Thursday, December 31, 2015

Know Your Resources

Although I've touched on this exercise in another post (see here), I want to look at it a little more closely today because I believe it's important to get in the habit of knowing what tools you have to reach for when you need to apply your creativity to an event or problem.

As so many things that get reviewed at a time like the end of one year and the beginning of the new, take some time now to thumb through your rolodex of skills, references, and connections.  By reviewing what you have to hand, you can also identify those that you would like to work on developing in the coming year.

When I face a challenge, the first thing I do is to review what skills, references and connections I can use to find a resolution.  When I start a new job, the first thing I do is catalog the resources I have at my fingertips to be successful at the job.  For instance, in my current position, I work for a company that's been around for more than 75 years and has many, many employees that have been with the company for 25 years or more (some up to 45 years).  There are many strengths to that sort of employee make up but there are challenges, too.  So many of the routine things that happen are not written down.  Everyone just knows how to do and who to call but if you're new, that way of working can be very daunting and so much of your time is spent just trying to find out who to ask what questions of.  You also spend a lot of time in trouble because you've done things wrong and there's no way of knowing it's wrong until you do it wrong.

My best tool in this case was a piece of software - Microsoft One Note.  I was able to make tabs covering a wide variety of topics, including one called "Contacts."  Every time a new piece of the puzzle is revealed, I make a note and almost every single day, even after more than a year in the job, I refer to a tab in that file and I'm able to share what I've learned with other newbies like me so they don't have to go through the trouble I've had.

Those organizational tools like this will be different for different types of jobs and it's important to learn what you can use in each particular situation.

From the skills side of things, here are some skills that I value:

  • Lateral thinking (approaching a problem from a different direction)
  • Problem solving
  • Ability to learn about a subject quickly
  • Ability to think through a problem logically
  • Emotional intelligence 
These are some of the skills I work on continually so that when I need them, they're ready to go. 

In addition to these mental skills, I work on the practical skills that all me to be creative in my textile arts.  These are very practical, hand's on skills that I need to be able to call on when I'm designing. To be able to see the finished piece in my mind doesn't do any good if I can't put it down on paper and then execute it.  So I practice and keep in touch with techniques that will give me greater scope to do my thing.

What are some of the skills that you need to do what you love to do?  Make a list of those skills and rate yourself on your ability to use each one.  Which ones will you build on this year?  Which ones will you pass on to others that share your passions?  Teaching is one of the best ways of cementing skills you're building.  

I hope that the new year will be one of joy and creativity and new things.

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Da Vinci's Principles - #7 Connessione

"A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena.  Systems thinking."

"When you toss a stone into a still pond, the water ripples out in a series of widening circles.  Conjure up that image in your mind's eye; ask yourself how one ripple affects another, and where the energy of the ripples goes, and you will be thinking like the maestro.  The ever-expanding circle is a lovely metaphor for the principle of Connessione..."

"One secret of Leonardo's unparalleled creativity is his lifelong practice of combining and connecting disparate elements to form new patterns."

"Many of his inventions and designs arose from the playful, imaginary combinations he made of different natural forms.  Although the seriousness and intensity that Leonardo brought to his studies cannot be overemphasized, he was, as his love of jokes, riddles, and boxed dragons demonstrates, extremely playful.  As Freud commented, 'Indeed, the great Leonardo remained like a child for the whole of his life...Even as an adult he continued to play and that was another reason he often appeared uncanny and incomprehensible to his contemporaries.'  Leonardo's seriousness drove him to penetrate the essence of things, and his playfulness allowed him to make unprecedented, original connections."

A couple of things stand out for me in the chapter of "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" by Michael J. Gelb.  The first is his understanding of the interconnectedness of everything around us. This is a theme that is very practically developed in the surprising book and video series called "How We Got to Now" by Steven Johnson.  By tracing the six inventions that he asserts made the modern world, Johnson looks at, for instance, how the invention of something like ice affected how we have inhabited the planet.  I know that ice itself isn't a human invention but there was a man who had a vision for how ice, cut out of the frozen lake and shipped to hot climates would change life for those living there; he was considered to be a crazy idiot.  Nevertheless, he held onto this strange dream and, when it succeeded, he not only became incredibly wealthy but all of a sudden also became a 'genius.'  Funny how perceptions change.

While that seems a foreign concept for us living in modern times, think about how ubiquitous ice or manufactured cold is in our lives.  We live in air conditioned houses, with boxes that keep food fresh by keeping it cold and we drink cold beverages to make ourselves more comfortable.  Someone had to think of marketing the ice and all the other inventions flowed from that.

Here's what Steven Johnson says about the ripple effect of invention.

"But the other reason to write this kind of history is that these innovations have set in motion a much wider array of changes in society than you might reasonably expect.  Innovations usually begin life with an attempt to solve a specific problem, but once they get into circulation, they end up triggering other changes that would have been extremely difficult to predict."

"Johannes Gutenberg's printing press created a surge in demand for spectacles, as the new practice of reading made Europeans across the continent suddenly realize that they were farsighted; the market demand for spectacles encouraged a growing number of people to produce and experiment with lenses, which led to the invention of the microscope, which shortly thereafter enabled us to perceive that our bodies were made up of microscopic cells.  You wouldn't think that printing technology would have anything to do with the expansion of our vision down to the cellular scale, just as you wouldn't have thought that the evolution of pollen would alter the design of a hummingbird's wing.  But that is the way change happens."

This blog is primarily about creativity and growing in our ability to apply creative principles to our lives and the world around us.  I encourage you to read "How We Got to Here" and watch the PBS series that is currently available on Netflix.  Seeing how others have allowed the ripple to flow through them to create new things on the foundation of things that have gone before will, if you're like me, inspire you to copy them.  This is a book that I go through pretty regularly because it seems that every time I read it, I find something new to inspire me.

There's another thought that strikes me as I read this chapter on Connessione.  The other day, I heard a friend of mind use a phrase in a particular way that I know they picked up from me.  It struck me that I'd picked up this way of saying this phrase from a friend that I'd known well about 10 years ago and I'm sure they picked it up from someone else.  The ripple flows through our relationships as well as our theories.  By being a creative influence on those around me, like I've been influenced by others before me, we can sustain the energy for the hunger for creativity to ripple on for many generations and makes me want to surround myself by creative people.

My hope as we head into a new year is to be a positive, energetic, creative influence on those I interact with, whether I know them or not. I was deeply touched by this Thai commercial that illustrates some of these truths.


