Painter beach girl

Balancing creativity and the daily grind

2007-11-17T10:11:00.001-08:00

BY TIM SHELLBERGTimes Correspondent

Although Chesterton's Loft Hamm still basks flexing his originative muscle, he doesn't lose the day-to-day crunch that used to come up with creating fine art for a life in the advertisement world."I only have got one maestro to work for now, and that's me," he said. "I don't have got to worry about the whole originative reappraisal procedure where thoughts go commission thoughts as opposing to a single person's idea. I don't have got to worry about what a client might think. I can make whatever I like."Even though I occasionally lose the exhilaration of a deadline, I don't really desire to travel back," he added. "I'm not trying to make another pressure level cooker for myself."Exhibiting his plant at the G. K. Chesterton Art Center through the calendar month of November, Hamm, who was reared in Cincinnati, first picked up the paintbrush when he was in high school, but set it down after graduation to prosecute a calling in commercial fine art and design.Hamm studied at the Central Academy of Commercial Art in Cincinnati. He worked as a interior designer and creative person in print, telecasting and movie for numerous federal agencies in both Cincinnati and throughout the Windy City area, where he moved in the late '70s. In 1988, helium settled in Chesterton.When he retired from the advertisement human race in 2002, he returned to the easel.As A refresher, he took an fine art social class at Hoosier State University Northwestern United States and makes his work primarily in oil paintings."It's no merriment to just sort of sit down around all day," he said of the drift for his post-advertising passion. "I really wanted to seek and make something, and this seemed to me to be a good mercantile establishment for a certain amount of creativeness and using my ideas."Hamm contributed a twelve and a one-half pictures to G. K. Chesterton Art Center for his exhibit, which opened Nov. 1. His plant on show there dwell of landscape, cityscape and automotive-inspired paintings that he have created over the course of study of the last five years."I don't make what you might mention to as car portraits," Hamm said. "I sort of autumn back on my fine art director's eye. There's a certain amount of realism there, but I seek to happen an abstract subject to it." IfyougoWorks of Loft HammWhen: Through Nov. 30; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and SundayWhere: G. K. Chesterton Art Center, 115 S. 4th St., ChestertonCost: FreeFYI: (219) 926-4711 or

School creativity 'needs support'

2007-10-31T02:06:00.001-07:00

Creativity in schools necessitates to be taken "far more than seriously" if it is to avoid being squeezed out of a crowded curriculum, states a study from MPs.

The Park instruction commission warns that creativeness is a "second-order priority" in England's schools.

The mononuclear phagocyte system state creativeness should be a cardinal portion of learning and should have adequate funding.

"Successful schools are originative schools," said the commission chairman, Labor military policeman Barry Sheerman.

Creativity - in the word form of the arts, music and thought more imaginatively about topics - are an of import portion of an all-round education, states the choice commission report.

But there have got been fearfulnesses that schools, under pressure level to concentrate on academic standards, could be neglecting such as areas.

And the study by mononuclear phagocyte system reasons that more than should be done to protect these countries of creativity.

Low priority

"The Department for Children, Schools and Families [DCSF] gives the feeling that these issues concerning creativeness are peripheral to their core duties in instruction and children's services.

"We believe that the best instruction have creativeness at its very heart," states the report.

The mononuclear phagocyte system said that the support construction "suggests that creativeness is a 'second-order priority'" for the department.

And it urges on the authorities to see changing its Every Child Matters docket so that "creativity goes a cardinal portion of every child's education".

The mononuclear phagocyte system also propose that there should be an appraisal of originative accomplishments alongside academic tests.

Mr Sheerman said schools were enthusiastic about the benefits of creativeness - but the authorities needed to admit its importance and to analyze ways of changing the course of study to do space for it.

"Our enquiry establish a high degree of support for originative attacks to instruction and acquisition in schools, with many practicians clearly convinced of the positive personal effects on a child's learning and development," said Mister Sheerman.

"It is not always clear that the DCSF is similarly convinced - it necessitates to take this issue far more than seriously with active support for creativeness in schools. Creativity should be at the very bosom of instruction and learning."

An Ofsted study last twelvemonth concluded that creativeness could assist better how students behaved.

Pupils who had worked with originative people such as as authors and manner interior designers were more than punctual, better behaved and worked better, said Ofsted.

It said students developed accomplishments such as as improvisation, risk-taking, resiliency and collaboration.

Creative Visualization - Imagining Your Success

2007-08-17T09:41:00.001-07:00

What is originative visual image you ask? Simply said, it's a word form of imagination that brands utilize of positive thought to enable a individual to believe and affirm that life is indeed "positive". Everything in the existence was created to back up a individual in achieving his/her higher intent in life. It stems from the belief that the head have the powerfulness to transform any concentrated idea you concentrate on into reality.

Like a "Barney episode", it urges on us to look into our child-like selves once more than and conceive of the great things we can accomplish, the greater version of ourselves through the magic of our imagination. Here's how…

First, believe of a focus. Something come-at-able and quite within range like losing weight or getting a promotion. As you practice, you tin embark on ends that are more than hard future on.

Find a small "sanctuary" of your own, any topographic point that can give you the peace and quiet you will necessitate in order to concentrate. Brand certain there will be no distractions as you execute this exercise. When you're ready, presume a place of comfort; some people happen lying or sitting as most conducive, but you can research which place would allow you more than comfortableness and focus.

Breathe deeply and relax. Empty your head and concentrate on your focus. Count slowly from 10-1.

Now, conceive of the thing you desire most to go on (your chosen focus), in exactly the manner you would wish it to occur. Think of as much item as you can, gradually making the mental mental image as graphic in your ideas as if it were really happening right there and then.

Afterwards, you must affirm the image you visualized in your mind. An avowal can be said silently or aloud, whichever is stronger in impact to you. It is a statement of profound belief that what you imagined can truly go a reality. Brand certain you avoid negative affirmations. Instead of saying " I am not ugly and worthless" state that you are beautifully made and worthy of all the limitless chances this human race have to offer.

