Comments on: Obsessions and habits

By: museditions

museditions — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:20:18 +0000

I meant to comment on this before. Oh, well, here I am now. (Hah I’m usually obsessive about commenting on the most recent post!)
First, thanks for the ultra cool video of Police. It really brings back memories. I’m a huge fan of Sting, right up to his most recent “obsession” with early/medieval music. Amazing to see all that hair, and rocking out on that huge bass.
I’ve always loved this song, but I’ve NEVER seen it as a love song. I mean, “every breath you take”….If someone was observing “every breath” I took, I’d be more likely to call the Police (no, not THOSE police ) than fall in love with that person. eeek.
Just yesterday, I made a cuppa joe to take to a meeting with me. I was about a third of the way to my destination when I had to turn back to make sure I’d turned off the stove. (Do you say “cooker” in Aus?)
We all have our little quirks, I guess. I agree with others here that we’re talking primarily of “focus”. And I agree that the TV series “Monk” handles Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder pretty sensitively, whilst still being funny. I suppose the only question, really, is whether a behaviour is interfering with ones ability to find joy and purpose in life. Sometimes, the extreme focus can contribute to an important project. Some of us have an unusual, creative lifestyle, and who’s to say that it’s a “problem” other than ourselves. Wonderful post, thanks!

CJ: Glad you liked the video, Muse! I like Sting and the Police a lot myself and that song is one of my favourites, so I found a good excuse to post it! Did you manage to see the reunion tour? I wish I’d seen it but I didn’t get a chance to in the end.

I think you’re right, what we’re really talking about is focus and it’s very easy to become so focused on something, so single-minded, that it becomes an obsession. When do our eccentricities become unhealthy, something that interferes with our lives so much that it hinders our progress? I’m still not sure I know, particularly as that’s part of being creative as well… I’d hope that my family would recognise the signs and tell me; in the end, they might be in a better position to know. It’s an interesting question, though, and a lot to think about.

And we tend to alternate between stove and oven, but we do say cooker too. That’s something I’m always doing, feeling like I left the oven on after dinner… it’s a strange feeling, but if it stops a fire one day, then I can live with it. Better to be safe than sorry, eh?

By: brightfeather

brightfeather — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:57:24 +0000

Damn! I clicked to soon. Speaking of passions. I meant to ask you to join lastfm. I’m at http://www.last.fm/brighfeather/ and when you find me you will find other folks you know (ella, roads, thescaredpath, kimik0, sunburntkamel, etc.) We are having a great time sharing the music we are obsessive about.

CJ: Thanks, I’ll definitely check it out and join! I’ve known about Last.FM for a while but for some reason got it into my head that you had to live in North America to join, like Pandora. Now I feel silly.

I love that quilt widget on your blog, so I’ll have to have a closer look at that as well. I have a test blog on my own server in case I decide to self-host at some stage; it’ll be fun to play round with.

By: brightfeather

brightfeather — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:52:27 +0000

cj I don’t understand what this is about. Please explain.

Do you have tall poppy syndrome in Canada at all?

CJ: Ah, I guess that means you don’t have it in Canada! Tall poppy syndrome is a pejorative term which is common over here. Basically it means that when someone starts to get too successful, people turn against them; once the poppy grows too tall, we cut it down. We often see it in the media; once one of our actors goes to Hollywood, the media starts to focus on negative traits… it’s seen as “humbling” someone for their successes.

It started as a social attitude to limit the gap between rich and poor, but in recent years it’s changed. Now it goes beyond criticism as often the targets don’t deserve it; IMO, though people try to justify it, they’re really just hiding behind their own resentment. Recently it’s started to creep into normal life as well; if someone gets a promotion or comes into money, it’s not uncommon to say something to bring them back down to earth. I hate the whole thing… it’s like we can’t let someone have their joy, and I see a lot of that in how people react to someone’s passion.

There’s an interesting article on TPS here, if you’re interested. It explains the syndrome and the causes behind it, as well as how many of our icons have reacted to it.

By: Colourful Vision

Colourful Vision — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:05:32 +0000

I believe there are some differences between passion, habit, OCD, obsession, addiction and all..In my opinion, I don’t see passion to be negative as such, it is more like a strong positive feeling..But let see if you are creating and always try to do better over and over again but actually u don’t do better u do worst ..This is not good feeling being anxious and/or obsess about something..It’s not healthy for the mind and soul and it can obviously block the creative energy…I have quit painting once because of my perfectionist obsessive state of mind..Less I am obsessed, better I feel let me tell u.. But I think there is more into it, often, it is caused by deep emotional wounds and it can degenerate to a mental illness if not taking care of…I see habits more like external usual behaviour, stuff we do even without thinking but not necessary unhealthy like smoking which I consider being more like addictive…

Interesting post, CJ..

CJ: That’s interesting, CV. I see passion as being something of a neutral emotion, in that it can be either positive or negative. If I’m passionate about something then I’m more likely to pursue it and that can be a positive; but going too far or being so passionate that I’m blind to the truth can be very destructive. But I like how you see it; it’s much better to be passionate than to feel nothing.

And I couldn’t agree more about obsessions being caused by emotional wounds… we use them to escape what we’re feeling, and if we don’t face the truth, we’ll never break the cycle. Some people just can’t help their compulsions either; if they have OCD or other disorders, that’s how they are…. I guess I’m thinking more of the small things we obsess about every day, whether that’s healthy. In moderation I think they can be, but perhaps not if someone takes them too far.

What’s funny is I was thinking of writer’s block earlier and maybe that’s a kind of obsession as well. When we’re trying to write because we feel like we have to, we’re really so focused that we can’t see it’s not working… if we step back and are more objective, then we can see where we’ve gone wrong. But it’s not good to block the creative energy either, because then it won’t be natural… I guess it’s all a balance and you sound like you’ve found that with your paintings too.

Thanks, CV. You’ve given me a few things to think about. As always.

By: dyadya

dyadya — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:47:54 +0000

Obsession can easily be a good thing. It can be beneficial to a skill, hobby that you have.

I think that because there are times when I obsess over one song. Listening to it over and over and over then in parts the voice, then each instrument then learning the lyrics then humming the instrumental part then seeing how diffrent harmonies will go with just that one song, I think it helped my ear musically. Because I can pick up certain things when I hear music live or even on the radio. And being that I want a career in music, I think that’s beneficial to me to have that sort of obsession.

If some of the great minds of this world weren’t at least a little obsessed with science or music or whatever, then alot of the things we have now wouldn’t even be here.

CJ: Hi Dya, thanks for the comment. That’s exactly what I think, that obsession (or at least focus) can be very beneficial to completing a task. We’ve all heard of novels taking years to write (like The Lord of the Rings) and authors who were rejected but persisted… without their commitment, some of their great works would never have seen the light of day. I’m sure that’s true for many musicians as well.

I was thinking about Beethoven earlier, actually, and he would be the perfect example; his entire world was music, and he gave us so much beauty. Jackson Pollock would be another example as well. That said, I suppose it’s also possible to become so single-minded that it actually damages a work; if you’re not objective and think everything you’re creating is perfect, then it’ll never fulfil its potential. It’s about balance and perhaps some people find that easier than others.

Thanks for stopping by; I’ll be popping across to see your blog later.