21 STEPS TO YOUR MOST CREATIVE SELF

This is the 8th installment in my series 21 Steps To Your Most Creative Self.

Today most of us are focused on work and commitments. In our culture, playing is often thought as wasting time – it is often looked down on as there are no real goals (except to have fun!) Play is a time to forget about work and all those pesky commitments. It can be a time to be social without structure and be creative at the same time. When we play, there is no goal in mind, except to have fun.

What is play?  It has been defined as taking part in an in activity for enjoyment and recreation instead of for a practical purpose.

There are many benefits to play. It:

Relieves stress – play often triggers endorphins which gives one the sense of well-being.

Stimulates your mind – people tend to learn better than they are having fun and when they are relaxed.

Improves learning skills – playing chess or putting together puzzles are things that challenge the brain and will improve memory.

Keeps you young

Teaches children social skills and cooperation with others – something adults can learn too.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw

I believe a little bit of play will go a long way – but what can we do for play?

Most of us don’t have access to a trampoline bridge.

Most of us don’t work in offices that have slides.

But, most of us have access to a playground. When was the last time you played on a swing?

Other things to do:

Learn a card trick

Have a game night with friends

Go bowling

Play miniature golf

Play with a dog – if you don’t have one, many rescue groups need dog walkers. While you are at it – have a conversation with the dog.  

Find a child to play with – play a “pretend” game – remember those? Or play Follow the Leader or Hide and Seek (I play Hide and Seek with my dogs!)

Put on music and dance

Put together a puzzle

       Make a collage

       Get a coloring book

Research shows play helps prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Playing a musical instrument or playing checkers is helpful.

Who doesn’t play? Mass murderers – studies have shown. 

Playing helps us relax, it takes us away from the “real” world. Through playing, we can be anything, an explorer, a rule, a time traveler – the list goes on. It helps remove the limits to what we believe is possible.

What do you do for play?  I’d like to know!

Closing thoughts:

“Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent and independent with a tremendous amount of adventure and a love of play.” Henri Matisse

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The true object of all human life is play.” G.K. Chesterton

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by intellect but by the play instinct.” Carl Jung

“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” Abraham Maslow

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” C.S. Lewis (which I recently did rereading Alice in Wonderland and Aesop’s Fables)

 

 

 

OCTOBER READING

 

This is my monthly blog devoted to the previous month's reading

According to GoodReads, I have read almost 14,000 pages this year – that is almost 10 days (and that is the 24 hour day, not the work day!). Is that too much? Possibly. I admit reading is a habit and I’m guilty of downloading free books on my Kindle just to pass the time with reading. So, I publicly declare – I will concentrate on reading NO MORE THAN ONE BOOK A WEEK, unless I am on vacation. I am going to be more thoughtful in my choices of books. I have to admit, in looking back at what I read in October on GoodReads, some of the books have already faded from my memory.  So – here goes.

THE GRASS HARP- by Truman Capote. This is a delightful novella. I am currently on a quest to read at least one book by an author from every state in the union. This book is my first selection for the state of Alabama – okay – I know Truman Capote was born in New Orleans, but he lived in Alabama for years and his best friend was Harper Lee. I will write more about this book when I blog about my quest. (You can read where I declared my quest HERE).

SYCAMORE ROW by John Grisham. This book takes place three years after his first novel A Time To Kill, with Jake Brigance back. This follows the trial after Seth Hubbard, dying of lung cancer, kills himself and leaves a handwritten will giving his fortune to his black maid of three years. Of course, his family contests the will. I think Grisham is in better form in a courtroom drama, so I’m very glad to see him back! He makes it fairly clear that he will return to this character in the future. The only drawback to the book, it is a little wordy.

A COLD DAY FOR MURDER by Dana Stabenow. This is the first in a series by Kate Shugak, who left the Anchorage D.A.’s office and returned to her home in North Alaska. I found this book while researchingAlaskan writers for my previously mentioned quest – so I will write more later. It was a fun and quick read, but it gets a little bogged down explaining Alaskan culture. (PS, it is free on Kindle right now)

A CRUISE TO DIE FOR by Aaron and Charlotte Elkins. This is the 2nd book in the Alix London series. Alix is trying to make her way in the artworld as an art restorer and consultant. Trouble is her father is a convicted forger himself. In this book, she gets a job as an art expert on a cruise in the Greek Islands by one of the richest men in the world. Her job is to give lectures and answer questions from prospective buyers of world class art. However, she is working for the FBI’s Art Bureau, trying to expose an art forgery scheme. This was a fun little read, not too heavy, but it does have a little art history thrown in!