The best clip to make this would be late in the evening, before you travel to bed, or upon waking up after a good night's rest. At these times, your head would be unagitated and relaxed. By improving your deepest mental attitudes towards life and towards yourself, you heighten your self-image, beef up and better relationships, and more than importantly, you lend to your physical wellness and mental health.

Our ideas can be a arm of devastation or our most loyal ally. Remember, they are but energies stored within, and when unleashed into positive forces, we change the balance of the energy surrounding us. By doing so, it naturally conveys about alterations in our milieu in conformity with what we imagined.

Some people talking of imaginativeness as something far-fetched and fantasized. Creative visual image negotiation of imaginativeness as a idea away from reality.

Develop An Open Mind

2007-08-10T15:33:00.001-07:00

It can be incredibly easy to settle down into one manner of screening the world, and one manner of seeing things, but you mustn't let this to happen. When you restrict yourself to a single point of view, you lose out on the larger picture, and forfeit a great trade of possible apprehension that you could otherwise get with an unfastened mind. If for no other ground than to have got greater, more than effectual communicating with others, you necessitate to maintain your head unfastened to new possibilities.

So many things are possible in the universe. So much is possible here on earth. That is why it is considered unreasonable by many to staunchly restrict oneself to a single point of view. "This is the manner things are, and that's that." "Could they also be, say, this way?" "No, absolutely not." "How make you know?" "Believe me, I know. I cognize because I know, that's how." "That's no answer." "That's the lone manner I can live!"

Masters of cognition throughout the ages, the geniuses of history all knew that the more than than you know, the more you don't know. With replies come up new questions. A utile inquiry you can inquire yourself in many states of affairs is, "What if?" What if things aren't the manner you believe they are? What if they're another way?

When having an statement with someone, it's easy to set the winkers on and completely close their side out of your mind. Even when they do the most sense, you can still decline to believe them. Afterwards, when you're calm down and alone, it can sometimes go clear what they meant, and how they reached their point of view. If you had tried to understand where they were coming from at the start of your disagreement, you would have got got been in a more than powerful position, since you would have been aware of both your position and theirs. Instead of using that advantage to win the argument, you could have got helped resoluteness the struggle amicably. "I completely understand where you're coming from, and this is how I see it…" To win in that is to accomplish an even greater victory.

When another individual experiences heard and understood, they will usually be significantly calmer, and much more than unfastened to a smooth resolution. You can make such as a mulct consequence in most conflicts, simply by keeping your head unfastened to all possible facets of an issue.

Even when alone, having an unfastened head is of enormous importance. When you believe of something a certain way, and then make up one's mind that that's the lone manner it can possibly be, you restrict yourself to one reading with no warrant that it's the best, most utile point of view. There may later originate a state of affairs in which your point of view directly impacts your degree of success in that moment. A different point of view that you might have got got written off could have helped you to make even better. Instead, you lost out because you closed yourself off to potentially superior possibilities. You don't have got to make that.

If you maintain your head unfastened to a better alternative, in all things, you'll be keeping yourself receptive to a greater, more than powerful understanding. Not only will you be inherently more than intelligent, you'll also be better prepared to accomplish success in the future.

Women, Painting and Power

2007-08-06T10:49:00.001-07:00

I'm standing in my studio, watching 10 women picture in silence with keen focusing and concentration, and the energy is just humming. All of a sudden Iodine hear a moan from one of the women and the words "Oh no, I detest it. It's so ugly". I smile, feeling a sense of great alleviation and dread.

Relief because another adult female have just blindly stumbled into her gateway to originative freedom. Apprehension because I cognize the opposition and statements I am going to be coming up against as I seek to speak her out of destroying what she holds ugly and to even to get to take the extremist measure of accepting what she have created with wonder and compassion. I have got to be speedy here because women are nil if not furtive and cunning and will blow small clip in eradicating the grounds of what they see unattractive art.

This is a social class in what's known as intuitive picture or procedure painting. The intent of this sort of picture is to larn to listen deeply to yourself and to then courageously show what you find,without censoring anything,in a spirit of spontaneity, surrendering to the originative process.It's very different from typical fine art social classes where the primary focusing is on developing technique and ending up with a pleasing product. This type of social class utilizes fine art and picture as a manner to acquire more than in touching with the interior human race of mind and psyche. The focusing is exclusively on exploring and expressing that internal process.

This route is hard for most women, because even though many of us have got done some sort of ego probe and acknowledge the value built-in in that search, we are still fighting an acclivitous conflict against a very strong cultural prejudice that learns us to put the top value on what is outside of us. We are taught that feelings and an interior life are good as far as they go, but what is truly worthwhile is how we look, what we own, who we know, and where we happen ourselves on the economical and position hierarchy.

The cryptic stirrings of our soul, the demands of our hearts, the messages from our bodies,and the mastermind of our intuition, are STILL, even after all of the conflicts for release that we have got fought, denigrated and considered fiddling and unimportant, unrealistic and immature. But in the human race of the procedure humanistic discipline the kingdom of mind and dreams, imaginativeness and feelings are staunchly defended as sacrosanct and even given centre stage.

The women in my picture social class cognize the regulations of intuitive painting, one of which is that they are not to destruct anything or cover up what they have got got done just because they don't like it or have a negative reaction to it. They cognize what they are attempting here is an exercising in extremist ego credence which intends embracing everything that come ups out of them especially if it do them uncomfortable because there's "gold in them thar hills" of the mind that they can mine to great advantage if they are just willing to remain with the discomfort. But the impulse to disavow the abomination of a perceived ugly picture by making it vanish can be overwhelming.

There are four words in the English linguistic communication that you should never utilize in mention to a western 21st century adult female if you don't desire to acquire your dentition knocked out. Those four small words are ugly, fat, bitch and selfish.

Each of these four words computer addresses an issue of great importance for a woman, and what they all have got in common is that they are keys to unlocking the door to our forbidden feminine power. And one thing you can number on is that each of these four issues will demo up eventually if a adult female seriously gives herself over to making her ain art. Which is one ground that women often diffident away from the originative process.

