Here’s this week’s Say What?

“Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person.”
–Ethel Mumford

Tags:Creative Writing, Inspirational Sources, Quick Steps Say What?

Three Questions

1. What does quantum physics have to do with creativity?
2. What does creativity have to do with you and your future?
3. What’s the connection between quantum physics and your future?

Since you’re here, I’m going to assume that you already know the answer to question 2. If you’re a new visitor, our thoughts about it can be found in the Why Be Creative? archive. I’m going to attempt to answer questions 1 and 3.

This topic may seem like it’s coming out of the blue, but there was something that inspired me to post about it. This weekend I sat down and watched What the Bleep Do We Know?

If you’ve seen this combination documentary/story you may already have an idea where this post is going. If you haven’t seen it, you’re probably wondering why it has a place here.
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The map of my life got a whole lot bigger in 2006. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile, but Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger has a Group Project going this week that made me decide to write a post.

Coloring in the Map

2006 was a journey along a road that bore only a faint resemblance to the territory I was familiar with. There were bits and pieces that I recognized, but most of the year I was spent in uncharted territory. Now I can look back and see how much of the map I’ve colored in.

The job

I knew where I was on the map at the beginning of the year. My path was already beginning to leave the areas I knew though. I finally had a paycheck that was unaffected by holidays and vacations, so I started paying off some old debts. The resulting improvement in my credit score threw me even further into uncharted regions.

The house

I qualified for enough of a loan to buy a house. This was not what I had planned. Halfway through the year, I became a homeowner. Needless to say, there have been many little side trips in my journey since then.

The internet

Jaunting around the internet, as I’m prone to do every so often, led me off in some new directions as well. With a friend, I started this site. And I found blogs and podcasts that gave me some focus, which leads me to the next region

The writing

I’ve always written - but rarely, if ever, finished anything longer than a post. I realized this year that writing was important to me. So I took the plunge and did two things - I signed up for NaNoWriMo and I contacted an author who’s podcast I was listening to. I haven’t finished the book I started for NaNoWriMo, and am still working on it, but during the month of November I wrote more on a single story than I ever have before - and I will finish it by the end of the month. And it lead to my being involved in helping put together a local writing group.

The Map Today

There’s an awful lot of color on my map that wasn’t there at this time last year. What I realized though, is that there’s even more of the map that’s still uncharted. And all the roads I see lead out into that uncharted territory. So here’s to 2007 and the knowledge that I’ll see more color on the map - and to knowing that some of that color will be applied to places I don’t even know exist yet!

–ShadowsEdge

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Here’s a simple, but not necessarily easy exercise to expand your creativity and attention. For each letter of the alphabet, come up with an actor. Note one of their television shows, movies or stage shows next to each one if you can.

Can you complete the list without going online? How many can your friends come up with? Which letter was the most difficult to find an actor for?
How many of them you listed spawned mini-lists? How many of them brought back memories? Did any make you think of songs or books?

Tags:Alphabetical, Everyday Inspiration, Inspirational Sources Quick Steps

I’ve been wanting to write a post about creativity and the internet for awhile now, but I haven’t been able to come up with a good approach. I didn’t want to list links to other sites that talk about creativity - though I do plan on posting information on the creativity sites I frequent. I wanted a post that was more about using the internet to inspire your creativity and kick it into gear.

I feel lucky

After a while of banging my head on my desk, unable to come up with a good angle, I decided to give up control of the post to Google. In the Google search box, I typed “creativity+internet” and clicked the “I Feel Lucky” button. Whatever came up, I would somehow use in this post.

Google sent me to an old (2002) post at Brainstorms and Raves. Almost immediately, one of the section headers grabbed my attention and curiosity - “Helping Creativity - Monkey Mind.” Monkey Mind? I hadn’t heard the term before, so I decided to check it out and headed over to the Inner Peace site.

Though there isn’t a clear definition of what monkey mind is, I think I understand it. Monkey mind is that part of ourselves, that little voice, that questions our ability to accomplish our goals. It’s one of the many things that keep us from experiencing inner peace and confidence. And we hardly ever consciously notice it.

Lesson Learned

I viewed the demo of the Monkey Mind program and had one of those “light-bulb” moments. My monkey mind was getting in the way of writing this post. I was allowing it to get in the way of my creativity. I decided to run the program with my own input.

The Program
The first thing Monkey Mind asks you to do is to enter up to five monkey mind phrases. If you can’t think of any, the program has some common ones that it will use.

Once you’ve entered your phrases, or chosen to let the program provide them, you start typing about your dream or goal in the provided text box. Every so often the phrases you chose freeze your input until you tell the program to continue. The goal is to complete your typing and not let the monkey mind chatter deter you.

Here’s how mine went. . .

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Tags:creativity, Creativity and the Internet, curiosity, Found while Rambling, Inspirational Sources, monkey mind Why Be Creative?

Choose one or more of the things from the list below and describe its perfect incarnation. Your description can take any form you wish it too - visual art (drawings, paintings, digital pictures), written word or audio interpretation.

• Beach
• lake
• mountain
• retreat
• home
• location
• neighborhood
• dinner
• significant other
• yourself
• taste
• smell
• car
• pet
• friend
• book
• movie

Tags:Creative Writing, Everyday Inspiration, Getting Inspired, Inspirational Sources Quick Steps