Perhaps what we need in the coming year is to expand our understanding of how our creativity can enhance our relationships and by doing this, to make our world better.  "As you've done to the least of these, my brothers, you've done to me." ~Jesus

Friday, December 25, 2015

Da Vinci's Principles - #6 Corporalita

"The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness and poise."

"What is your image of the body type of a genius? Did you grow up, as I did, with the stereotype of the skinny, "four-eyed," brainiac nerd?  It's amazing how many people associate high intelligence with physical ineptitude.  With a few exceptions, the great geniuses of history were gifted with remarkable physical energy and aptitude, none more so than da Vinci."

"A number of scholars have suggested that Leonardo's passion for anatomy was a reflection of his own extraordinary physique.  Dr. Kenneth Keele, author of "Leonardo da Vinci, the Anatomist," refers to him as "a unique genetic mutation" and emphasizes that his 'approach to the anatomy of the human body was significantly influenced by his own remarkable physical attributes.'"

"Aerobic conditioning: Leonardo guessed that arteriosclerosis was a cause of premature aging, and that it could be prevented by regular exercise.  Dr. Kenneth Cooper and many other modern scientists have confirmed the maestro's intuition.  Cooper, the originator of the concept of aerobics, found that regular moderate exercise has profoundly beneficial effects for the body and mind. Aerobic ('with oxygen') exercise strengthens your cardiovascular system, improving blood and therefore oxygen flow to your body and brain  Your brain is, on average, less than 3 percent of your body's weight, yet it uses more than 30 percent of your body's oxygen.  As you become aerobically fit, you double your capacity to process oxygen."

Paying attention to and taking care of the body is a no-brainer when you talk about operating at maximum capacity. Did you ever try to do homework late at night when you were exhausted, only to look over it the next day and wonder what you were thinking?

Talking about physical fitness and eating right can conjure up all sorts of negative feelings from those who haven't had much success incorporating it into their lives and condescension from those who find these activities easily.  In our times, it's become a very contentious subject but that contentiousness shouldn't stop us from evaluating our lives in this area honestly and with an openness to improvement that we approach other areas.  It's not about comparing ourselves to the modern concept of body image but about being honest with ourselves and identifying areas that we can work on that will give us more capacity to be at the peak of our own form compared to our own selves.

This is a path that no one else can give us although there are many that can help us find our path.  Don't be afraid to be honest, don't be afraid to ask for help and don't forget to reach out to those who can give you constructive encouragement.  Find accountability partners that can help you succeed.

(from "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" by Michael J Gelb)

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Da Vinci's Principles - #5 Arte/Scienza

"The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination.  'Whole-brain' thinking."

"The terms left-brained and right-brained came into popular parlance through the Nobel prize-winning research of Professor Roger Sperry.  Sperry discovered that in most cases, the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex processes logical, analytical thinking while the right hemisphere processes imaginative, big-picture thinking."

"Effectiveness demands the creation of balanced brain teams...More often than not, however, individuals tend to polarize by hemispheric style.  The left-brain dominants in the finance department gather by their coffee machine, look over at the right-brained marketing people, and think, 'Those flaky dreamers have their heads in the clouds.  They don't understand the bottom line like we do.' Meanwhile, at the right-brained watercooler, the right-brainers are eyeing the left-brainers and thinking, 'What tiny minds those bean counters have.  They don't see the whole picture like we do."

I see this in a very similar way to the whole introvert/extrovert conversation.  I know introverts who hide away and use their introversion as an excuse and I know extroverts who never stop and use their extroversion as an excuse.  At the end of the day, they're both an excuse to not grow.

I'm a confirmed introvert who has learned how to extrovert when I need to.  I understand that if I have to extrovert a lot, it's going to take a lot of energy and I need to make plans to go after those things that help build up my inner reserves.

I'm also a very creative and intuitive person.  I used to intuit something around me and I took those conclusions at face value but I had a highly left-brained friend who would quiz me on my intuitive conclusions.  In those conversations, I realized that there really was a logical reason behind what I intuited but it meant I had to take a step back and look at it logically before I could explain to him why I felt a certain way about a person or situation.

That was a revelation to me that the logical steps I learned in high-school geometry class (the only thing I learned in high school geometry class) could help unlock my creative process and intuitions for me and for those I was attempting to communicate with.  Now, not only did I have my intuitions and creative flights of fancy but I had a reason for them and most of the time I could explain them. If I couldn't immediately explain them, I let it simmer until I could work my way through it.  That gave me more power than ever for my creativity and validated my conclusions.

There was also a surprising side-effect.  It gave me a powerful tool to understand my emotions and gain control over them.  I no longer had to feel sad but not understand why I was sad.  I could be angry and find the root of the anger.  I could embrace my emotions, acknowledge the emotions and then find a way to make constructive use of them.  Before this, my emotions were so strong and they would so easily overwhelm me.  I would make decisions based on how I felt.

In the Matchbox Twenty song, "All I Need," the songwriters writes something pretty profound for our day - "Everybody's trusting in their heart like the heart don't lie." Emotions are real (left-brainers) but they're not always reality (right-brainers).

Right-brained people need left-brainers to keep them honest with themselves and the world around them (to a certain degree).  Left-brained people need right-brainers to help them fly once in a while, take a little flight of fancy from time to time.  Those balancers don't have to be romantic partners. They could be family, friends, colleagues. Sometimes the balancer can be you.

Learn to ask the logical questions and let your creativity stand up to the test and learn to walk among the stars a little bit.  Let your balancers teach you how to use your whole brain and find a whole new world of wonderful.

(Based on the Michael J Gelb book, "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci.")


Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Da Vinci's Principles - #4 Sfumato part 2

Looking a little more deeply into the Sfumato principle of da Vinci, I want to explore the point Mr. Gelb makes about "Incubation and Intuition."  Here's what he says.

"Great musicians claim that their art comes to life in the spaces between the notes.  Master sculptors point to the space around their work as the secret of it's power.  Similarly, the spaces between your conscious efforts provide a key to creative living and problem solving.  These spaces allow perceptions, ideas and feelings to incubate."

"Almost everyone has experienced 'sleeping on a problem' and awakening with a solution. But incubation is most effective when you alternate, as Leonardo did, between periods of intense, focused work and rest.  Without periods of intense, focused work, there is nothing to be incubated."

Have you ever gotten stuck on an idea?  You work and work and think and get input from others  It seems like the more you press, the further away the solution moves. It's kind of like visiting a friend who has a cat.  The more you try to lure the little moggie to give it a little pet, the further away it moves.  Have you ever noticed that the only people the cat seeks out are those that ignore it or who hate cats?  They always know.  Ideas can be just like that.

