“A one tracked mind,” implies that a person is overly committed to only one main pursuit that consumes one’s energy, thinking and motivation.  Life on the “one track” can be very exhausting, time consuming and misses smelling the roses along the way.  The wisdom in the old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” is comparable to having a “one track mind.”  Having a well-rounded approach with varied experiences can open up the door to a creative personality of becoming the best we can be.  The creative power of a hobby like wood carving can widen the horizon of beauty in one’s life and purpose.

Around 1973, I was reading a magazine article about Winston Churchill while waiting in the dentist’s waiting room.  As remembered, the article told of Winston telling of his personal observation of the value of a hobby, which in his case was painting pictures in oils and watercolors.  He related that as Prime Minister of England he carried the weight of World War II on his shoulders with long exhausting hours in the war room.  He stated that while in the war room his mental energies were on a one track of heavy thinking and planning.  Whenever he would take a break from this laborious pursuit he would go into an adjacent small room where he had his paint easel and paints set up.  For a brief time, he would pick up a paint brush, dab on some paint and paint a few stokes on the canvas on the easel.  He explained that this dabbling in painting was to switch from the one track of mental thought that had consumed him in the war room and switch to another track of creative exercise in painting.  In doing so, he rested the one tract of the mind by switching to another track of mental exploration and thusly renewing his mental outlook.  He experienced the solace in creativity, relaxation and therapy.  While the one track was resting, his subconsciousness was creating a way to cope and make innovative solutions for when he returned to the heavy burdens of the war room.

A hobby allows us to switch from the “one track mind” for a while to give it a rest. While on the hobby track, one part of the brain is resting while another part of the brain is being developed with creativity.

Of course, this is a simple observation because our mind is not limited to one or two tracks to travel since we have many “tracks of thought” to occupy our mental energy. The main point is to guard against spending too much time on the one track mind realizing the benefit of switching to another track of thought to bring us to a better journey of life.

Wood carving has been for me an “escape to sanity” by experiencing the “solace of creativity” while giving freedom to the creative spirit to explore and develop.  Wood carving has been very therapeutic in trusting creative imagination to be a guide on the journey of learning by doing while seeing with the inner eye of imagination.  “If it can be imagined, it can be,” is the guiding star of accepting the challenge to create art in the simplest of terms of the most complicated design.

Woodcarving is a “learn by doing” activity and in the act of slicing the cutting edge of the knife through the wood in the shaping process there is a “swishing song” of the slice that becomes a therapy of the creative spirit.  The serendipity of the partnership of the inner imagination guiding the carving tool by the hand of the artist brings an unexplainable feeling of inner satisfaction as the carving project begins to take shape, form and detail.  Thus, “Woodcarving is the journey more than the destination,” in that, for the carver it is in the act of carving that brings the warm feeling of completeness that when finished with one project, the carver is ready to begin the journey again.  Switching tracks can lead to a journey of a lifetime for the time of life that fulfills our creative potential.

“Would be carvers would be carvers if they would carve wood.”