These words have got got extremely negative intensions for a adult female and have been used to denigrate and control us for a very long time.The complaint around them is so intense that as soon as we hear them we throw up our hands, kick into a topographic point of shame, stopping point our eyes and back away from them as if they were Kryptonite and we were Superintendent Girl. Since we are unwilling to be funny and research them, we never acquire to see that in actuality these four words depict very positive qualities and archetypal energies that we desperately necessitate if we are going to be complete, whole, actualized and effectual feminine Godheads of our ain lives.

One of the greatest internal obstructions to reclaiming our powerfulness is a cogent original at work in most women's psyches that tin be called the Inner Good Girl. The Good Girl lives for blessing and she granaries that blessing by keeping women little and safe and non-threatening. She is not interested in growing up and is contented to stay eternally young. Ultimately, she is the 1 that maintains a adult female from being able to develop and boom as person who is strong and potent,gutsy and capable of taking authorization over her ain life. And the Good Girl never desires to put on the line being fat, selfish, ugly or bitchy.

If a adult female takes her originative life seriously, if she do a committedness to herself and gives herself to her originative work, she will eventually attain a hamlet where she have to face the Inner Good Girl and the listing of Good Girl regulations if she desires to go on creating with passionateness and authenticity.

We all cognize what those regulations are.Smile, smile, smile, be sweet and nice, never acquire huffy (or even annoyed),look pretty (which of course of study includes being thin), odor good, be clean and neat and always be pleasing and accommodating. Don't be loud and remain in the background. What you believe or experience is not really all that important. Don't disquieted anyone. And never, ever do another individual uncomfortable. In the Good Girl human race flawlessness is an come-at-able end and you necessitate to work relentlessly, tirelessly, exhaustively, to be the absolute best mother, daughter, married adult female and friend you can be, all the piece berating yourself because you inexplicably and continuously fall short of the mark.

When a woman starts her originative life she conveys these same mental attitudes and outlooks to her art. She only lets herself to paint pretty pictures that are perfect in every way. Paintings that are nice and do people smile. She is unwilling to put on the line distressing or intense colour or imagery; nil that is too strong or stands out too much. But picture in this manner eventually go forths her feeling bored and stifled. Pretty can be fantastic as portion of a bigger repertoire, but if it's all you are allowed to make it eventually goes both a snare and a cage.

At a certain point in her originative procedure a adult female necessitates to be willing to ditch the Good Girl by breakage the Good Girl rules. But breakage those regulations takes a adult female into the district of the shadow side of the Good Girl, the awful yet absorbing bad GIRL!

The Bad Girl is alive and well in most women's psyches and is the portion of us who is ill and tired of the long listing of limitations that hem in her wild and juicy self. She is plucky and bold, full of audaciousness and unafraid to travel for what she wants. She is adventurous and courageous, and basks the exhilaration that come ups with taking positive life-affirming risks.

But our human relationship to her have a strong shame and shadow component so she often acquires expressed in way's that end up hurting us. She is the 1 who eats the whole container of the batch cocoa bit water ice pick in one sitting, who doesn't go back necessary telephone phone calls to bothersome household members, who passes money that she doesn't have got on clothing or shoes, and who have inappropriate human relationships with work force or women that aren't good for her.What Iodine am presenting here is a manner to repossess the Bad Girl energy, through painting, that is affirming and positive. To acknowledge that what we have got got got been calling bad are disowned parts of ourselves that demand to be brought back home.

THE SELFISH GIRL: Unafraid of putting herself first, of being destitute and proud of it, of nurturing herself, of conserving her ain energy, of filling her ain well, willing to have limits, making her ain ego attention her first priority, willing to be her ain good mother, willing to take clip just for herself, willing to face and defeat her guiltiness about taking attention of herself.

This is the first Bad Girl to demo up when a adult female efforts to have a feasible originative life, and the first 1 I see when a adult female walks in the door of my studio to go to a picture class. I hear over and over again from these women how much they have got lost themselves in taking attention of everyone else. How tired they are of putting everyone else's necessitates first and that they have got come up to this social class because they desire to make something that have no seeable benefit to anyone else.

For a adult female to be originative she necessitates to be willing to take clip just for herself. She necessitates uninterrupted time periods when she is able to come up in her studio, sit down down at her computing machine or her easel, and see what desires to come. She necessitates to allow herself acquire dreamy, make nothing, gaze out the window, and be seemingly unproductive. During these interludes in which she drops into a originative enchantment she is inviting the Muse to come in her and inviting the often secret and cryptic motion of her psyche to show itself.

In these moments, she gets to confront herself through her art. She is able to acquire quiet adequate so that she can listen deeply and start to inquire some indispensable inquiries such as as "What make I think? What make I like? What make I really want? What travels me, conveys me pleasure, do me experience alive.?" It is a me, myself and I time, a clip that demands to be treated as sacred and inviolable in order to let those originative juices to flux unimpeded and to eventually turn into a raging, rushing river.

However, it's usually not long before the telephone set rings or person lights-out (or sometimes lbs ) on the studio door with the outcry of "I necessitate you! And I necessitate you right NOW!" It could be a friend, a child, a female parent a husband, a work obligation, or a tobacco pipe that have just sprung a leak. All of a sudden, person else's necessitates go more than of import than her demand to be creative, and the adult female is faced with the ageless female question." Bash Iodine once again fold the door to my studio and bend my dorsum on the demands of my ain soul? Bash Iodine once again turn out how reliable, dutiful, compassionate , caring, ego sacrificing, available, loving, responsible Iodine am, at the awful terms of my ain originative self? Knowing that I have got the small, and getting littler solace of being able to state "Well at least no 1 is going to be able to name me selfish!"

THE UGLY GIRL: Willing to buck the tide, to be her ain alone self, to not always conform , to step away from the demand for approval, to be willing to put on the line censure, to step outside of the box of what is acceptable as a adult female in this culture, willing to be weird, different, unique, outrageous, bold.

