Matt Smallbone

I have now gone seven days without any coffee. (“Seven days without coffee makes one weak”… is the obvious joke that I will avoid).

Seven days.

I FEEL GREAT.

I have no desire for coffee any more when I wake up. In fact, I have no desire for any coffee at all. It is STRANGE. So, I guess that this will  have a positive (if small) financial effect. We might save $20/ week.

The headaches stopped on day five and I feel like my energy levels are way better. I also have a heightened sense of well-being. This could be purely physiological… although I suspect that I have been set free from a sense of religious guilt attached to the sheer amount of caffeine that I previously digested.

I also feel like I am playing bass better.

I don’t want to get uber-spiritual about this… but I think that God is proud of me. I have definitely been able to reflect on the positive spiritual effects that come when one exercises self-control.

Party on,

matt

Back when I was a young lad, it once took me 10 hours to lay down a 3-minute bass track. It was a train wreck man. There was blood on the floor in that Louisville, KY studio.

As I reached for my 7th cup of coffee, the producer looked at me and said, “MATT, have you been drinking coffee all day?”

He sent me home. I came back in the next morning caffeine free and got the part down.

From that day on I made a rule that I would never have coffee after lunch on a show day, and never when I was hitting the studio. It has made all of the difference.

Two Sunday’s ago I was playing at Cumberland Church (Franklin, TN). I had got in late the night before from a Michael W. Smith show in Sevierville, and I had a coffee on my way out of door that morning.

Before rehearsal started the following conversation took place with my good mate (and GREAT drummer) Jason Cheek.

ME: I had a coffee on the way here this morning.
JC: Cool.
ME: Yeah, but coffee effects my timing. I don’t play very well after I’ve had it.

A look of disbelief came over Jason’s face and he said: “WHY DO YOU DRINK IT AT ALL THEN?”.

He raised a great point. I am a professional musician… why would I do anything that negatively effects my playing?

I have suspected for a while that I was addicted to coffee. I easily drink 6-cups/ day, and I have therefore decided to put the brakes on.

I have gone cold-turkey for the last three days. My symptoms have been pretty mild, although I have had a headache from about noon til 8pm. I have felt fine during the concerts.

The literature tells me that the symptoms could last for a week. I could also become irritable and irrational. So far so good.

Once the withdrawal symptoms are finished I plan to limit my intake to 1 coffee/ day on non-show days, and none at all when I have a concert to play. Grabbing a latte at a coffee shop with my wife is one of my favourite things to do… so I am not about to give that up.

I don’t feel bad about not giving up entirely, as there is a great deal of documentation on the positive effects of caffeine.

How does that sound?

Writing location: On the road to Ottawa, Canada

I took the Narcissism Personality Inventory online test this morning. The average participant scores between 12 and 15.

True narcissists score over 20 and celebrities often score around 18.

Joel Stein of Time Magazine reports that reality TV show contestants generate scores that should only be attained by two-year olds or Fascist dictators (sic).

I scored 15 out of 40.

PHEW…. I was kind of worried about what my result would be. I have noticed of late that I use the words “I” and “me” a LOT throughout my blogs. I paid money to own mattsmallbone.com and I have a job that has me standing in front of thousands of people (often with my ugly mug on a big screen).

My more detailed results were:

Narcissistic Trait			Strength of Trait
Authority: 4.00
Self-Sufficiency: 3.00
Superiority: 3.00
Exhibitionism: 1.00
Exploitativeness: 1.00
Vanity: 1.00
Entitlement: 2.00

The big downer in my results is that I scored highly in ‘superiority’… suggesting that I feel superior to those around me. I was accused of this a lot at University… and I guess I always hoped that it wasn’t the case.