Work hard, go after the ideas, the solutions but don't be afraid to walk away and give it time to breathe, to expand on its own to a place where you can grab hold of it and own it.

(Have a look at the book, "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" for exercises that will help you grow in this principle.)

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Da Vinci's Principles - #4 Sfumato

(Literally "Going up in Smoke")
A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox and uncertainty.

As we continue to contemplate the Principles of da Vinci as laid out in "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci," I think this principle is the hardest for me to approach, probably because it hits closest to home.

"As you awaken your powers of Curiosita, probe the depths of experience, and sharpen your senses, you come face to face with the unknown.  Keeping your mind open in the face of uncertainty is the single most powerful secret of unleashing your creative potential. And the principle of Sfumato is the key to that openness."

"Leonardo's ceaseless questioning and insistence on using his senses to explore experience led him to many great insights and discoveries, but they also led him to confront the vastness of the unknown and ultimately the unknowable.  Yet his phenomenal ability to hold the tension of opposites, to embrace uncertainty, ambiguity, and paradox, was a critical characteristic of his genius."

To live in today's world is to live with uncertainty, ambiguity and paradox.  You don't have to go looking for it, it exists in so many facets of our lives regardless.  I think the only people who wouldn't admit to that are the ones who are lying to themselves, which is a way of hiding yourself from the world and it's the opposite of thinking like Leonardo.  But it's so seductive in the sort of chaotic world we live in.  When you're constantly bombarded by the fearsome, the loathsome, the unthinkable, it can become too much to bear and can cause us to shut down.

The problem is that the first thing that will shut down is our creativity, which of course is our openness to new things, new connections, new realities and our key to navigating the rough waters.  New = unknown.  Facing the unknown requires a degree of inner strength and resources that the world around us tries to rob away.

Almost 20 years ago now I became very ill.  I was unable to work or really to function for about 6-8 months.  I had almost no short-term memory so that even as I was talking to someone, I would completely forget what the conversation was about.  People would remind me of something I'd said but I had no memory of having said it. To this day, when I get tired I lose words.  I can't remember words for simple things or names, never a strong suit for me anyway. For much of this time, I could only be up for several hours at a time.  Living abroad at the time it hit, I ended up having to return to the States.  I'd lost my health, my memory, my physical and mental strength, my home, my friends. It was the most profound sense of emptiness and loss I could fathom. And it was frightening because I didn't know if I would ever get better.

I only began to function again because I refused to close down.  It wasn't a necessarily or entirely a conscious choice but I knew I had to challenge myself every day.  The challenges I faced myself with in those days would seem ludicrous in any other context but it was based on asking myself to do something or to face something that I didn't know if I'd be able to do.

As I thought about my situation, the picture that came to my mind was that of a reservoir.  I had a reservoir of strength that had been emptied by the battering my life had taken with all of the losses I'd faced and I had to find a way to fill up that reservoir, at least enough to help me function through the day.  So I began to look at the things that "filled me up."  What were the things that, when I did them or was exposed to them, made me feel stronger, that lifted my head.

There were three things that were key for me.  One was music.  I identified that it was critical for me to be bathed in music for as much of my day as possible.  Music filled my room every minute I could manage. I played my guitar for as long as I could sit up and hold it. There were particular musicians, songwriters, that strengthened me even more than others.  So I surrounded myself with their music, their songs.  I love words, which is why the loss of them is so painful, but those songwriters, in the way they joined their words, lit something deep in me and I could listen to the same songs over and over again.  They have never lost their power for me.

Another was fiber crafts.  At that time, I could only knit and crochet and didn't have much money to buy supplies for either but I managed it.  There's no telling how many things I made with crappy yarn during that period but the joy was in the process of making, not in the quality of the supplies or the finished object.

And finally, for me, was prayer.

Identifying those key rivers that fed into my reservoir was what gave me the means of emerging from those dark days.  Now when I begin to feel uneasy or insecure or uncertain, I know where to go.  I've added things that give me life, that fill up my reservoir, but those three foundational things are still my keys and I still run to them in times of turmoil.

My personal Leonardo challenge to you today is to think about what it is in your life that gives you strength.  Find the things within you and around you that "fill your reservoir" and give them free reign in your life to build up the inner resources that will allow you to "keep your mind open in the face of uncertainty" so you can know the "powerful secret of unleashing your creative potential."

Monday, December 21, 2015

Dimonstrazione Dimonstrazione'd

I’m going back for a second to what Michael J. Gelb in his book, “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci,” presents as Leonardo’s 2nd Principle – Dimonstrazione – because I came across a terrific example of this principle operating in a person’s life – even if he doesn’t realize that he’s acting like Leonardo.

In an interview with Eater.com, Alton Brown talks about tools and how he approaches them.  He was explaining how he will be illustrating his newest cookbook (which will be #8 – don’t tell him it will be #11 or he will take you to task in no uncertain terms) using an iPhone.

<<Helen: I think you’ve brought a similar paradigm shift to the way that cooking and food information has been presented in books, too, though.  Your Good Eats books don’t feel like standard cookbooks.  They have a lot more going on.  They’re layered and they are multifaceted.  Was that another intentional choice?

Alton: Sure.  If I have an intentional choice with any form of media, especially where food is concerned, it’s to attempt to reinvent, or to break a rule.  Not because I’m trying to be an iconoclast, I’m not.

Helen: With a leather jacket here.

Alton: But what I am trying to do is to shake up forms, and find the dark little corners of any particular media form, and figure out a new way to approach it.  Books are the most frustrating of any of them because they just sit there.  They’re not temporal.  They don’t pass, you know, you can’t cover a cut with a music cue.  It sits there and stares at you, and you stare at it.  You’ve got to approach them differently.  My books have never been based on, “Okay, here’s a pretty picture of some food.  Now here’s the recipe for making the food.” I don’t do that because I don’t enjoy that.  I want even cookbooks to have a narrative.  I want to learn something, and I want to be taken someplace.  I want to be able to sit down and just read the book to read the book.  That’s how I kind of try to write books.  My new book is actually as conventional a cookbook as I guess I’m capable of.  It’s one hundred of my everyday cooking recipes.  But the book’s arranged by time of day instead of meal.  And every recipe gets a full-page photo that’s shot on an iPhone. So I guess even then, I can’t just do it like other people do.

Greg: Why the iPhone?

