But Everything Is Useful & Important

by Greg Vineyard

“When the most important things in our life happen we quite often do not know, at the moment, what is going on.” – C.S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity”

The older I get (You know that new dinosaur they just discovered? Yeah, I knew him…), the more aware I am of how much I relate to this partial quotation by the author of The Screwtape Letters and The Chronicles of Narnia, amongst many other familiar titles. A huge portion of our learnings are both on-the-job, as well as in hindsight.

We gain quite a good bit of knowledge and experience from the daily efforts we put into things, even when we sometimes don’t necessarily see those benefits happening at the time. Lewis’s expanded point was that we grow up and realize we grew up. I think any given day, oft thought of as pedestrian or routine, really is another day’s progression toward our future selves.

Every day is actually full of potential. It’s not about winning the lottery or crafting schemes; it’s about another chance to tamp down the fears, get out of bed, take care of the cat, sweep the kitchen, go to that meeting, make that phone call, put forth one’s best efforts on the job, learn something, do something for someone else. It’s about being a nice person and spreading some joy. And on and on, with every little decision throughout the hours. As an artist, every day is also a chance to work on my creations, even when I think I don’t have any ideas in my head. And experience shows me that if the materials are in front of me, inspiration will come, and I WILL draw!

Several examples of intangibles in my life come to mind. I’m sure there are many more, but here’s a few:

Intangible Number One: TIME. A human-made system that some could consider restrictive, is a gift. All I have to do is get up in the morning. If I’d like more of this gift, I get up earlier. Hitting the Snooze function on my alarm reminds me of both the luxuriousness and fleeting preciousness of time.

Intangible Number Two: ENERGY. There’s physical energy, which I nurture by eating, sleeping and exercising appropriately. Then there’s the shared electricity that comes from caring, sharing, listening and assisting. It’s counter-intuitive, in that expending physical energy (and some time) actually generates mental energy.

Intangible Number Three: MEMORY. Like singing, memory used as a resource for renewal increases my brain activity and mood. I often pick memories of my friend Ginny. In our several decades as friends, a huge percentage of our interactions and conversations have included laughter. It’s like Beaches, only funny all the time. And it’s transformative.

Intangible Number Four: FEELINGS. Hey, no eye-rolls! I acknowledge my feelings as being what they are, and I filter through them as if I am panning for gold with a wide-mesh screen, letting the small, annoying grains fall through, saving the bigger, happier nuggets in my mental net.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to Things. Like money, resulting from someone purchasing my art or services. Or art supplies bought with that money so that I can keep drawing. Or that Star Trek: Into Darkness DVD so that I have another favorite thing to watch over and over again while I sketch out the next idea. These concrete articles one can touch are a bridge to the things one can’t: for example, finances can assist us with the pursuit of ideas. However, it’s the subtle, ethereal concepts that help me feel ultra-connected to living, no matter what’s going on for me out in my physical, feet on the pavement life.

Whether you are working in a creative sector or not (and I think every career path has innovative aspects to it), I hope this inspires you to consider what unquantifiables are part of your daily existence, and to embrace, share and develop them with your community of peers. Important stuff is indeed happening – all the time!