In 2007,  Campbell and Foster (2007)  reviewed the literature on narcissism. They argued that narcissists possess the following ‘basic ingredients’:

• Positive. Narcissists think they are better than others.
• Inflated. Narcissists’ views tend to be contrary to reality. In measure which compare self-report to objective measures, narcissists self-views tend to be greatly exaggerated.
• Agentic. Narcissists’ views tend to be most exaggerated in the agentic domain, relative to the communion domain.
• Special. Narcissists perceive themselves to be unique and special people.
• Selfish. Research upon narcissists’ behaviour in resource dilemmas supports the case for narcissists as being selfish.
• Oriented toward success. Narcissists are oriented towards success by being, for example, approach oriented.

Source: wiki

I wonder what God thinks of narcissism? A lot of the above stuff sounds like sin to me.

What should a disciple score on this test? I bet that it should be lower than 15.

In the book of Matthew, Jesus says that a disciple will: “Deny himself, take up his cross and follow me”.

The narcissist within me refuses to deny self. It feeds on self. It NEEDS self.

If you are attempting to be an authentic follower of Jesus, I suspect that the narcissistic parts of our make-up needs to be taken out to the back yard and beaten to a pulp.

Have a go at the Narcissism Personality Inventory. Let me know how you did.

Tags: Christian, disciple, narcissism

I once locked myself out of my room on a cruise ship. I was only wearing boxer shorts. My wife was with me… and our 2 young sons were locked inside.

To make things worse… this was a Michael W. Smith cruise and I was the bass player. It was a tad awkward when the people over the hallway (and massive MWS fans) came out to see if they could help.

However… our family has adopted this mantra as our own:

“If it’s gonna be funny one day… it’s funny right now”.

As Mary and I stood in the hallway we laughed about it. We knew that we were living a moment that we would speak about for the rest of our lives.

You should try laughing the next time you are in an embarrassing situation. Being too serious about your own misfortune makes you a boring dinner party guest… and when it gets down to it… life is better when you are the type of person that gets invited out for supper once in a while.  It IS possible to enjoy your misadventures while they are happening. You just need to loosen up a bit.

Laugh some more… even if it is only with yourself… it is salve for your soul.

PS – We are cruising to Alaska again in July… with Max Lucado, Matthew West and Natalie Grant. You should join us. Check out this link.

Tags: cruise, funny, Michael W. Smith

I have looked back on my last few weeks of blogs and have realized that the Tennessee winter has finally locked me into a cycle of melancholy. It is just so grey around here. I apologize to any and all Calvinists, Catholics, Protestants, Americans, Australians, brothers-in-law and Canadians who have been bummed out by my last few blogs. I blame the weather.

I felt my mood lighten last weekend in Florida on the Michael W. Smith tour. I thought that it was just uplifting to my soul to be back playing great music with my best friends, but it appears that there is also some science behind my mood swings. Check this:

Going to a warm place in the middle of winter can be a huge mood booster.  Pleasant weather has been proven to improve moods, memory, and broaden our cognitive thinking skills.

In a recent study, participants who spent time outdoors in moderate weather were more content than those who spent all day inside.  They also found better memory scores when they ran tests comparing the two groups.  Research has also proven that sunlight boosts your serotonin levels by providing it with vitamin D.  Of course people feel a little more blue in the winter and better in the spring.  That is no big shock.  Some even experience SA in the winter, which is seasonal affective disorder from lack of sunlight and warmth.

The best temperature for humans is about 72 degrees because it is the most temperate.  That explains why people in southern California are so happy all the time.  Research has also found a link between hot weather and violent behavior.  To improve mood, a person must spend at least 30 minutes outside in warm, sunny weather.  Spending time indoors when the weather outside is so nice tends to decrease mood and diminish critical thinking patterns.  It is most likely because we resent being cooped-up inside when spring time arrives – commonly referred to as spring fever.  It can also make inside activities seem boring or annoying causing less productivity. SOURCE: articlesbase.com

There you have it. If you are down… you need to try and get 30mins of sunshine a day. I would also recommend moving away from Canada or St Paul, MN…

Tags: florida, moods, sunny, weather