WHAT THE DOG ATE by Jackie Bouchard. The first sentence is very promising:

“The vet handed Maggie Baxter a plastic specimen bag containing a pair of size tiny, lavender thong panties extracted from her dog, but they were not hers. Or rather, they were hers now since she’d just paid $734 to have Dr. Carter surgically remove them from Kona’s guts.”

This is a cute book about Maggie trying to get her life back on track after her husband leave her. Starting out as a workaholic, she is trying to balance her life and find her dream job. Along the way her brother moves in, he leaves, she hangs out with his best friend, she meets a new best friend in a yoga class, all the time trying to figure out what direction she should take her life in. As I said, it is cute, but it is also pretty predictable!

REUNION WITH DEATH by Sheila Connally. Laura joins a group of her college classmates from 40 years ago on a trip to Italy. When a professor from the school is killed by a fall down a hill everyone thinks it’s an accident. But, of course, Laura things there is more to it than an accident. I liked the fact that the women were older,  and while it is billed as a “mystery”, a large part of it is a travelogue of Northern Italy. While I enjoyed it, it was an extremely light read and I knew who the murderer was early on.

 PLAY DEAD by Leslie O’Kane. This is the first in a new series about Ally Babcock, an animal therapist in Boulder that, of course, solves crimes.  Cute but very predictable.

So – no more downloading books just to have something to read! I’m going to plan what I’m going to read and take it slowly.

Any recommendations for good winter reading?

 

 

TAKE A HIKE

Take a walk, a jaunt, a stroll. Get out and strut, saunter, or promenade. I don’t care what you call it, just get up and MOVE!

A recent study at Stanford found creative thinking improves during and after a walk.  While participants in the research were leisurely walking on a treadmill, they were instructed to come up with different uses for an object (like a button – which could be a doorknob in a dollhouse, you get the picture). Most of them were able to come up with 60% more uses for the object than participants sitting down. And, the results were similar whether walking indoors or outside (yes, this surprised me too).

So, that explains why Steve Jobs often had walking meetings. So do  Obama and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.  Other walkers?

Beethoven – carried a notepad and composed while walking

Gustav Mahler, who insisted his wife Alma walk with him daily, sometimes as long as five hours

Tchaikovsky walked every morning for 45 minutes and took another walk for 2 hours in the afternoon

Charles Darwin took three walks a day

Woody Allen stopped walking around New York because people recognized him, now he often paces on his terrace 

Composer Erik Satie walked from his suburban Parisian home to Montmarte daily,  a 6 mile walk.  He often missed the train home and walked back at night

“I have walked myself into my best thoughts.” Kierkegaard

“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” Henry David Thoreau

“Walking is the best exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.” Thomas Jefferson

“Now, shall I walk or shall I ride? ‘Ride’ said Pleasure. ‘Walk’ said Joy.” W.H. Davies

“If you seek creative ideas go walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.” Raymond I. Myers

“If I could not walk far and fast, I think I would just explode and perish.” Charles Dickens

“I would walk along the quais when I had finished work or when I was trying to think something out. It was easier to think if I was walking.” Ernest Hemingway

So, get up – take a walk!!!!

Do you have a favorite walk or hike? Do you have any walking rituals?  Can you tell a difference in the way your mind works after or during a walk?

 

This is week #2 of the series 21 WEEKS TO YOUR MOST CREATIVE SELF

SHOUT, SHOUT, LET IT ALL OUT!

If you really want to live as a creative, you have to declare it! What matters most is that you think of yourself as an artist! (are you singing the title?)

“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”  Steve Pressfield, The War of Art

Does this sound familiar? We all feel like frauds or fakes at some time or another. The fear of being exposed is real.  Listen – STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

If you need to create, you are an artist. You don’t have to paint, you don’t have to write, but you have to create something that is uniquely your own. BE PROUD OF IT!  SHOUT IT OUT! OWN IT!  What you are creating is yours and yours alone!

Stop comparing yourself to others standards. What matters is HOW YOU THINK! Don’t just think of yourself as an artist, say it out loud! It is powerful. Of course the little demons come in and burrow in our thoughts. But if you say I AM AN ARTIST with confidence and power, the demons will recede.

So, claim yourself as a creative. Believe in your creativity – it is a universal trait of humans after all.

So, repeat after me

I AM A CREATIVE PERSON. I BELIEVE IN MYSELF AND MY TALENT. I AM CREATING A CREATIVE LIFE.

If you have to – stand in front of a mirror and say it.  Better yet – go back to week #1, FIND YOUR TRIBE and tell them, they will understand.

What will you do this week to shout out to the world you are creative? How will you make the commitment?