Alton: Because it is the visual tool of our age, as far as I’m concerned.  It’s funny, it forces you – every photo in my new book is taken from directly overhead.  I wanted to come up with a visual language that was more immediate.  I’m making a book for the Instagram crown, you know and so why not use that tool?  Why use fancy cameras and fancy lenses if I can use a tool, and find a new way to take advantage of that tool and do what it’s really good at, and stay away from the things that it isn’t very good at. Then a whole kind of new visual thing comes out of that and I like defining work sometimes by the tools.  Instead of deciding on a style and finding the tools for it, I’ll pick up a tool and say, “Okay, well, I’m intrigued by the tool.  Let’s style for it.” So the iPhone seems to be the perfect thing to do.  On top of the fact that nobody’s ever done it.  Another good reason, at least to try it.>>

There’s so much I love about his approach to what he does that’s expressed in this tiny snippet but for the Leonardo moment, “I like defining work sometimes by the tools.  Instead of deciding on a style and finding the tools for it, I’ll pick up a tool and say, ‘Okay, well, I’m intrigued by the tool.  Let’s style for it.’” (You can listen to or read the entire interview at the link to Eater.com above.)


Here’s the Leonardo exercise for our Leonardo/Alton moment: pick up a tool, any tool, and try to find as many things you can do with that tool as possible.  Re-invent it for uses it was never made for.  Need some help seeing what that might look like?  Try this.


Sunday, December 20, 2015

Da Vinci's Principles - #3 Sensazione

The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.

"Yet Leonardo reflected sadly that the average human "looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance, and talks without thinking."

"What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? The sweetest sound you've ever heard? The most exquisitely tender touch? Imagine a sublimely delicious taste and a haunting, delectable aroma.  How does your experience of one sense affect all the others?"

When I read this question, "What is the sweetest sound you've ever heard?", several things come to mind but one of the strongest is the Nikolaj Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade violin solo that the character Hardison (played by Aldis Hodge) plays in an episode of the TV show, Leverage.  Sounds like a weird combination, right?  Just close your eyes and listen to it.


Just let everything stop and listen again. You can find longer renditions of this piece of music that will give you more time to stop and immerse yourself in this powerful music for a moment in time.  That's what our senses can give us if we give them a moment in time.

There are a wide range of exercises laid out in the book to expand our awareness of our senses.  What are some of the things that come to your mind when you consider becoming more aware of the information you are taking in through your senses?

From the book, "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" by Michael J. Gelb.


Friday, December 18, 2015

Da Vinci's Principles - #2 Dimostrazione

A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.

"Think of the best teachers you have ever had.  What makes a teacher great? More than anything else, it is the ability to help the student learn for himself. The finest teachers know that experience is the source of wisdom."

"Throughout his life he proudly referred to himself as uomo senza lettere ("man without letters") and discepolo della esperienza ("disciple of experience")."

"Leonardo championed originality and independence of thought."

How much good would come of looking at a beautiful picture of a delicious meal and the best of wines?  A little perhaps but how much better would it be to sit at the table and enjoy the real meal and drink the exquisite wine?  Thinking you know a fact can never take the place of testing it and making it live in your own experience.  Have you ever told a child not to touch the stove because it will burn them?  What do they do?  They touch the stove, of course, and prove your theory.  It's only then that they know that if they touch the stove, it will burn them.

"Leonardo saw how preconceptions and "bookish prejudices" limited scientific inquiry.  He knew that learning from experience also meant learning from mistakes.  He wrote, 'Experience never errs; it is only your judgement that errs in promising itself results as are not caused by your experiments."

How many examples can you think of that demonstrates this principle?

Here are some of mine.
  • The old story of the lady who cut the end off her roast before she puts it in the oven to roast.  One day someone asked her why she did it.  "I'm not sure but it's the way I learned to do it from my mother."  To solve the reason for the practice, she called her mother to ask.  "Oh, that's easy," said her mother.  When I was first married, my oven was too small for the roast so I had to cut it for it to fit in the oven."
  • On TV crime dramas, you have the lazy detective who decides who's guilty and manipulates the facts to meet his ideas.  I'm in the middle of watching the 1950s tv show Perry Mason and that's how Perry, Della and Paul Street always showed up Lt. Tragg and DA Hamilton Burger. In every episode Burger and Tragg always decided a crime had to be committed a certain way and never tried to ask the next question.  They were always absolutely sure that THIS time they had him.  Perry was going to fall on his face and they were going to triumph but they never did.
  • The highly educated person who can articulate the most high flown ideas and theories who can't actually do a single one.  They're in every office, in every business of a certain size.  All theory and no common sense.  
  • As a 19-year old, having been brought up in a very small town in Texas and in the Southern Baptist Church, I went through a very chaotic time.  The chaos and challenges of those times made me question a great many of the preconceptions I inherited from my family and the culture in which I lived.  There were things that I grew up watching adults do and listening to opinions generally held that I never understood.  There were assumptions that I just couldn't reconcile in my little heart.  Of course, I couldn't have articulated most of them but I felt uncomfortable and unsettled when they came up. There were other things that I accepted without question.

    As I went through this dark time, I began examining these beliefs and assumptions and decided that not one of them would be too precious to question.  Some of them I examined and decided I could still embrace and, of course, others were thrown overboard.  They didn't stand up to inspection and they had to go.  It ended up putting me at odds with much of American life and my experience with church but it also made me more confident in my values and beliefs.

    It's not easy to put everything on the table and it's certainly not comfortable.  But the interesting thing is that, although it gave me greater confidence, it also made me less willing to be dogmatic about my beliefs and practices and more open to the world around me.  Over time, my experiences have strengthened my core beliefs and softened some areas that were proved wrong.

    I love this clip from the comedy "Friends" where Phoebe challenges Ross' deeply held beliefs on evolution (and gravity).

I'm not going into more details because they don't matter.  They're mine and they don't have to be yours.  But you will expand your life and your ability to create by being willing to question yourself, put conclusions to the test and admit and learn from mistakes.
Leonardo made many, many mistakes.  All of those we would acknowledge as being masters of creativity made many, many mistakes.  As Professor Lester Lloyd-Reason says, "If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying hard enough."

Making mistakes aren't enough.  We have to admit them and learn from them. Then we can say with the best...


"How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci" provides a good few exercises that will help you begin to work through this Principle of da Vinci so that these thoughts move from head knowledge to heart knowledge and experience.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Da Vinci's Principles - #1 Curiosita

The first of the Principles of da Vinci is that of Curiosita, described as an insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.

