why we need not be anxious; The first is found in verse 23, “For life is more than…” fill in the blank. I believe that this verse speaks for it self, our life is more important than food and clothes. The second is found in verse 24, “of how much more value are you” Humans are the most valuable of all God’s creation, for humans were the only things created in God’s image (Gen. 1: 27), because God gave the human race dominion over all the earth and its creatures (Gen 1: 28), and because God gave his only Son to die for us (John 3: 16) because he loves us so much! The third is in verse 25; because no one has enough control over his own life even to “add a single hour to his span of life” There is nothing in our power as human beings that allows us to do this!
Do not seek does not mean to give up and neglect to work and support ourselves, it serves as a warning, a warning that we should not continually be seeking what to eat, and what to wear, or what to drive. Jesus gives us the example of the birds in verse 24 and explains to us that if God should care to feed the ravens then he will surely care to feed you also. To be anxious, then, demonstrates a lack of trust in God, who promises that he will graciously care for “all these things”. So what then do we seek, what then do we do if we aren’t to be anxious over these things? Jesus gives us exactly what we are looking for in verse 31; “Instead seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you.” We should be seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness! What a great promise to hold on to! I like the way Matthew ends this little section of passage;
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6: 34 (ESV)
Politically unkind…
If there is one thing that I dislike, besides satan and sin, its a political debate. Not because I don’t like to debate, if you know me you know I like a good debate, no it’s because of the politics part of the debate. It’s not that politics are bad, actually politics can be very good, they can keep us safe, they can provide us with water and food, they can perform many roles that help out the general population. But what really pinches me about political debates, those between friends or collegues or the person sitting at your dinner table is that everyone has their own opinion, and they cannot be swayed. Everybody seems to be a political expert as soon as you begin to debate about something. It’s like a switch goes off inside our heads that turns on the “political expert on any issue especially the ones you dont understand” part of our brain. We seem to think we know more than the person we are debating with. It’s like we become so closed minded that we stop worry about whether what that person is saying could be true, or could be better for us, but I have to be right. I’m especially bad at this, as are some other people that I know.
It’s also amazing to me that we could be so blind to our prejudices and biases. It’s impossible to find a news source that is neutral, I don’t care what you say, or what you listen to, watch or read, they have a bias. Find out what ’side’ that person who wrote, or is reporting on the political issue at hand and that is their bias. We all have it, but that doesn’t mean we can just write off the other side, let me tell you something… republicans aren’t perfect, nor are democrats. That doesn’t mean if you fit in between, which I also think is impossible or hard to justify and for years I thought thats where I feel, they are also not perfect. Nor will any of the parties ever be perfect, so stop acting like your side is so perfect!
But the one thing that pinches me more than anything else, and it is especially evident after Obama got elected president is when someone says, “he’s not my president, I didn’t vote for him”. How could you be so arrogant?! How could you say that simply because you don’t agree with him or his policies, or who he is, or what side he represents that he is not your president? In an NPR show I was listening to, Democracy Now, a political speaker was talking about this very issue, and is what got me heated about this, amongst other things. He said that forty to fifty years ago this wouldnt be the case, that you wouldn’t find anyone in America that would say “oh, he isn’t my president I didn’t vote for him”. They would recognize that this person was just voted into the office to lead their country and they would support him. What happened? Where have we gone wrong, and why can’t we get out of it? It’s amazing to me the self-centeredness of people and the selfish thinking that goes behind someones decision to say, “he is a democrat, and Im a republican, so therefore I cant support him.” I understand that there are some issues that people dont agree with, fine dont agree with them, no one said you couldn’t, but at least recognize that Obama is our president, and whether you like it or not he is leading our country. Stop being so arrogant and self-centered and realize this, John McCain did, remember what he said when he found out that he lost the presidency?
McCain calls his followers, the people who voted for him, who supported him, who took his side to join him in taking side with the new president. My guess is that no one was listening, at least thats what it seems like.
So all that to say I don’t like political debates because people are politically unkind. We are insensitive to what people think and what they believe. It’s amazing to me that people who ‘love others’ and can do some amazing things in the community one minute, can be de-humanizing others and their beliefs another minute because of politics. If this is you, I hope I offended you, and I hope you think about this the next time you are forcing your ‘right’ political beliefs down someones throat.