The most common lamentation or desire that I hear from my women picture student's is "But I just desire my picture to be beautiful."

For most women, beauty is a need, a deep irrational hunger, and an unconscious compulsion. Our designation with the demand to be beautiful is so great and so deep-rooted that we rarely, if ever, inquiry it. Beauty is the cardinal to the magic land of well- being, felicity and success. It is the beginning of our value, the warrant of love, our lone legitimate entree to power, and on a very deep degree have meant endurance itself. Because so much is at stake, the pressure level a adult female experiences to be beautiful and to make something beautiful is enormous.

Our whole human relationship to beauty shows up painfully and clearly in the picture process. While she is painting, there is always some beauty standard- whether she is aware of it or not- that a adult female is trying to dwell up to. Maybe the ideal is of a picture that is neat and flawless where no errors or messiness, no trickles or uneven lines are allowed. Or the idealised vision may be one of a picture that is balanced and symmetrical, a idol of elegance, grace, and faultless good taste. In this version of perfection, all the colours must match, and can only be in the scope of hushed pastels with the overall consequence being soothing and pleasant, like a well set together plan in a place and garden magazine.

Whatever the ideal, the energy set into achieving it is relentless. When I watch a adult female paint I am always astonied by the passionateness she have for endlessly fussing over and fixing her paintings. Spontaneity is out of the question. She just takes it for given that her picture must be well thought out, planned, and organized , and under as much of her control as is humanly possible. She is used to not trusting in her ain innate beauty, and anticipates that the pursuit for beauty will imply nonstop work. She never inquiries the ceaseless dieting and exercising, the hours spent shopping for just the right outfit and the distressing over her skin, her hair, her nails. She always have and always will fall short of the beauty grade and just presumes that beauty is something she will continually fight for and rarely, if ever, achieve.

The really sad thing is that she sees nil incorrect with this fretful and apprehensive attack to her ego and to her artwork.This ceaseless and ultimately hopeless striving for the unachievable ideal is just the norm. It's really the lone thing she have ever known.

These narrow restraints of beauty that a adult female happens herself tangled in are always some fluctuation on the Good Girl creed. These socially accepted criteria are based on a definition of beauty that is related to being nice and non threatening, to not standing out too much and conforming to an constituted norm that is pleasant but not powerful. Beauty is related to conformity and convention, to following the regulations and to fitting in. The Good Girl beauty ideal intends that it's not all right to just be herself, warts and all. She necessitates to do make clean herself up and make herself acceptable.

When a adult female is painting, the Ugly Girl often prowlers in as a error or imperfection, a vilification or a smudge, something messy or uncontrolled.When the adult female seeks to clean up the mess, she happens with increasing horror that the clutter only goes on to grow. She is constantly having technical calamities. The paint trickles or runs, she can't command her brush, pandemonium reigns, and it looks like there is nil she can do to make it stop.

She is despairing to acquire back to pretty. In risking spontaneity, she have found, to her horror, that she have created something that appears rough or loud or imperfect. Or,even worse, something monstrous or malformed. She frantically seeks picture more than safe images, more flowers, rainbows, peaceful landscapes . But the flowers develop crisp borders and dark colours and turn completely out of control , the rainbow colours go wildly fluorescent , and the landscapes goes populated with darkly cryptic forms and figs .

At this point she have stepped out of the confines of charming and attractive, and into an unfamiliar landscape of the wild, the untamed the unkempt and disheveled. This is often the beginning of a human relationship to the interior Wise Old Woman archetype, also known as the Witch. This is the human face of the deep feminine that doesn't care about visual aspects . After all, the Enchantress walks around with missing dentition and warts, and obviously doesn't care what other people think. This is an awakening of the facet of a woman's psyche who is no longer a slave to blessing and who have begun to walk down the long route away from grownup female as merchandise and commodity.

THE FAT GIRL: Willing to be big, be visible, to come up out of hiding, to be a adult female and not a small girl, to take up space, to be hungry, to state what she wants, to cognize what she wants, to be full of herself, to be too large for her britches, to be a full adult, unafraid to state yes! A fat miss isn't afraid to take up space and to take her topographic point in the world.

In my studio I offer high quality paper that is of ample size, but pupils can tape the sheets together to do even bigger paintings. It's a intoxicating clip when a adult female tin allow herself distribute out and take up some existent space,when she can do a HUGE painting, one that can sometimes cover an full wall.

Creating a giant picture is a dizzying and terrific prospect, and a adult female often necessitates tons of encouragement and permission to take this step. In fact I usually necessitate to poke at her somes little. She will begin with saying something about MAYBE needing to travel a small larger with her work. She experiences something pushing on her, wanting to come up through, and so she will inquire if it's OK to utilize two pieces of paper instead of one. I generously offer to acquire the paper for her but come up back with four pieces of paper, instead of the asked for two. No substance how "nice" she is, at this point she is more than than willing to do a fuss, to strenuously object about how it's too much, she could never fill up up that much paper, she doesn't have got adequate to express, she couldn't possibly take up that much room in the studio.

But as I go on to calmly pin down the four pieces to the easel, nodding supportively, yet ignoring her increasingly frenetic protestations, I see the gleaming in her eye. She desires this chance to take up space, to proclaim herself in life color, to be unmistakably seen, but is trained to not give voice to this desire. I watch her as she fights with the forbidden exhilaration of the challenge, the possibility, the sheer audacious of it. The door to a secret yearning is creaking unfastened on long fresh and rusted hinges, gap to her hungriness to be big, to be bold, to be outrageous, to be seeable as completely and utterly herself.

THE BITCHY GIRL: Willing to be ferocious and powerful; unafraid of her ain anger, unafraid to talk up, to take a stand, to have got bounds and boundaries, unafraid to state NO! Unafraid to battle abuse, declines to be treated badly, willing to interrupt connexions and walk away from toxic human relationships if it intends protecting your ain wild and cherished self.