(In a typical passage from the notebooks Da Vinci...) adds, "I roamed the countryside searching for answers to things I did not understand.  Why shells existed on the tops of mountains along with imprints of coral and plants and seaweed usually found in the sea.  Why the thunder lasts a longer time than that which causes it, and why immediately on its creation the lightning becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel.  How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone, and why a bird sustains itself in the air.  These questions and other strange phenomena engage my thought throughout my life."

My parents were two of the most curious people I've ever known.  One of the strongest memories I have of my Dad was him on a Sunday afternoon, laying on the couch with a volume of the encyclopedia.  It didn't matter which volume of our (even then) ancient set he had.  He would read it from start to end like a novel.  There was always something in it that interested him. Unlike me, he was a great extrovert and he used his magpie storage of information to talk intelligently to anyone on almost any subject.  If he didn't know about their subject before he talked to them, by the end of the conversation, he had a good working knowledge of whatever they were interested in.

I hardly remember a time when I was growing up that my mother was not taking some sort of class or another.  She had a hunger for education and continually stretched herself.  When I was in Jr. High, she decided to go back to college to get her degree.  She was continually studying, learning all sorts of new things and I became her guinea pig for her exercises in classes ranging from audiology to psychology.  For me, it was fascinating because I was learning along with her.  It was great!

By the time I was in High School and had moved back to our hometown in Central Texas, Sunday afternoon for the two of us was made up of her studying while I baked bread.  She would take a break for a slice of fresh bread while we watched Julia Child and then we would lay around reading through the huge dictionary she used for her studies.  We would find some obscure or funny sounding word and challenge each other to use the word in conversation during the week.  It's amazing when you learn a new word at how many times it will show up.

I don't think I really ever had a chance to be anything other than curious but it was also something that I learned.  You can learn it to.  Allow yourself time to begin asking questions like those in Leonardo's notebook.  Start a notebook and spend time each day to just think and ponder.  I understand how hard that can be in our busy lives but I'm going to begin carving time out myself and I challenge you to do the same.  Can we do it for a week, to begin with?  Let's do it together.

(from "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" by Michael J. Gelb)

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Heros of Creativity

One of the indispensable tools for learning to use your creativity more effectively is the book, "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci - Seven Steps to Genius Every Day" by Michael J. Gelb.  In this infinitely practical books, Gelb describes 7 characteristics embodied by Leonardo da Vinci that fed his creative genius. He gives some background to da Vinci's life and his active mind before heading into the workbook section of the book.

Gelb writes in his introduction, "But the key question remains.  Can the fundamentals of Leonardo's approach to learning and the cultivation of intelligence be abstracted and applied to inquire and guide us toward the realization of our own full potential?

"Of course, my answer to this question is: Yes! The essential elements of Leonardo da Vinci's approach to learning and the cultivation of intelligence are quite clear and can be studied, emulated, and applied.

"Is it hubris to imagine that we can learn to be like the greatest of all geniuses? Perhaps.  It's better to think of his example guiding us to be more of what we truly are."

A little later he says, "Baby ducks learn to survive by imitating their mothers. Learning through imitation is fundamental to many species, including humans.  As we become adults, we have a unique advantage: we can choose whom and what to imitate. We can also consciously choose new models to replace the ones we outgrow.  It makes sense, therefore, to choose the best "role models" to guide and inspire us toward the realization of our potential."

He presents these Seven Da Vincian Principles are:

Curiosita - An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.
Dimostrazione - A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
Sensazione - The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.
Sfumato (literally "Going up in Smoke") - A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
Arte/Scienza - The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination.  "Whole-brain thinking.
Corporalita - The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
Connessione - A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena.  Systems thinking.

The second section of the book covers each of these principles along with some extremely practical exercises that makes learning and practicing them attainable.

Over the next week, I'll share some of my personal experiences with each of these principles and hopefully inspire you to start your own journey in da Vinci's footsteps.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Creativity and Emotions

I doubt it will be news to you that life isn't always easy.  The daisies aren't always blooming and the birds don't always sing.

At the risk of being trite, we all have positive and negative emotions.  Even happy moments can have a touch of wistfulness or sadness.  Starting a new chapter of life, for instance, requires that we turn the page on an old chapter.  I love to read and the books I love most are the ones that make me sad when they're finished.  I've enjoyed living with the characters so much that I feel a loss at not being able to carry them with me anymore. Saying goodbye to them makes me sad.

On the other side, my father was a master at finding something funny in the most difficult times. He could always find something absurd that made him laugh.  There can be moments of sweetness in the midst of sadness.

Do you know anyone whose emotions run their lives?  Who is a slave to their emotions?  I'm a person of very strong emotions.  There's nothing wrong with that.  But I've had to learn the hard way that I can feel emotions and embrace them without allowing them to make my decisions and run my life.  We can make emotions the scapegoat for bad decisions and lack of control or we can harness them to bring comfort to those in hard places and peace to those in turmoil or joy to those who can't see the end of the tunnel.

Creativity is a sort of life force that is not always born out of good times. Creativity can help us see what's not there.  It can help us brainstorm our way out of a deep pit.  It can raise us above the disappointment we often feel over our own failings and failures.

What I've learned is to live and think creatively when times aren't so rough so that the skill is well honed.  That way, in the midst of the highs and lows of emotions or difficult times, I have a way to harness my emotions so they don't crush me or lead me astray.  I know how to brainstorm or see beyond the present or find new connections or find and ask the right questions. I know how to create something that's never been dreamed of before.

I'll give you one example.  I was in a job that I loved doing, working with people I loved being around.  Circumstances were such that the company  went through a variety of changes.  That's not always a bad thing except we went through several mergers and acquisitions over a short period of time and inherited a company president who was an entrepreneur trying to run a company that needed someone who could bring some structure and infrastructure.  He wasn't happy unless everyone and everything was in turmoil.

After the last acquisition, the corporate culture we found ourselves in required that everyone work all the hours God gave, even to the point of sending emails in the middle of the night that staff were expected to respond to.  I was working late into the evening every night.  I loved the people I worked directly with and the work I was doing and I knew my job but I became overwhelmed and my emotions were overwhelming.  I even had to make questions about work from my friends and family off limits because I hated the negativity it brought into my relationships.

When you're tired and overwhelmed, finding the energy to overcome seems impossible, not to mention finding the energy and time to make the break and start looking for a new job.  I didn't want to stop doing my job, I just wanted it to not be so crushing.  I've decided it was very similar to the sorts of emotions and the mindset of someone who is in an abusive relationship.  The job becomes the master and there's no way to impose your will on it.  It sets the rules and you obey or else. You need it because you have to pay your bills but it leaves you no inner resources to walk away.