Name change
You might have noticed, or maybe you didnt, but I decided to change the title of this blog. You may be asking why, maybe not, but i’ll explain briefly why the sudden name change. Platform 1 was a great name, it meant a lot to me, but took a lot of explaining to people what it meant. The idea behind my blog is the same, however there is a new title. I hope you enjoy, there isn’t much of a change just a new title. If you were wondering what elucidation means, here is a definition from the New Oxford Dictionary (those of you who know me know I love to define things);
elucidate |iˈloōsiˌdāt|
verb [ trans. ]
make (something) clear; explain : work such as theirs will help to elucidate this matter
See note at clarify . : [with clause ] in what follows I shall try to elucidate what I believe the problems to be | [ intrans. ] they would not elucidate further.
DERIVATIVES
elucidation |iˌloōsiˈdā sh ən| |əˈlusəˈdeɪʃən| |iˈlusəˈdeɪʃən| |-ˈdeɪʃ(ə)n| noun
Tis the season…
To be wasteful, really, think about it, how many gifts did you open? Three, four, five? Were each of those gifts wrapped? I bet one of them was “the big one” too, so that is more paper! What about the tissue you used to trick someone into thinking they got a “big one” but really its a gift card in a two foot by four foot box stuffed with that tissue! Now what about the three feet of ribbon you used to tie around that box? I’m not trying to be righteous here, I wrapped a few presents as well, not till after the mayhem of Christmas morning was through did I realize I should of stuck to the Japanese style wrapping I wanted to do. During my daily browsing of the internet I came across an image that frightened me, an image that made me sad to be American, again. There are some instances that just make me sad, make me wish that we could change as a country, I realize that we wont be perfect, but there are somethings that I think we are aware of that we just try and turn a blind eye too. Our consumption, waste of paper and food, and disregard for our planet are three that just pinch me in the shoulder more than any. How many times, including this blog post, do you hear that we need to be a ‘greener’ planet and need to cut down on consumption? Yet almost every year we increase our waste output and increase our material input! It’s getting sickening, and the saddest part is that we don’t care.
This is the image I found. I challenge you to look at it and as you go down to think of how you contributed to this problem. I was super convicted as I went down the list, christian or not a christian, I think we can all understand how these problems are going to affect our world, and challenge our worldview. It hurts me to look at this image too much, I realize that I am a part of this problem and want to change, I need to change. So just look and think about how you have put your two cents in on this problem.
Silence and Solitude part 5 of 5
This has been a wonderful tool for me to read, this has been just a joy and helpful blog series by Pastor Mark Driscoll. After reading through this last one you will understand why the man is so godly, and why he seems to have it together (as much as we can as broken, sinful humans). This last section is about Journaling, he lays out his way of doing it and gives some examples. Its brilliant. I like to journal, but I don’t do it quite like he does. At the beginning of December I am going to take a day of silence, I am going to practice what Mark has been teaching us through this blog, and I am going to adapt his questions and journaling for that day. It is wonderful and there is no way one couldnt learn and grow by doing this. Enjoy the last of this series.
“This the last post in a series by Pastor Mark where he helpfully lays out the importance of silence and solitude, as well as how he approaches and utilizes the time. We hope it has been helpful for you as you grow in your faith in Jesus.
Journaling
The following is a copy of the template I created for myself to organize my days of silence and solitude for the purpose of journaling. I offer it knowing that you can and should change it to fit your life. This is not Scripture, it’s not perfect, and I don’t claim it is. Rather, it is a simple tool for you to adapt as you need. For me, I keep notes in my Moleskine throughout the week, and sit down to answer these questions on my laptop in a Word document. This keeps it simple for me and allows me to see God’s work in my life over time.
Ideally, every Christian would do a modified version of this plan every week as an act of worship, taking around an hour to answer a few of the questions that are most pressing for them. In addition, it is wise to take at least one full day a month in silence and solitude to answer all the questions without being rushed, leaving time to open your Bible, pray, repent, worship, and ponder.
Silence and Solitude Journaling Template
“. . . the report about him [Jesus] went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” — Luke 5:15–16
Date:
Modified or Full Plan:
Note: Here I am making note if it’s one hour or one day for silence and solitude.
Place and Conditions:
Note: I am someone for whom space deeply matters. On a nice day I sit outside by a river or at the beach in a beautiful spot. I don’t like coffee shops (too noisy and crowded) or the office (too much distraction). I like to be up high with a view, crave fresh air, love the sun, and cannot relax where it’s loud, busy, ugly, stinky, disorganized, poorly designed, uncomfortable, or too hot or cold, and yes, I am picky. So, I note where I was and that helps me keep a record of nice spots for silence and solitude days. I borrow friends’ vacation homes, have spots I like outside of town in the mountains, and so forth.