Another major hamlet happens in the picture procedure when a adult female recognizes how angry and angered she experiences and she allows herself show it on paper for everyone to see. However, the feeling of choler is so forbidden and so baleful that it will usually mouse in the dorsum door as just a small color. Some reddish or achromatic appears on the page and then slowly or by "accident" turns bigger than the adult female had intended .

As this goes on , the creative person gets to experience a small uncomfortable. She will stand up back from her now boisterous picture with a puzzled scowl and bend to me , saying something like " That expressions awfully angry," followed quickly by, "You know, I'm not really angry. I don't acquire angry. A small defeated maybe, but never angry." This is a very unstable minute in the process. I have got had women actually walk out of the room to acquire away from this hint of anger, set on their coat and denote that they really must go forth now. I am generally able to wheedle her dorsum to the picture for the remainder of the class, but once she go forths I will often never see her again. The world of her ain angry feelings is just too scary, the prohibitions too strong, and all Iodine tin make at this point is hope for her that someday she will be able to experience safe adequate to take that deep dip into her ain passionate and ferocious bosom .

For the adult female who is ready to take that terrific yet thrilling dive, admitting that she is indeed angry can let an astonishing strength of feeling to come up implosion therapy out. All the old age of saying yes, yes, yes when she wanted to state no, no, NO to unreasonable demands, to abuse, to putting her ain demands on a ageless dorsum burner, come up out on the paper in a craze of paint , of color, and of image.

For one adult female it come ups out as a bright redness background, with achromatic words painted simply and starkly to read "I AM sol PISSED OFF!'". For another , it is a big mental image of a adult female with wildly flying reddish hair, bellowing unfastened mouthed and brazen " What the $#%@ about me!!!"

A 60 twelvemonth old woman, who have been married to a Methodist preacher man for 40 years, surprises herself by picture a warrior goddess in hot pants, with a Colt 45 in one manus and a bar spatula (to be used as a whacking arm when necessary) in the other.

The pictures sometimes picture mental images that are recognizable out of myth, such as as a serpent haired Medusa, and sometimes are expressed as a commotion of colour and chaos, populated by weird, otherworldly animals sporting very large, VERY crisp teeth. But what they all have got in common is that they leap off the page with the fierceness of emotion portrayed. There is no mistaking the purpose behind these pictures which is some version of " I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

I RECENTLY read an article in a selling diary that was warning advertizers away from using the words powerfulness or powerful in advertisements directed towards women. The author of this article was not questioning the issue of women's fearfulness around power, just stating an obvious ( to him) fact that women won't purchase things that are associated with the linguistic communication of power.

We have got got a long history as women around being disempowered and victimized, and we have internalized this fearfulness of power, of our ain power, for manner too long. We are living in modern times of great alteration and uncertainness and it is critical that we repossess our birthright of strength, authorization and originative vision to take advantage of the chance that we have got to animate the human race as a topographic point where our most cherished values can survive.

There are many ways to confront and to mend this powerfulness wound, and approaching it through our creativeness is just one of them. But it's a good topographic point to start. As my women student's and I have got learned over many years, it's quite possible to undergo courage, transmutation and ego love by wielding the concern end of a paintbrush. And breakage our long commitment to the Good Girl and allowing the Bad Girl an honored topographic point in our lives is not only healing, but do life a batch more interesting and fun!

What Have You Created in Your Life Today?

2007-07-27T09:01:00.001-07:00

Each of us finds the quality of each twenty-four hours of our lives. We acquire up and to a big grade take how we will pass our time. Most of us must work, but we generally have got picks about the sort of work. Many of us have got household obligations, but we can make up one's mind how to carry through them. We all have got an amount of empty clip each day, but how we fill up up it changes tremendously.

I believe it is in our powerfulness to fill each twenty-four hours with originative expression. I don't intend that it's necessary to physically "make" something, a tangible physical object to look at and state "I did that." It's possible, but I'm actually ambitious you to dwell all of your life creatively, looking for chances to inculcate your tasks, chores, and free clip with imaginativeness and enthusiasm.

Commit to Begin

A good topographic point to begin life creatively is to inquire "How could I make my life more enjoyable?" You don't always have got to set merriment at the end of the twenty-four hours or the project. Are there a manner to inculcate your twenty-four hours with better activities? Would it be more than productive to make things in a different order? Would the very enactment of "mixing it up" lend to new penetrations and perspective?

Decide that whatever is left of today will be more than creative. Express yourself. Take a few proceedings from your work to compose in your diary or bill of exchange a haiku verse form that reflects something that happened earlier today. Sing along with the radio, or bend it off and do up your ain song as you drive place from work. Arrange some freshly cut flowers or add a new spice as you set up dinner.

Trusting Imagination & Intuition

Life can be messy, complicated, and disappointing. And sometimes we have got no control over what happens. But your inherent aptitudes and your intestine can steer you to the better choices, to more than satisfaction, to greater success.

Too often we close down the very hints that we have naturally, because we don't trust our innate beginnings of imaginativeness or deep cognition of what would better our lives from minute to moment. We make things so much more than hard than they necessitate to be.

Your already cognize what to do. When new thoughts or mental images blink in your head or you have got an intimation about how to make something, trust those messages. To fully delight in what we conceive of and let ourselves to experience everything, is to dwell creatively.

No Need for Approval

Blessing is subjective and a made up concept, just like rules. Others only have got the powerfulness we give them to construe or measure what we make, what we say, and what we do.

You acquire to make up one's mind if anyone is qualified to measure your desires, projects, and progress. If you don't seek approval, you don't have got to concern yourself with letting others down or not meeting their expectations.

Taking Chances

Life constructs on itself one layer at a time, just like words in a story, paint on a canvas, or experiences shared in a relationship. Standing still and never trying new things is to stay stagnant. And once you halt taking chances, you get to decease a small spot each day.

Add orange to the sweater you are knitting. Leave out the meat and add a new veggie to your favourite casserole recipe. Sign up for a military volunteer holiday in South America. Brand up a game to inhabit the downtime during a traffic jam. You can't cognize if something will work out until you seek it.