In the midst of this situation, I knew that I had to find one toe hold to something that could make me feel like I still had even a remnant of control over my own life.  I had to stop the never-ending spiral of bitterness and negativity by making a decision to find a vision of life outside that spiral.  I made myself sit down and think, "What is one thing I can do right now in the midst of this?"  For me, in my situation, it was as simple as downloading several job search apps on my phone and taking time every morning before I went to work to look through the search results for that day.

My next step was to make myself take the time to build my online resume.  That was a hard one because I had to track down dates and salary information and contact information.

Finally, I began to send out resumes to jobs that I thought were in my skill set.  I had to be careful to walk the line between underestimating what I was capable of (because I felt so beat down) and overestimating the challenge I was ready to face.  In this process, I was able to regain some control over my life and I ended up finding a job that would give me my life back.  It's not a perfect job and now, a year down the road when I feel so much more myself, it's not terribly challenging or fulfilling but it's put me in a completely different place emotionally so I can now begin to build towards what I really want to do.

Creativity can do all this.  Build your creative muscles and use them so you'll be ready for your own challenges and to help those around you.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Ancient Thinkers for Today

In today's post, I want to share a podcast that looks at 3 of the foremost thinkers of the Ancient World who all lived within the same sort of 100 year period. Bettany Hughes, a historian and broadcaster, talks about her research into these philosophers and how their advice would stand us in good stead today.

One of the main points of their teaching that Bettany shares is the need to not learn things by rote but to question everything, something I've touched on once or twice here. 

Have a listen. http://m.historyextra.com/podcast/ancient-egypt/ancient-thinkers-and-history-madness

You may find other of the History Extra podcasts interesting so feel free to have a look through the site for other subjects that might be of interest. 

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Finding Hidden Inspiration

Some of the best books I've ever read have been those that I've come across by accident.  Many of them have been "favorite books" of people whose interviews I've read.  By paying attention to influences of influential people, you can find things that inspire them.  That's worth paying attention to.

One of my favorite books of all time came to my attention in this way.  In an interview of Prince Andrew, he mentioned that he was currently reading again a book he'd read many times called, "I Heard the Owl Call My Name." I don't admire a lot of what Prince Andrew has done or been involved in over the years but he is a man of influence and privilege and his statements about the book made me curious. Its simple power stunned me and it is a book, like To Kill a Mockingbird, that I revisit on a regular basis when I want to reground myself.

Have a look at the things that have influenced people you admire or are interested in or who are completely random.  If you meet a new person, ask them what their favorite book or movie or poem or song is and why.  You'll be surprised at how many times this will lead to inspiration and challenge, not to mention how it will open your eyes to hidden depths of the people around you.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Consider the Source

My topic for today is, if you want to be a creative person, hang around with creative people.  You become like those you spend the most time with.  It's true about physical fitness, eating healthy, having a positive mindset, being generous and any other kind of trait or habit you would like to acquire.

Take stock of those you spend your time with. Some people are in your life and there's nothing you can do about that.  If those people are toxic, it's hard.  But you don't have to only spend your time with those people.  Search out those who are going to encourage you and help you and be around you without strings.

Easy to say but not always easy to master.  For the extroverts among us, you'll know how to meet people and be around them.  For the introverts among us (like me), that can be harder.  If you have a creative hobby, find local groups that you can join that will give you some common ground to meet others.  Find local groups through virtual organizations like Live Your Legend or NaNoWriMo.  Take some classes through your local community college or community group.  If you don't know who those groups are, check out listings in your local newspaper or look at their online community postings.  Many radio and tv stations also have community calendars that list local group meetings.

While you're at it, visit a group doing something you've never heard of before to find out what they're passionate about.  In my local Weaver's Guild, we once had a program presented by 2 ladies who do artful things with wheat.  No, really.  With wheat.  Really elaborate, astounding things.  With wheat.  Don't believe me?  Have a look at this.



There is a whole international organization of people who make art with wheat.  Who knew? In our area, there are several local groups of people committed to this art form.

Now, I don't have any interest in using wheat as an art form but these folk do and they were fascinating to listen to and ask questions of.  And now I know something I didn't know before.  I know people make beautiful things with wheat.

My best friend plays the harp (the big stand up harp).  She didn't learn when she was young.  She decided in her 60s that she wanted to learn to play the harp so she started asking questions and actually found someone locally who teaches harp.  She began to learn and discovered that there are harp conferences all over the United States where hundreds of harpists go to take workshops, meeting other harpists and shop.  For harp stuff.  Who knew?  They even have a "harp parking lot" outside the vendor area.  They park their harp and go shop or go eat.  Harp parking lots!  Don't you love that!!

She now plays locally at her church, at nursing homes and is part of a "harp circle" where a group of people who play the harp (or are learning to play the harp) meet just to play the harp. And, by the way, she's been blind since childhood so she learns by ear and with teachers helping her verbally rather than by showing her what to do or giving her a sheet of music.  You can do this stuff, too, you know.

Now she knows people all over the United States who share her love of the harp and I know something new.  I know people who have a passion for the harp.  The only thing I ever knew before was that Harpo Marx played the harp.  I don't play the harp but I hang out with some that do and they have their own vocabulary and sense of the world that no one else has.  I like harp people.

The point is, hang out with people who are creative or who embrace a life of creativity.  It doesn't matter if you do what they do, creativity crosses boundaries.  Your unique perspective (creativity) will inspire them and add something to their knowledge of the world and their art that they didn't have before, just as they can add those things to you.

That's what I love about this stuff!  It's infectious and self-replicating and only needs a little nurturing and light to grow.

Need a New Year's Resolution?  Why not resolve to discover at least one new thing every month in the new year?  Learn about a skill you never knew about before.  Watch some movies in a genre you've never watched before.  Read a book about someone well known in a field you know nothing about before.  That's a resolution you can easily succeed with and your life will be immeasurably enriched in the process.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

When to start

The biggest obstacle to learning that I see in the classes that I teach is perfectionism.  There is always at least one person in a given class who will get highly agitated during the session because what they're doing isn't perfect.  I've been teaching textile craft techniques for more than 10 years.  I've taught everything from beginner's classes with people who've never touched yarn or fiber in their entire lives to advanced classes with people who've practiced their craft for years. I've taught people to spin yarn, knit, crochet, tat, do bobbin lace, make jewelry and use a lucet.  That's a lot of people doing a lot of things and I can tell you there's nothing better than seeing the look of surprised joy on someone's face when the fiber they're spinning actually holds together or they make the stitches correctly.  And there's nothing more frustrating than someone who won't allow themselves to be bad at something until they're not.  I know what they're capable of but they don't allow themselves to get there.