Part 1 – Recent Evidences of God’s Grace
“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” — 2 Thess. 2:16–17
Note: To have good words and works, we need hope and comfort by seeing and savoring evidences of God’s grace. I start with this topic to get me into a mode of worship. I can be quite a gloomy and moody person, so this gets me going in the right direction for my time with God. I often take an hour on this topic alone and make a long list, thanking God and praying as I go.
Part 2 – Deep Questions
“The purpose in a man’s mind is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” — Prov. 20:5 (RSV)
Note: These are my questions and you can make your own or change mine. I don’t include Bible reading and study because they are like breathing to me, but you may want to add them. In question four I’m talking about my wife, Grace. I list each of my kids in question five because with a big family it’s too easy to treat the kids as a herd rather than knowing and pastoring each one. I put my work last, figuring that if the rest of my life is in order, work will go well. I rate every question on a scale so that I can be honest about how I’m doing and track progress over time. The prayer points are things I pray about as I’m journaling and things to put on my prayer list that week. The action items go on my calendar. Lastly, I share a lot of this with my wife, kids, friends, and others, and a lot of my blogs and ministry training are simply sharing what comes out of my journaling on days of silence and solitude.
1. How accurate is my view of God lately?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
2. How are my joy in the Holy Spirit and corresponding hope?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
3. What temptations and sins are most ensnaring?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
4. How is my connection with my wife?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
5. How is my connection with each of my children?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
6. How is my health (e.g., weight, diet, exercise)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
7. How is my sleep (e.g., bed time, quality of sleep, length of sleep)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
8. How is my energy level?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
9. How is my dominion over my technology (e.g., cell phone, laptop, email, text)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
10. How is the stewardship of my wealth (e.g., finances, possessions, property, investments)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
11. How is my social life with friends and extended family?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
12. Who or what is filling my tank lately?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
13. Who or what is draining my tank lately?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
14. Who has sinned against me and how am I responding?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
15. Who do I need to confide in and where should I seek wisdom?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
16. Are there any warning signs that I am burning out?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
17. Am I successfully getting out of the river onto the bank enough through silence, solitude, study, and Sabbath?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
18. What do I need to stop doing, do less of, or hand off to someone else?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
19. How are my self-deception and truth suppression?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
20. How is my writing (e.g., books, blogs, papers)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items
21. How is my preaching (preparation and results, in and out of Mars Hill)?
• Scale of 1 (low) to 10 (high)
• Prayer Points
• Action Items”
Silence and Solitude part 4 of 5
This is probably one of the more challenging and humbling of the parts. In this section we learn why we always tell ourselves no when it comes to silence and solitude, we learn what the real noise is in our life that prevent us from having great times of silence with God!
“This the fourth post in a series by Pastor Mark where he helpfully lays out the importance of silence and solitude, as well as how he approaches and utilizes the time.
Silence and Solitude Stealers
Despite the Bible’s exhortation and Jesus’ example to enjoy times of silence and solitude, few Christians regularly enjoy these gifts from God. This is because there are some real enemies at work that need to be combated for silence and solitude to be enjoyed. The following are some of the more common silence and solitude stealers that have to be dealt with as an act of repentance:
- Those people – pushy, needy, demanding, high-drama, inconsiderate people steal your life, joy, health, and time—often in the name of ministry, when it’s really people-pleasing idolatry that allows them to get away with it.
- Technology – you cannot be a maturing Christian following the example of Jesus Christ if you are always surfing the Internet, dinking around on your cell phone, reading emails, texting, tweeting, rocking out, and watching TV. You have to turn them off to tune in to God. Yes, I have all of the latest technology, and I turn it off so my soul can recharge. Do you really think Jesus would have been checking his buddy’s friend request in the Garden of Gethsemane if he had an iPhone?
- Lack of planning – in Leading On Empty, Wayne Cordeiro shows that in Genesis 1 when the Bible describes days, it says there was first evening then morning. So, biblically, the day begins at night with rest, Sabbath, and silence. That then prepares us for work and conversation. This is like Jesus, who spent time alone before beginning his public ministry.
- Trading busyness for fruitfulness – some people say they are too busy to worship, pray, Sabbath, journal, and so forth, but they have tragically traded being busy for being godly, obedient, and wise fruitful stewards. Is your busyness truly fruitful or would some plans to organize your world, home, diet, budget, schedule, and life be helpful?