Let Go of the Outcome

Seeking flawlessness causes emphasis and tension. That isn't to state that improving a accomplishment or method is unfulfilling or unimportant. However, not everything you make or make have to be top notch. Seeking flawlessness can acquire in the manner of enjoying an activity. That's why so may people give up on learning how to play a musical instrument or a foreign language. There is no diagnostic test when you bask learning for its ain sake.

Doing tin be its ain wages with the end product, if there is one, fantastic enough. Most everyone deeply appreciates hand-made gifts. Think fresh adust biscuits for strawberry shortcake instead of those squishy sponge patties. I'd take home-baked every time.

Your Own Pleasure

We have got the powerfulness to creatively inculcate our lives with pleasance at almost every turn. You don't necessitate money to have got rich and interesting friendships. You don't necessitate particular equipment and stores to do a delightful and even alien repast for your family. You don't necessitate permission to have on a colourful scarf to work.

Seek out fancy as you travel through your life. Enjoy the manner things look and taste. State people how you feel. Bash do things with your hands. Notice how your organic structure experiences as you travel it different ways. Love that everything is simply a work in progress, that you can change your mind, and that you can do each twenty-four hours more beautiful.

Are You A Renegade Creative Entrepreneur & Don't Know It? This Will Help

2007-07-17T09:51:00.001-07:00

Making The Business Of Art The Art Of Business

How many modern times have got got you heard it said "capitalize on what you have".....or "the diamonds are right in presence of your nose?", etc.

There are a million Oregon more than tired old cliche's in the human race of business.

But make these principals use to those of us who might be considered "renegade entrepreneurs"? What is a turncoat entrepreneur, you may ask?

You might be and not even cognize it.

I retrieve old age ago, (am 50 two now), when my equals were studying to be doctors, lawyers,
druggists or even great aspirations to do large vaulting horses in the existent estate or coverage (or some other
business).

Some of us were back then (as now) on "the route less traveled". We were too busy thought of
what could be rather than what is. We were not satisfied unless we were reinventing the wheel, more than than once if demand be.

My household concern is existent estate and my blood brother throws the reigns to a booming century old family
company. He acquires fulfilment and felicity from it.

I tried it for respective old age and was bored out of my mind. Iodine cannot count how many concerns I
tried, gross sales occupation I endured, humbling occupations in which I squeaked by, etc. I always felt I was a writer/artist astatine bosom whether I was selling existent estate or advertising.

Hence a great trade of interior battle and disappointment.

Which measure of the ladder are you on in your business? Rich Person you started the first 1 yet?

If not, let's travel back to basics. What is right in presence of you? Bash you see diamonds? Bash you see
gold? If not, that's okay. It is clip for a self-assessment.

Perhaps you loved doing something when you were little but you didn't happen any support or blessing for doing it. Time went by, maybe you married and had children and establish what occupation was available to back up them. The dreaming or dreamings became fleeting. Maybe you don't even remember
them, or do, but seek to bury them to set on the inheritor of fulfilment and/or happiness.

But only you cognize inside if working for a corporation, or even the concern you are in is the
right one. Are you feeling happy about it? Bash you leap out of bed waiting for the adjacent day?

I will admit, though I finally "found myself" in cartooning late in life, it was no easy trek. I went
down many roadstead (mostly already paved for me) before discovering these roadstead were the buss of
decease for my entrepreneurial spirit.

One mightiness as well have got thrown my in prison. Wherever I was I felt like it. I reluctantly handed

out concern card game and smiled in every profession, hoping, if I learned enough in any of them, I would
happen that elusive bird called happiness.

Even when I was making first-class money, if I was in a occupation I didn't enjoy, I was miserable.

One day, I sat down with a pen and piece of paper. Iodine wrote down all the dreamings I'd project aside
owed to others wishings and/or desires for me.

I retrieve old age ago, when I was in junior college in Dallas, I was reading the comedians in the
Dallas Morning News. I thought to myself, "I'm not a great artist, but I sure cognize how to come
up with conceptions and compose as good as most of these". I decided to compose a few and show them to
my mom. She frowned and I got the message quickly before she had a opportunity to even state "Study
your Western Civ!!!"

It is astonishing what stays in our psyches and psyche. I will never bury that smashed dream. I knew
it was something I could make well, if lone given the chance.

Fast forward thirty years. I was out of a occupation yet again, (and not a very good 1 at that).

I decided then and there I was going to begin my ain cartoon. I had written respective thousand of them but was not satisfied with my artwork. I didn't recognize at the clip I was then at measure 1 of my new
concern venture; and it turned out it was and is one of the greatest concerns (relatively unknown) in the U.S., "Image Licensing". That would not go on for almost another decennary however.

I continued to take odd occupations and compose my cartoons. By then I was working with a squad of very
talented artists, willing to take a hazard on my concepts. My website was becoming popular so I had
something to "offer up" on the table....exposure. And exposure they got. By 2005 the land site was
in the Alexa Top 100K most visited land sites on the Internet. It have received 6.5 million visitants since its beginnings in 1997.

But still no consistent income; only the occasional publication sell to a trade magazine or newspaper.

My better half, Rosy, asked me, "Why don't you seek merchandising?" I had tried it respective modern times to no avail, but I didn't utilize the basic concern principal, maybe the most of import in sales...."numbers". I had learned in one of my awful gross sales occupations "It's all a Numbers game", the more than than you name the more you sell.

This clip rather than giving up after twenty or so calls, I called hundreds. More rejection. After about three hundred calls, a "YES"!

Londons Times Cartoon Superstore was launched in September of 2006 and have been profitable every calendar month but one since it's beginnings. The maker makes all the work, publicity at shopping channels such as as Shopzilla and Shop.com, Amazon, Ebay, etc. They show window about 60,000 merchandises with our mental images in twenty three categories.

Further analyze showed me that there was also a more than upscale fan alkali wanting higher quality merchandise. I shopped to happen there are respective teeing ground shirt on demand companies (which also fabricate other merchandises such as as as lug bags, mousepads, coasters, etc.) such as Cafepress, Printfection, and others. I studied them all carefully and chose Printfection owed to their
first-class quality and client service.

