Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Learning Something New, Part II

Here's another place to kick in the learning bug - Wikiversity.  With over 10,000 free learning resources, you'll find tons of great instructional materials here.

How about an introduction to Swedish?  Or web design? What about learning the basics of film making? Or Observational Astronomy?  I think there's scope here for us to go really wild with some new things to learn.  This site is definitely going to be on my bookmarks list.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Learning Something New

We live in an age of information.  There's a ton of information available to us that was never so easily accessible.  Some of it is crap and some of it is gold and the trick is to find resources that are usable and effective.  I'm going to do a short series on some sites that can be used to learn some new things or get better at something we know but haven't yet mastered.

I have a lifelong fascination with languages.  If I could, I would spend all my time learning new languages and going to the places where I can use them.  Alas, I've got a smattering of several languages with varying degrees of fluency.  I used to be very fluent in Spanish (when I lived in areas that I used it on a daily basis) but I've lost much of it.  So to improve, I have  been getting books on tape in Spanish and that's helping me build up my fluency again.

I've also been flirting with French for quite a few years now.  At one time, I could read quite a bit but I've never gained spoken fluency and I've lost much of the comprehension that I had.  So I've signed up for short time with www.newsinslowfrench.com to work on improving my fluency.  For the sake of full disclosure, this is a subscription site but you get transcripts of the recordings as well as the reading in slower speech (though not irritatingly slow) and readings at normal speed.  For me, that's helping build the areas that I need the most help on.  Since it's not always easy to find spoken French that also has the translation, I was really pleased to find this site.

They have similar sites for Spanish and Italian.  I'm using the Intermediate option but they also have a Beginner option so if you've ever wanted to learn a language, this could be a great option for you. Honestly, if you've never learned another language, I would encourage you to start with Spanish as I think it's probably the easiest language to learn (you always pronounce the letters the same way every time and the majority of the verbs are conjugated regularly - that means easier) and it's so widely used, you can most likely use it right away.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Something new

I was talking to a friend today that was telling me about this new gadget she'd gotten and as she was telling me about how it works, I was reminded about how many obscure interests there are out there that people share and that I didn't even know existed. 

Finding out about people or activities you have no knowledge of is kind of random but you can use social media to hit on these kinds of things. 

Poke around and join a couple of groups or follow some people and learn about a topic you know nothing or very little about. Pay attention to the vocabulary and the things the practitioners take for granted. What's most surprising about the knowledge they're sharing?  How does it compare to your preconceptions? What's something you can take away from their skills or activities?

Here are some random subjects or find your own…

Tatting
Silhouette cutting
An era of history
History reenactment
What went on today in a country you've never visited? (Not necessarily a hot spot, just a random day for ordinary people)
Follow some feeds in a city you've never been in. What are people there caring about today?
Tuba musicians
Architects and architecture
Library science
How does the pancreas work?
What went on at the Black Comic Book Festival today?
How does a camera work?

Friday, January 15, 2016

Creativity and Books

As I was reading the various reactions and posts last week after the passing of David Bowie, two of the things that stood out to me were his enormous creativity and his voracious reading habits. I've never been a huge Bowie fan but I think I can learn a few things from his life. His creativity in multiple spheres speaks for itself. 

In 2014, he created a list of 100 of the books that most influenced him. You can find the list in various places, and a Facebook page has been set up to start a book club for those wanting to work through the list, but here's a link to give you a view: http://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/01/11/david-bowies-top-100-books

This topic also made me start thinking about what would be on my list. Almost every highly innovative, creative person is also a reader. In our environment, that could mean books, online posts, forums, etc. but they read.  They fill their mind with new ideas that challenge their perceptions of the world around them and their internal thoughts. 

Not that long ago, books were burned because it was assumed they would undermine the status quo. Remember, you can (and I argue you should) read books that present views that you don't agree with.  This is where you take a look from the other side of an issue, use your brain to evaluate what you read and then make up your mind. 

If you would like to be more creative read, read, read. 




Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Creativity of Agatha Christie

I was listening this morning to an Agatha Christie book on tape (you have to listen to the ones recorded by Joan Hickson - she IS Miss Jane Marple) and I was struck at how Miss Marple employed lateral thinking in her deductions.

Lateral thinking - a way of solving problems by rejecting traditional methods and employing unorthodox and apparently illogical means; an unorthodox approach to problem-solving, often looking at problems from other 'sides' rather than head-on.

In the story I was listening to this morning, the victim had been a silly superstitious woman who had met with a medium who told her that when a certain flower on the wall turns blue, she will die.  She drew on her previous experience as a nurse to determine that the nurse had used litmus paper to cover the flower on the wall from pink to blue as camouflage to draw attention away from the murder.  She also tied the current problems they were having with their district nurse whose attentions were spurned by a resident, which caused her to turn on him and try to blacken his name.

Her solutions were like picking flowers in the garden.  She takes one experience that reminds her of some portion of the situation and then another that makes her think of another person who caused problems in another way and so on until she has a bouquet that wraps up the criminal with a bright ribbon.  Sometimes it was something to do with gardening, sometimes it was a person she knew from her village, sometimes it was a fact about keeping house, sometimes it was an experience from her past, sometimes it was her knowledge of human nature.  It was all grist to her mystery-solving mill.

I encourage you to listen to Miss Marple with new ears.  Let her lateral thinking challenge you to stretch your thinking all around your experiences and random facts and knit them together into a fluffy white solution to your mystery.

Today just happens to also be the 40th anniversary of Agatha Christie's death.  OED posted today, "12 January is the anniversary of the death of Agatha Christie, a doyenne of the whodunnit, or as the celebrated humorist Ogden Nash put it, a murdermongress.  In a career spanning 50 years, she wrote over 60 detective novels, as well as collections of short stories and plays.  In addition, she indulged her romantic side by writing a number of novels in the romance genre, under the pseudonyn Mary Westmacott."

RIP Agatha Christie and thanks for sharing your creativity.




Sunday, January 10, 2016

Seasons

We'd all love to be creative all the time, in every circumstance.  We would love to have creativity overflowing from our fingertips so that everything we touch explodes into the world.  As I sit in my lovely warm house with the temperatures below zero outside and snow laying on the ground, I'm reminded of the seasons.  There are seasons in nature and seasons in our lives.

Our temptation is to be continually "on."  Our technology allows us to connect with the world around us 24/7 but if we let that mindset run our lives, we'll soon be on empty.

One of the things I've learned in life the hard way is that we have inner resources of energy.  When those resources are depleted, everything becomes hard and tiring and wears us down.  Even things we would normally be fine with become chores that we do because we have to, not because we want to.

I've talked in an earlier post about how we can identify activities that will help us build these reserves back up but I'd like to add to those activities (for me music and textile arts) the basics of rest and input.  To give out, you have to have something to give.  To have something to give, you have to take in.

I encourage you to take time to rest (physical, mental and emotional rest) and to take in information that can become fuel for your creative life on purpose.  I realize that those things sometimes feel out of reach, especially if you're a new parent or a parent of a special needs child.  At those times, you feel like you'll never be rested again.  Ever.  I don't want to be dismissive of the demands on your time and energy in this season of life and I don't want to be simplistic.  You need to understand your season and do what you can to take care of yourself.  Or maybe you need to allow others to take care of you.  Sometimes, that's the more difficult move.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Just Start

Thought for the day: Don't wait for the plan or solution to be perfect.  Get your bearings, start and then adjust as you go.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

There's no substitute for practice

People want to start something and immediately be proficient but if they can't, they don't want to try. 

How you view the need to practice skills, including the use of creative thinking, will determine your attitude and how people embrace your ideas. 

Coming at something from a sense of superiority (I have to be better than everybody or I will lose face) is something people will generally pick up on and reject. Sometimes a sense of superiority is simply the wrong sort of pride that can't bear to be found insufficient at something. Well, you know what?  You may be insufficient at a skill you would like to master but that can be fixed. Practice. 