- Lack of appreciation – the Bible has a great deal to say about the benefits of purposeful silence, including:
- hearing from God (1 Kings 19:11–13)
- waiting patiently for the Lord to act (Lam. 3:25–28)
- worshiping God (Hab. 2:20)
- knowing God better (Ps. 46:10)
- praying effectively (Luke 5:16)
My prayer is that those reading this who are guilty of people and noise addiction would experience the regular gifts of silence and solitude because that is often where God is waiting for us. There was silence before God spoke the world into existence, and silence for forty days before Jesus began his public ministry. May you too enjoy silence and solitude before you attempt to live your life with, for, like, and to God.”
Solitude and Silence, part 3 of 5
Like i said before, I really enjoy Mark Driscol, and that means I really enjoy his blog. He is thought provoking and practical, things that I love in my life! I have been following his posts on finding solitude and why we need a time of solitude and silence. This is the third part of his five part series. Enjoy.
“Understanding Silence and Solitude
Silence and solitude is fasting from people and noise for a prescribed time to connect with God and replenish the soul. The opposite of solitude is isolation, where someone is burned out and goes into survival mode by disappearing. Solitude is godly, isolation is deadly, and if we don’t enjoy the former we’ll wind up pursuing the latter.
Despite the constant pressures upon his time from family, friends, and fans, Jesus’ own life was marked by ongoing times of solitude. The following verses speak of how Jesus often practiced the spiritual discipline of solitude:
- “And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.” (Matt. 14:23)
- “And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.” (Mark 6:31)
- “And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place.” (Luke 4:42)
- “But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” (Luke 5:16)
Furthermore, as we study Scripture we see that Jesus used solitude for a multitude of purposes. Following his baptism, Jesus spent forty days in solitude preparing for his public ministry (Matt. 4:1–11). After his cousin, John the Baptizer, was beheaded, Jesus spent time alone to mourn (Matt. 14:12–13). Jesus also used times of solitude as occasions for intense and focused prayer (Matt. 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16). Jesus specifically used solitude as an opportunity to pray and seek the Father’s will before choosing the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12). In addition, Jesus used solitude to rest after a hard day of work (Mark 6:31). Finally, knowing he was soon to be crucified, Jesus spent time alone in the Garden of Gethsemane, coming to grips with the painful obedience that was required of him (Mark 26:36–46).
Other biblical figures also used solitude for a litany of purposes. Moses spent time alone on the mountain with God in order to receive a word from God, namely the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19–20). Isaiah was both saved and sustained by God through his times of solitude with the Lord (Isa. 30:15). In Psalm 62:1–2, 5 David says that in solitude God calmed his fears and encouraged his soul. Paul as well spent some three years in varying degrees of solitude being prepared by the Lord for ministry, according to Galatians 1:17–19.
Clearly, time alone with God serves innumerable good purposes in our lives. Therefore, to help you consider how to enjoy purposeful times of solitude, I would encourage the following. One, you may need to simply schedule a day of solitude to ensure that this is a regular part of your spiritual life. I do this at least one day a month and find it to be the most important and refreshing part of my life; it enables me to function in the other areas of my life because it helps me remain continually connected to Jesus. Two, find a place where you like to go. This may mean that you spend a day in God’s creation hiking or simply resting. Three, if you are a parent, this may mean that you have to get up early or stay up late to get some time to yourself at home.
There are many things you can do during your periods of solitude, including:
1. Nothing
2. Meditate on a short section of Scripture
3. Rest
4. Read long sections of Scripture
5. Pray, including a prayer-walk/hike/bike
6. Read a good book
7. Journal”
Solitude and silence part 2
I said I would follow this series from Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church, so here is the second part from their blog. It’s a good section of what comes next, conviction and heart change and some good practical ways to go about it. Enjoy.
“Four Ways to Change Your Life
Heart change – conviction from God and repentance from you
Study – research and fact-finding for how to change your life, which includes reading the Bible and other books, speaking with people you know who have wisdom, etc.
Plan – ongoing, detailed, and prayerful life organization
Action – working your plan and making changes as life requires:
Moleskine – always keep a journal like this nearby to jot notes, thoughts, and convictions in
Journaling – use your laptop to gather the scattered ideas in your Moleskine and prayerfully and carefully add to and consider them
Calendar – take action items from your silence and solitude day and put them on the calendar, as without being officially planned, nothing ever gets done to completion
Most people are good at one or two of these steps. Some have a heart change and do their homework but do not make a plan and take action to change their life. Others have plans and action but are religiously just doing duties because they have not experienced heart change from God. Others move from heart change to action without research and a plan; they mean well but make their life (e.g., health, finances, relationships) worse.
Take some time and be honest with yourself. List each of these steps in order from the one you are strongest at to the one you are weakest at.
Where is your life getting stuck and what can you do to grow where you are weak? Who do you need to talk to and learn from? What do you need to repent of?”