We expect a lot out of each other and we expect even more of ourselves.  For women, this is a particular problem.  I know.  I've always fooled people into thinking I'm good at everything when really what I was doing was only doing the things I was good at.  Smoke and mirrors for fear that I might look foolish doing something badly.  There were always enough things I was competent in to keep up the illusion.  Until I realized that I was missing out on some great stuff because I was afraid to start.  At the beginning. And be bad at it.

I don't do that anymore.  Well, almost any more.  I've stepped out in a few ways this year that have scared me enough for me to back off from them.  I'm trying to face those inner fears by pushing forward in those projects but it's not always easy going.
This is a bobbin lace project I'm working on.  I'm going through an extensive workbook on this particular technique, called Torchon lace.  This pattern sat on my work space for more than a month.  The previous 14 projects were completed within about 3 weeks but then I came to this one.  It was intimidating and I didn't know how to start.  The workbook doesn't have very good instructions for this pattern and assumed a lot of knowledge that I didn't have.  So rather than putting on my big girl pants and figuring it out, I deflected.  One project after another distracted me from it but there it sat until I realized what I was doing and called BS on myself and just got to it.  It looks fine right now with all the pins in it, hiding the many, many mistakes that are there.

I tell my students all the time when they want to take everything out and start over because they've made a mistake.  STOP IT! Don't worry about the mistake, just keep moving forward.  Learn why the mistake happened and incorporate that learning into the process but keep moving.  On one part, the instructions were there but I didn't take enough time to understand them so it's not like it should be.  OK.  I made the mistake, recognized it and now I know how to do that type of stitch.  Mission accomplished.  Once I'm done and it's off the pillow, I can always work it again and keep this one nearby to help me do those difficult stitches correctly.  I didn't know how to do it, but I did it so now I know how to do it.  That sounds like a win to me.  

Look.  A plan is never going to be perfect.  Start somewhere and figure it out as you go along.  When you start learning a new skill, you're not going to be great at it.  In fact, you'll probably suck at it.  For a while.  Get over it and go for it.  Embrace the suckiness of learning to do something new or doing something you've never done before.  Since you're never going to be perfect from the start, you actually have to do it until you get good at it.

I have things I've invested enough time and effort in that I'm very good at them.  I have other things that I haven't invested as much time and effort in and I'm good enough to enjoy doing it but nothing more than that.  I have other things that I'm not great at and I'm fine with that.

So the moral of the story is, don't let fear of the suckiness hold you back from the steps that are necessary to create and excel.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

What's the question?

When we're faced with a project or challenge or problem, the first thing we try to do is find the right answer.  But it's impossible to find the right answer if we're not asking the right question.

Do you feel stuck in your creative endeavor?  Ask yourself this question:  Am I asking the right question here?  Take a pause and consider what the root of the issue or project is.  Give yourself to the search for the right question for once you have the right question, the answers will come.

"The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he asks the right questions." Claude Levi-Strauss

"The function of the artist in a disturbed society is to give awareness of the universe, to ask the right questions, and to elevate the mind." Marina Abramovic

"Ask the right questions if you're to find the right answers." Vanessa Redgrave

Monday, December 7, 2015

What the Donkey Did

Some of my biggest creative influences are books by Roger von Oech.  I first came across his book A Whack on the Side of the Head in the 1980's.  His focus on approaching challenges, problems, projects by uncommon means and a sense of play spoke to me and reinforced things I was doing that I didn't know I was doing or why I was doing them.  Books like WhackA Kick in the Seat of the Pants and Expect the Unexpected or You Won't Find It gave me a vocabulary and context for my approach to creativity.  His Creative Whack Pack is a much used app on my phone, good for a quick "Whack" when I need some inspiration.

His book Expect the Unexpected has a list of 30 sayings by Heraclitus, a pre-Socratic thinker, that challenges the reader to go through on a daily basis to try to find the sense in the thought and see how it might have an influence on what the reader is facing.  Since starting this blog, I've been drawn back to my creative roots, as it were, and revisit the wisdom of Heraclitus.

Today's thought is:

DONKEYS PREFER GARBAGE TO GOLD

The first thing that came to my mind is a song from the 1940s made popular by Bing Crosby called "Would You Like to Swing on a Star."

The first part of the song goes like this...

Oh would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
and be better off than you are
or would you rather be a mule

A mule is an animal with long funny ears
Kicks up at anything he hears
His back is brawny but his brain is weak
He's just plain stupid with a stubborn streak
And by the way if you hate to go to school
You may grow up to be a mule

Donkey.  Mule.  Much the same thing for my purposes.  The thing that sticks out to me is the stubbornness of the animal.  I can see in my mind's eye all the old Westerns of my childhood where the horse is running free and fast while the mule/donkey has his feet dug in while braying at full volume, while the old prospector is pulling on the rope.  When I'm stubborn, I close my mind, my ears and my heart to anything that might be ahead.  No one can talk to me because in my head I'm making so much noise that I don't hear what they're really saying.  No one can convince me because I refuse to be convinced.  No one can touch me because I've closed myself off to any possibility for good that might come out of this journey.

When this happens, I can only watch the horse with it's flowing mane and tail and either be contemptuous or jealous.  Either will cause rot in my life and both are completely unnecessary.

So how does this help unlock my creativity?
  1. Knowledge is power.  Knowledge of myself is freedom. Or is it?  I've begun to recognize my own personal symptoms of stubbornness and I'm trying to learn the difference between the blinding sort of stubbornness that stifles me and the kind of stubbornness that keeps me focused on my goals.  I read something once that talked about the more "realistic" a person was about themselves, the more honest they were about their strengths and weaknesses, the less likely they were to be a "super succeeder."  Ok, I made that word up but that's the gist of it.  Their own personal reality, regardless of whether it agreed with the wider reality or not, is all they acknowledge.  It's the famous Adam Savage (Mythbusters) line of, "I reject your reality and substitute my own."  There's that fine line between blindness and focus. 
  2. Do I settle for the garbage or do I go for the gold?  What is garbage and what is gold?  Is it always the same or does it depend on context?  Think about the things that were of the utmost importance to you when you were 5 years old.  Were they the same things when you were 16? How many of us who have passed through those teenage years would long to sooth a teenager by telling them that in a few short years, those things that they find so devastating will no longer matter?  It doesn't do a single thing to sooth their hearts but we just try to keep them going until they make the discovery for themselves. I have to determine what's important in the current circumstances and be focused on that without getting distracted by the garbage.