By the way, practice doesn't always make perfect but it can certainly make you better. But before you get better at a skill, you have to start and be willing to suck at it. It's just the way it works. But there can be a freedom in doing something you're not good at (yet). You can just relax and get jiggly with it and have some fun while you're learning. 

Approach the new skills you want to master with a sense of fun and play. You'll be amazed at how much easier it is to learn when you're laughing!

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Negative Influences

As I said before, we are influenced by what we love and what we hate.  Hate can be sometimes be and even stronger influence on our lives than love.  This applies at many different levels.

Hate (anger turned out) and depression (anger turned in) are both issues we all have to deal with.

A person wrongs me and makes me angry.  My hate/anger towards that person will influence how I deal not only with that person but with any other person that I perceive to be "painted with the same brush." Holding on to hate or anger, withholding forgiveness, although it sounds trite, only damages you and influences you in a way that causes you to make unhealthy choices. Depending on its strength, it affects your relationships, your physical health and your emotional and spiritual well-being.  Here are some quotes about forgiveness to ponder.  Don't skirt over them but actually read them out loud and think about what they're saying.  Holding on to a slight because it's yours poisons your ability to create beauty.  No matter what, it will steal from you and do no damage to the object of your hate, thus defeating the purpose.

"The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." Mahatma Gandhi

"We must develop and maintain the ability to forgive.  He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.  When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies." Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Forgiveness is a funny thing.  It warms the heart and cools the sting." William Arthur Ward

"It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive.  Forgive everybody." Maya Angelou

"Forgiveness is not always easy. At times it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one who inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness."  Marianne Williamson

Hate towards ourselves results in self-talk that goes something like this:

  • "You're so stupid.  Why did you say that?  That's stupid and now that person knows how stupid you really are."
  • "You're a clutz.  You'll never be anything but clumsy."
  • "You're unlovable.  No one can ever love you, at least not if they ever get to know you.  They're saying the right words but wait until they find out who you really are."
  • "You're ugly.  Your body is disgusting.  You can't ever let anyone see your body because they'll just be disgusted."
  • "You can never get anything right.  What are you even still doing here?"
  • "You're no good at that.  You're never going to be able to do it right so why even try?"
  • "You'll never be able to persevere.  You're too wishy-washy for that.  You fail at everything and you're going to fail at this, too.  Don't even waste your time.  You should give up now, or better yet, why even start when you're know you're just going to give up."
These thoughts come in many variations and strengths but these are on the hit parade.  Saying these sorts of things about ourselves and agreeing with them influences every decision we make about who we are, what we can accomplish and who we're with.  

People spend all sorts of money and many years of their lives to overcome these conversations, but we start here.  Recognize the voice in your head that's making these types of statements and label them for what they are - negative self-talk.  Naming a thing is always a good first step.

The second thing is to realize that every single living person on this planet has these conversations with themselves at different times of their lives.  Sometimes the conversation is louder and more persistent than at other times but it visits us all. It really isn't just you.

The third thing is to begin bringing  your own voice into the conversation as well as the voices of others who don't agree with these statements.  So the responses can become:
  • "Yeah, I feel stupid about what I just said or did and that person may realize it was stupid but, you know what, we all do stupid things from time to time and all it proves is that I'm human."
  • "I may not be the most coordinated person on the planet but it's not going to make the stars fall out of the sky."
  • "I feel unlovable today but it's not true that I am unlovable. Just the fact that I crave love proves I'm not beyond having it."
  • "I'm not happy about how my body looks but that's not all that I am.  Even if I can't change what I don't like doesn't mean that has to define me."
  • "I do get some things right.  I was kind to someone today and I helped someone out and I listened to someone else's problems. I got those things right."
  • "I may not be good at this but that doesn't mean I can't learn to be better.  If I fail, I will try again."
  • "I need to be more persistent.  I'm going to find someone who will help me keep on track.  If I can't do it alone, I can do it with help."
Of course, these are a little simplistic and some of these issues may need to be dealt with using the support of a professional but recognizing, naming and responding is still the start.  I sometimes literally respond out loud to these conversations in my head to keep myself from allowing them to go unchallenged.