So now two supplies later, one ecard site, and the sketch land land site is still up and running.

Suddenly I establish myself a true turncoat entrepreneur. I had reached ends beyond what
I thought I would.

Was it easy? Of course of study not. Was it rocket science? Nope. It was and is a continuity. Hard
work.

Always promoting, always writing (such as now), and keeping my oculus on the ball.

Remembering the diamonds (or gold) were right in presence of me all the time. I simply allow a
lovingness loved one talking me out of it.

Now I believe before I take any action regarding my career. It's not just mental image licensing or
the concern or art. It is the fine art of business. And I can now make major determinations and have got the
mobility and income to make so.

You can do the same thing. Maybe not in cartooning. That may or may not be your forte'. But seek to retrieve a dreaming or dreaming you had before you "ended up in" the place you are.

Chances are it happened before the Internet was founded and information on how to launch
and advance your concern was not yet available.

I started Londons Times Cartoons on less than $300 10 old age ago. Now, with blogs, article marketing, Google, and so much more than than that was not available then, I probably could have got started it today with much less (using a batch more perspiration equity and taking it more seriously from the start).

I never imagined for a minute it might go a success. Now you can make the same.

This or Something Better

2007-07-10T12:14:00.001-07:00

For as long as there have been a human history there is a method of changing your life for the better. Most people simply fight through their lives and hope for a better future. They trust that some twenty-four hours they will be happy, someday they can retire, someday this, someday that.

Something that most of us make not comprehend is that someday is not guaranteed. All we have got is right now. You can trust for a future, you can be after for it, but you can not dwell it until it arrives. So how can you do your hereafter something you look forward to; something that you anticipate, something better.

So it is clip now; for a measure by measure method of making your life better…

Decide on what you desire. There is no limit, and no restrictions; what you make up one's mind is what you will get. However be warned; be careful what you inquire for as you will acquire it, and it may not be what you want. The existence cognizes what is best for you and will present what you truly necessitate and desire.

Now the most of import step: Write it down. Writing it down is an action of power; something about authorship it down do the existence to move faster and with more than precision. Sure you can acquire your desires without authorship it down, but the end consequence will be less specific, less clear, and the abstraction of your desire may be establish to be not as good as you had hoped. Writing your dreaming consequences in a better focusing and you will have a better consequence every time. Two things that you should add in to your desire are the words: "I accept this or something better", and the statement; "with injury to none."

So we travel to the adjacent measure and listing your benefits. Why make you want this to go on or come up into your existence? Brand certain it is for the greater good, in other words do certain it can go on with injury to none. Also add in that you will accept something better. Let us state you want a car, but good trades on motortrucks maintain coming up, that agency the existence cognize you will be needing that pickup motortruck truck in the future, or that it will be more than utile to you than a car, so accept the something better.

There are a few bomber stairway in this benefit analysis, so let's cover them quickly. Analyze your current position; will this desire of yours help, hurt, change, or get rid of your current situation?

Find and Identify obstructions and risks; expression closely at what side personal effects this may cause. For illustration if you want to dwell in a better neighbour hood, will the people you assist now endure from your absence?

Here is a bomber measure that most people seek to skip, and it will definitely come up to stalk you if you make not pay it some attention: Identify dues, investings and sacrifices. Paying dues is the procedure of learning and achieving. For illustration to go a great piano player you would pay the dues of hours of practice, etc. etc. etc. Investments are things you would have got got to have to carry through your desire. Again, to be a pianoforte player necessitates a piano. Bash not bury the last part; of sacrifice. Following with piano player example; you will have got to give up some television clip in order to practice, and so on.

Another measure that velocities up the procedure is to place the cognition you will need. Continuing with the piano player example; you will necessitate to larn how to read music, and to interpret what you read into finger movements, so you will necessitate to seek an teacher to assist you detect this information.

Lastly there is a measure that most people skip, and in so doing set them selves up for failure and disappointment: Put a deadline. Three simple words that are so filled with terror, that for some that it freezes their actions. Without a deadline you make not have got a timeline for the existence to travel by. Yes the existence is timeless, but you are not. You can desire something all you desire but without a deadline in topographic point the existence will handle your desire as a low priority. You may acquire it in a timely manner, you may not. Setting a deadline makes a sense of urgency that volition have got got its impacts apparent promptly.

So there you have it, a formula for your life, a method of working, a accomplishment for using, whatever you wish to name it. You now know, and in knowing you can do better choices, and harvest better rewards.

Remember this; before you can reap, you have got to sow

Be Blessed

The Usher to Setting Goals

7 Tips and Exercises to Boost Your Creativity: Follow a Few Steps & Strategies to Solve Any Problem

2007-07-03T14:36:00.001-07:00

1.Gather Information: you might not have got adequate information about your project/problem to come up up with a great originative solution.

Exercise: Go to a beginning of information you don't typically use. When is the last time you went to a library? Are there a authorities agency that have related information? How about a local community college, is there an teacher that learns something connected to your subject? Clerks at bookshops are often very helpful. There may be trade magazines addressing your country of interest.

2. Be Active: yes, you read correctly. Your encephalon utilizes a batch of oxygen and makes not work well when undernourished.

Exercise: Go make something active and FUN! This volition get the blood flowing and when you have got fun, your originative juices start flowing. Bash something that you haven't done in long time: dance, roller skate, hike, drive horseback, garden, or drive a bike.

3. Change your viewpoint: As Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: "We can't work out problems by using the same sort of thinking we used when we created them." Your perceptual experience determines the way to a problem's solution.

Exercise: Look at your problem from another point of view. What would your problem expression like if you were a different person? Imagine…from the viewpoint of a child, a co-worker, your dog, a gambler, a professional athlete, etc. This may sound silly, the point is to agitate up your normal modus operandi and assist your encephalon make new nerve pathways of thought.

4. Compare and Contrast: Compare your problem/issue/project to something very different; an physical object or a concept. Through juxtaposition, you may happen combinations you never saw before.

