Bill's PurpleCrayon Blog

SPRING IS THE TIME WHEN...

If you guessed "...a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love" you're wrong.

Well, you're probably right, but that's not what I'm referring to.

Spring is the time when Artists -- especially painters, sculptors, photographers and others -- prepare to take their show on the road.

The Art show circuit is a long one, and it begins soon in various parts of the country.

If you're an Artist, you should know that it takes a few weeks to create the kind of promotional materials you need to help successfully market your creative efforts. A killer web site -- such as the one we created for talented watercolorist Judy Barnewolt-Jones -- doesn't happen overnight.

Don't wait until the last minute. Get in touch with PurpleCrayon Direct today. The sooner you contact us, the sooner we can create the materials you need to make the most of this year's Art fair shows.

Keep Purple!


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HYPERTASKING

I saw a report on The Today Show this morning about a new cultural phenomenon called "Hypertasking," which is, essentially, doing many different things at the same time.

Although performing multiple tasks simultaneously has been around for years, what's new about this trend is that, thanks to technology, hypertasking can follow one everywhere. One can talk on a cell phone, check e-mail or surf the 'Net, jot notes on a PDA (personal digital assistant such as a Palm Pilot), keep an eye on one's kids, listen to one of 10,000 songs on a digital music storage device and gulp a short double shot skim latte in a coffee bar -- all at the same time.

Anchor Matt Lauer rightly raised the question about hypertasking possibly being harmful to the higher-level brain functions such as creativity and deep, extended thinking. He commented, "I just hope in 20 years we don't find out that we raised a generation of people with the attention span of a gnat."

Matt's guest pooh-poohed the notion with a comment to the effect that, "Well, this is nothing new. Moms have been multi-tasking for generations. They turned out okay, didn't they?"

Such an argument misses the point entirely. The point is we're not okay any more. As a culture, we're killing ourselves with speed, rage, disease, divorce, "fast" food, unhappiness and drugs (legal and otherwise). We do far more than we ever have before, at a greatly accelerated pace, but we receive far less satisfaction in return. And, in some cases, constantly doing more results in debilitating mental and physical diseases. Not to mention the enormous toll taken on relationships.

This is probably one of the reasons why Eastern philosophies such as Zen Buddhism have gained popularity in the West.

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has written many books on the benefits of slowing down and enjoying life. His book Present Moment Wonderful Moment is a slim volume about seeing the beauty and joy in each small thing, each day, every day. Such "mindfulness" is the cornerstone of Zen.

Even though Zen quietly leads the charge to slow down (and has for some 2,000 years), many Westerners now extol the benefits of living life in a slower lane.

A few examples...

- The new book In Praise of Slowness: How A Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore
- Any of Dr. Andrew Weil's books on changing one's lifestyle to improve one's health and happiness
- The rising popularity of yoga, meditation, aromatherapy and massage therapy as ways to relax and rejuvenate

I have no trouble believing hypertasking reduces one's ability to think clearly, deeply and creatively. I have no trouble believing we could be hypertasking ourselves to death.

No, what I have the most trouble believing is that more people aren't doing something about it.

It's time we enjoyed the present moment. It really is a wonderful moment.

Keep Purple!


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