    Otherwise you run the risk of being like this guy:

So all of this to say that, for me, for today, I need to keep my mind, ears and heart open to all that's around me and focus on the things that have true importance for me in this moment.  

You will come up with a completely different thought about what this "Creative Enigma of Heraclitus" means.  I hope you do and I hope it opens you to things you might not have thought about before.  That's the magic!

Sunday, December 6, 2015

The Art of Running Away

You're working on a project and you make a certain amount of progress.  After a while, though, you hit a roadblock. You find that your mind is like a horse shying at a jump. I'm sure you've seen the video of the horse running to a jump, getting spooked and either stopping in its tracks, throwing the rider over his head or prancing around in front of the jump.

Once the horse has been spooked at the jump, trying to get it to try again takes finesse and wisdom by the rider. If the rider forces the horse, she risks losing the horse's trust, which is critical to completing the course. 

I think hitting a hurdle in the creative process can be like this at times. 

You can force your way through the problem (and let's face it, if it's to meet a deadline sometimes you have to do that), you risk losing faith with the vision and the passion you have for it. 

The better way might just be to walk away from it. Not all the way away, perhaps, but at least across the room away. Let it bubble away in the back of your mind while you do other things. 

It's likely that you'll wake up in the middle of the night or an idea will hit you in the shower that will kick you off down the way again. That may take a few minutes or days or months. It may take a year. But it will be worth it in the end. 

Remember when Sheldon was having a block in his research and he decided to do what Einstein did and get a menial job to help stir his creativity?  He ended up working with Penny when all of a sudden his breakthrough came

So, don't be afraid to walk away when you need to. Walking away may actually get you closer to where you want to be than fighting your way there. 

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Memories

This isn't specifically about creativity except to honor the person I inherited much of my creativity and certainly all of my love for textile arts from.  I guess that's good enough.

I'm going to a pot luck later and so I made this.
It's called Watergate Salad, presumably because it was served at the Watergate Hotel. I can't think of anything political about it. 

Anyway, I digress. My Grannie used to be one of the cooks at the Brownwood Hospital and in her day, people came to the hospital to eat (especially her hamburgers) even if they didn't have anyone there to visit. She made every type of jello salad there was and this is one of the ones I remember her for. 

It's dead easy. 
1 20oz can of crushed pineapple (her recipe said a #2 can)
1 package of pistachio instant pudding
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup thawed cool whip
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix everything together and chill. 

As I was mixing the pineapple and pudding mix, I had one of those scent memories and I was back in her kitchen watching her cook and having a good old natter. It was such a joyful memory that I wasn't expecting. 

Here's to my Grannie!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a spatula or two to lick.  Emmmm…clean. Wash.   




Thursday, December 3, 2015

Comfort Zones

I've just been reading a blog post from Stu Hayesman about whether we should be in or out of our comfort zone (http://blogfish.uk/in-or-out) and it's got me thinking. 

Everything you hear today, especially when we're talking about living a creative lifestyle, says that we have to "live outside the box."  I sort of know what some people are saying when they say that (some are just parroting it so I don't count them) but I'm not sure I buy it. I think the statement needs to be able to stand up to the tough questions. Things like:

1.  What do you mean by the box?
2.  Is it always bad to be in your box?
3.  Who said so?
4.  What does being outside it mean?
5.  Do I have to always be outside my box?
6.   Why or why not?
7.   Says who?

I think the original intent was to say, don't be afraid to experience things that aren't part of your normal day-to-day existence. Those experiences can help you grow and learn new things. If that's what you mean about the box, I'm with you. 

However if you mean that you should live in a way that you're always uncomfortable just for the sake of it, I say bosh. Not true. BS. 

Our "boxes" are where we live, they are where we exercise our expertise, it's where we recharge, it's where we feel safe. If you never feel safe, you'll never have the confidence to succeed. If you never recharge, you'll wear out. If you don't ever have a place to do the stuff of living, you'll die. 

As in so many things, people jump on a band wagon and repeat things that sound good even when they don't really understand what they're doing or saying. 

So I say that there's no shame about the box. It's there for a purpose. I also say that it's good to be challenged in our perspectives, our assumptions and our opinions. Let's agree to respectfully discourse and give people and the wider universe around us permission to challenge us to be the best human beings we can in our world so we can bring positive affirmation and change to the those around us. 





Wednesday, December 2, 2015

You never know

I was looking at an article on the BBC News website about James Clerk Maxwell, a fascinating man with a vast influence on our modern world. (www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zyp34j6) in the article was this quote:

"I never try to dissuade a man from trying an experiment. If he does not find what he wants, he may find out something else."

Isn't that a great quote as we think about creativity?  Even experimentation that doesn't hit the stated goal can still have an important outcome. So experiment, fail, learn something new and repeat. 

According to the article, Maxwell (1831-1879) devised the color triangle that was the forerunner to the RGB color model used in today's computing. He solved the question of the nature of Saturn's rings, he developed the first color photograph, he developed a formula which helped physicists understand the effect of temperature of gas on its atoms & molecules and his work on Faraday's ideas on the link between magnetism and electricity led to the eventual discoveries of technologies such as x-rays and radar. 

All of his discoveries were the result of his never-ending curiosity about the world around him. He was constantly experimenting and observing and testing and watching what others were doing. He built on the work of others and others built on his work. Creativity is a team sport even if the collaborators aren't in the same room or even alive at the same time. 

I'm fascinated by this man who did so much in his mere 48 years in this planet. Here's a quote from the article:

"In 1905 Albert Einstein said his theory of relativity owed its origins to Maxwell's equations. So why aren't we more aware of James Clerk Maxwell?

His ideas were complicated and ahead of their time, often unappreciated until many years after they were introduced. His short life was packed with incredible achievements in a variety of scientific areas, but he was a humble man not prone to self promotion. All these factors have clouded his fame…"

I think I need to know more about this interesting man. How about you?

There are people in this world who are foundation builders who can leave this planet all too soon having established bedrocks upon which the rest of us build. Their legacy is not only the bedrock but also all that we who are touched by it do in response. 

For those of us in the LYL (Live Your Legend) sphere, of which I am the newest participant, Scott Dinsmore was such a man. He didn't make scientific discoveries but he built a framework for people in all walks of life and in any field to find fulfillment and success in their lives. I'm grateful that I was introduced to this amazing man's works, albeit after he was gone. Even at this distance, his life has touched mine and I'm better because of it. I only hope that I can do the same for others.