To unleash greater creativity and a greater ability to receive constructive criticism and work and live collaboratively with others, it's important to acknowledge that we have negative thoughts and emotions and develop a strategy to overcome them.  You can reach the stars, I don't care what anybody says!

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Influenced by People

All of us are influenced by people.  My perpetual curiosity came by the influence of both my mother and my father.  I learned about logic and how to identify the individual steps of an event (or an emotion) from my high school geometry teacher.  I learned the world was out there from my Grandma and my Cuban and German aunts.  These were people who were in my life by default. That's significant but not the whole story.

We can also choose people who have knowledge, wisdom or a characteristic we want to incorporate into our lives.  For me, because of my wide interests, I have a wide variety of people I listen to, that I can learn from, who can influence my life.  In fact, about half of the people I follow on Facebook and about 95% of the people I follow on Twitter are people who I admire and want to learn from.  The other half of my Facebook "friends" are actually friends or acquaintances that I follow as a way to share a little bit of their lives when I can't be around them as much as I may want.

But no one in my personal circle - that I know of - is a part of Twitter so that gave me the opportunity to use that platform to be curious about the world as well as interact with people whom I don't know but have something to say about things I'm interested in.  I follow a couple of news outlets in New Zealand and Australia because I was interested in how life goes for people in those countries that I would love to visit but probably will never get the chance.  I get an idea of the things that people in those countries care about and are talking about.  I'm following a radio station in Australia to get a little different perspective there.  I follow Melinda Gates because I admire her integrity and heart and her deep passion for the world and for making a way for women throughout the world.  I follow some gardening sites because I have so much to learn in that arena.  I follow textile artists from different disciplines from around the world.  I want to see what they're creating and what's influencing their art.  Maybe some of that will rub off on me. I follow some writing groups so I can feel a part of that community. I follow a silly reporter from a newspaper in Glasgow, Scotland, because he makes me laugh out loud.  I follow a few people whose whole presence on Twitter is aimed at encouraging people to excel and be tenacious and kind and constructive (without being soppy about it - I hate soppy sweety pie in the sky).

I made deliberate choices to ensure that the time I spend involved in social media (not a whole lot, if I'm honest) is making a positive influence on my life.  That's not to say I only follow people that agree with my views on the world, religion or politics.  No one grows by only listening to people they agree with.  If someone disagrees with my views but can give a reasoned perspective for their beliefs, that gives me a more dimensional view of the world and helps me understand the lives and circumstances of people outside of my personal experience.  If you can challenge me in some constructive way, I want to listen.

If you want to be creative, hang out with people who are creative.  If you want to be kind, hang out with people who are genuinely kind.  If you want to be determined and tenacious, hang out with that kind of person.  You may have those people in your circle of family and friends but you can also seek out more of those people on purpose for a specific reason.

Be sure your influences are those that are going to lead you, encourage you, kick you in the back side to keep you going and be honest with you.  Nothing can stop you with that behind you.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Influences

We all have influences in our lives.  Some we're aware of but most of the influences that affect us are unseen and unexamined.  Understanding the things that influence us can give us more control over who we become and can make our lives much richer.

Parents, family, extended family, lovers, friends, teachers, self-conversations, shop owners, celebrities, public figures, media, music, language, education, environment, interests, likes, hates, circumstances. We are influenced by all of the effects from the moment we're conceived.

Some influences we choose and others are thrust upon us.

We may choose to admire someone for what they say or accomplish or represent.  There's something about them that we admire and want to emulate.  We choose them to influence us so we can be like them, which is fine unless we lose ourselves in them.

Influence: the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc. of others; an effect of one person or thing on another.

Being aware of the things that influence us gives us the power to accept or reject the "compelling force" based on whether it will help us be what we need to be.  Understanding those influences gives us power over them; refusing to examine them makes us powerless in the face of them and weakens our ability to overcome their sway when necessary.