Solitude and silence from Pastor Mark
So as most of you know I love to read blogs, and recently I have been reading more blogs than writing. I’m sorry, but I have the type of personality that would rather listen and learn than to speak up and teach. That doesn’t mean I don’t like teaching or writing but I would rather read and listen. So here is a blog post that I truely loved. It’s from Mars Hill blog and Mark Driscoll wrote this one. It’s great and I will be following up with his posts on this series withy own thoughts. This first one is great, I fall into the reaction and independence side of how I am livingy life. This post excites me, it should be great enjoy.
“Organizing a Silence and Solitude Day (Part 1 of 5)
- by Pastor Mark Driscoll on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 9:06 am
This is the first post of a five-part series. Stay tuned via RSS, Twitter, or Facebook for the rest.
I am an introvert who is contemplative. This means I crave and desperately need silence, solitude, study, prayer, and journaling because the Holy Spirit uses these moments to connect me to Jesus that I might be more like him. For those like me, organizing days for silence and solitude may come rather naturally. But for those who are extroverted and active, the people and tasks in their mind and life can keep them from having regular and productive times to fast from noise and people and to hear from God, speak to God, and be with God.
So, this blog is the first in a series that will help you organize a silence and solitude day. The series of blogs will culminate in a lengthy template I use to organize my own silence and solitude days. I shared this document with the Mars Hill staff and so many friends on Facebook and Twitter asked for it after hearing about it that I decided to write it up in brief form and give it away in hopes of being helpful.
Four Ways to Live Your Life
In his book Leading On Empty, Wayne Cordeiro says that there are only four ways to live your life:
Reaction – passively dominated by urgencies and pushy people
Conformity – succumbing to the fear of man and just being and doing what everyone else wants, which is not necessarily following God’s will for you personally
Independence – nonconforming rebellion in the name of freedom, marked by doing only what you want and ignoring godly authority over you
Intentionality – reverse-engineering your life and living it prayerfully and purposefully, journaling your thoughts throughout the day, and using silence and solitude to hear from God and organize your life
Which one of these four most typifies you? Is your life a frazzled mess because you are in perpetual reaction mode? Have you not really even deeply pondered God’s will for your life but just done what you were told by other people?
Are you the sort of person who is defiant, independent, and self-reliant? Or, do you regularly (e.g., at least one hour a week and one day a month) get silence and solitude with God to work on your life before you work in it?”
So how important is sound?
In a recent TED talk that i watched, Julian Treasure talks about the importance of sound and how it can affect our daily lives. I will give you a chance to watch it, its only about five minutes and very effective. So give it a watch, if you cant watch it, i will talk a bit about it later on this post.
Julian brings up some great points, sound has become noise to us. We hear things everyday, there isn’t one day that goes by (for the majority of us who can hear) that we do not hear something, its inevitable, its the nature of things like Julian says. However we have categorized some things as unavoidable noise, things like cars passing, people chatting in the halls, footsteps in a house, dishwashers running, etc. Some of these things are bad for or physiological and psychological well being, we are damaging ourselves in various ways and we dont even know it.
Something interesting that Julian prescribes as good for us is bird song. We, with out cognitively thinking about it, associate bird song with positive, comforting feelings. Julian says this is because when we hear a bird song we know that everything is alright, its when it stops when we need to worry. The interesting bit of what Julian was saying about bird song is that he prescribes at least five minutes a day of bird song to brighten our general feelings and attitudes. I saw that as a challenge, so for the next week i am going to listen to various intervals of bird song and see if it in any way correlates with how i am feeling or how i act towards people and situations.
I think we know that sound can be distracting, but what i bet something that you don’t think about, at least i didn’t till after this talk, is that sound can be inappropriate and damaging for productivity. As humans we are finite, inside of this finiteness we have a very small bandwidth for processing audio, which only allows for us to process one thing at a time. For instance, if i was talking to you twice, saying two different things at the same time, you would only be able to focus on one of them, or neither of them, but never both of them. Because of this limited ability to hear, working in, or studying in areas with open room chatting or talking or with lots of noise, actually lowers productivity by 66%! That’s unbelievable, to think that we are 66% less productive because the library is loud and there are lots of conversations makes me wish i would have been studying other places. Julian actually recommends listening to bird song when studying or working in a place like this.
Sound is fascinating, its a large part of our lives, and we should be more aware of the distractions and consequences of bad sound, and come to grips with what good sound is. So go out there, listen to some great soothing music, and get the ambiance app for your iPhone or iTouch, or if you dont have one of those get on Amazon and buy some natural music, it will help i promise.