We don't have power over everything that happens to us or all of the people in our lives.  Being aware of our vulnerability to their influences can help us choose how we react to them.  How we react to them is also a powerful influence in our lives.  Our lives are influenced as much by things we hate as by things we love.

As small children, we're strongly influenced by the people most directly involved in our lives.

As teenagers, we are influenced by other teenagers as well as by fashions, trends, music, advertising, media, social media.

As young adults we are often influenced by the choices we make about lifetyle, ambition, those who can impact our career choices, dates, friends,

As we age, we can become inordinately influenced by what we suppose others might think of us or what society might say about our choices and lifestyle.

Of course, these are generalizations but my point is not that we shouldn't allow ourselves to be influenced but that we should be aware of the many ways, both subtle and overt, in which we are influenced and decide which of them get to affect us and how.

Influences aren't just personal, either.  We are influenced as communities, ethnic groups and countries.

There can be positive influences, such as courage of a Martin Luther King or Gandhi or Abraham Lincoln or there can be negative influences like the angular dour colorless Soviet architecture and aesthetic that was a  rebellion against the ornate, brightly colored, opulent influence of the Russian Orthodoxy.

Take an inventory of the things that influenced you today.  Think about the words and phrases you use.  Where did those originate?  Think about your conclusions about products or lifestyle or personal worth that were influenced by something in the media this week.  Ads, music, commentary, entertainment, social media.  What did you allow into your life that made a positive influence on you?  What did you allow into your life that made a negative influence on you?

Did those influences make you feel stronger, wiser, brighter, lovlier?

Did those influences make you feel worse about yourself, feed negatives thoughts about yourself, discourage you, abuse you?

It's important in this life of ours to make sure that we surround ourselves with influences and influencers who are going to make us better people, more caring, more loyal, braver, stronger people. That's the only way we're going to ever be able to influence those around us to become better people, more caring, more loyal, braver, stronger and help the beat go on.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Specialists vs Generalists

For many, success requires that you specialize in one area or even one sub-area.  If your interests are broader, you can be called a dabbler, or a jack of all trades, master of none.  Those are rarely said as a compliment.

Where do you put yourself?  Are you a Specialist whose total focus in on one narrow subject or a Generalist whose focus is on a broad range of subjects?  One is not better than the other.  In fact, there are strengths and weaknesses inherent in both.

A Specialist's strength is that he or she can dig deeply into the subject of study. Through this depth of knowledge, they are able to go deeper than anyone else would be able to do and thus find things that no one else might.  The weakness is that he or she can become too narrow in their focus, cut off from any other influence and not allow for anything new to influence them.

A Generalist's strength is in the breadth of knowledge and how each new subject can inform each of the subjects that's come before.  He or she can make new connections that might not be obvious to others.  The weakness is they can often get bored and bounce to a new subject before accomplishing anything.

I'm fascinated by the Polymaths, the combination of Generalist and Specialist.  According to Wikipedia:

polymath (Greekπολυμαθήςpolymathēs, "having learned much")[1] is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas; such a person is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.

These were men who not only touched on a number of different subjects but had a deep grasp of each one of them.  In fact, their grasp of their subjects was so profound that many of them made ground-breaking discoveries that are still affecting our lives today.

In an Autumn 2009 article for The Intelligent Life Magazine titled "The last days of the polymath," Edward Carr explores some of the influential polymaths of the past and some of the few contemporary people who fit the category.  He looks at some of the reasons that so few true polymaths walk among us today.

I've often said that I'm more happy being competent in many things than be the best in any one thing. I have deep admiration for those who become the best in any field.  Their mastery is a joy to see.  I love to hear what motivates them and what drew them to their chosen field. But I know I'll never be that type of person.

For me, everything I learn has an impact on everything else I know.  By understanding one area, it gives me another influence, another perspective, another viewpoint.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Asking "What If"

I thought you'd enjoy this TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Talk by Randall Munroe on the "What If" questions he gets asked and how he answers them with math.

For all kinds of inspiration, check out more TED Talks.  There are hours of them.