Exercise: Catch a blank sheet of paper. Write your problem at the top. Next to it compose an unrelated thought such as as "shoe", "the national highway system", "a candy bar", "cat litter"….you get the idea! Underneath compose every manner you can believe that these two things are alike. Remember to have got fun. This is simply another method of changing your viewpoint as well as generating more ideas.

5. Be Visual: Thinking is very unstable and visual, making usage of symbols and images instead of words. Give your problem A color…even a smell! What determine is it? What makes it experience like to the touch?

Exercise: This is best done with a large sheet of paper or a achromatic board. Use a regular piece of paper if that's all you have. Draw a rectangle in the centre and label it with your problem/project. Draw at least 5-6 radiating lines coming out from the box. Label these lines as different facets of your project. For instance, if the problem is Planning a Wedding on a Tight Budget, some of the radiating lines could be Food, Entertainment, and Wedding Dress. If the problem is Building a Team at work, some of the lines could be Collaboration, Productivity, and Communication. At the end of each line compose whatever you believe needs to go on with that area. This exercising can assist you see the large image as well as prioritize all the parts of your project.

6. Generate tons of ideas: You have got gathered information, pumped up your enthusiasm and reviewed your problem from many angles. It's time to really allow loose with ideas.

Exercise: Brainstorm! I intend REALLY brainstorm. Don't just flip out a smattering of ideas and phone call it quits. Put some energy into it. Collaboration is good for this as everyone will get some different ideas. Hand everyone a piece of paper (preferably large, that you can lodge to the wall). Set a time limit. Allow adequate time to get plentifulness of ideas but not so much time that you judge the ideas coming out of you (5-10 minutes). Also put a end for the number ideas, a end that volition military unit you to work fast. Speed is of import as well as reserving any judgment.

7. Give it to your subconscious: Let you subconscious head have got another cleft at it. You have got plenty of information and ideas. It may be ambitious to pick the best course of action.

Exercise: Sleep on it! Let your head have got it while you are resting. For this to really work you must make a review just before going to bed and place a notebook by your bed so you can jotting down ideas if you wake up during the nighttime and first thing in the morning. Intend that you will have got some replies when you wake up. As you wake up, you may have got to catch the ideas in the half-awake state. The notebook is right beside you so you won't lose any good thoughts.

Congratulations! You came up with some very originative solutions to your project. You can reiterate this procedure with any subject.

Increase Creativity A-Z - J Is For Joy - How To Put The Joy Back In Your Creative Life Today

2007-06-20T14:44:00.001-07:00

So often we realise all too late that the creative ventures we set off on with such excitement, energy and high hopes, have become painful struggles, as we wrestle with all kinds of barriers to our creativity.

At some point, our creative life – and the creative projects we used to take such pleasure and joy from – seems to have deteriorated dramatically.

Where we once heard bouncing playful melodies and luscious full harmonies, there's now just a flat monotone drone.

Before there was a riot of every hue and colour, now there's just various shades of mid-grey.

So what happens? Where does the all the joy go?

And more importantly, how can you start to put the joy back in YOUR creative life?

The most common reasons we start to lose enjoyment and interest in our creative work and projects is because we lose sight of why we began. Or we began for the wrong reasons in the first place.

Every creative project doesn't need to be planned out in every last detail. That doesn't allow for spontaneity and exploration.

But you need to have some idea of WHY you're creating what you're creating.

This may sometimes be specific aims, but can also be just for the fun of it. In fact, this is one of the main problems.

We often have a preconception that any creative work we do, and the creative energy we expend, MUST produce some glorious tangible end product.

We need some visible proof and justification that the time we've spent has been worthwhile.

But not every creative act has such obvious immediate results. Added to this, we're living, evolving human beings. We're not cold predictable machines, where if you put in one plus one you get two.

We're unpredictable, creative, experimental adventurers on voyages of new discovery!

Sometimes the most valuable learning experiences in our creating are when things DON'T produce the expect result. When mistakes are made, it allows the possibility of something other than predictable, safe perfection. It allows for YOUR unique expression of human creativity with all its glorious quirks, bumps and flaws!

Start reclaiming the joy in your creativity today.

Create what you YEARN to create. Create what you were born to create, not what you think you SHOULD be creating, or what other says you should be creating.

Only you know what that is, and only you can take the decision right now to start to reclaim the joy in your creative life.

Cryptograms - Code Making And Breaking

2007-06-13T14:49:00.001-07:00

Cryptograms are essentially secret codes. They were first used for secret wartime communications. One of the oldest versions recorded was a strip of paper wrapped around a stick. This type of cryptogram was used by the Spartan Army over two thousand years ago.

The paper was wrapped around the stick or staff, edge-to-edge without overlapping, and the message was written vertically. To be read, the paper strip had to be wrapped around a stick of the exact same diameter as the original one used to create the message, so the letters would line up correctly. The receiver knew what diameter stick to use, of course, while any messages intercepted would take some time to be decoded. Even if the enemy knew to use a stick, he had to find one of the right diameter.

Cryptograms are primarily for entertainment now, and are usually created using a simple substitution cipher, in which each letter is replaced by another letter or number. The Caesar Cipher, invented by Julius Caesar, may have been the first of this type. They have been used as simple puzzles for entertainment for over a thousand years now.

Solving a cryptogram is most often done using "frequency analysis," meaning that you look for the coded letters which are most frequent in a message, and then substitute the real letters which occur most often in common usage. In English, the most common letter used is "e," followed by "t" and "a". You also look for one-letter words, since these typically can only be "a" or "i".

Example Of A Cryptogram

A Caesar Cipher is a simple "shift cipher." You simply substitute for each letter another letter that is a fixed number of positions away in the alphabet. For example, if you were to use a "shift" of five letters, the letter "a" would be represented by "f", "b" would be represented by "g", and so on. Here is the complete code:

a=f, b=g, c=h, d=i, e=j, f=k, g=l, h=m, i=n, j=o, k=p, l=q, m=r, n=s, o=t, p=u, q=v, r=w, s=x, t=y, u=z, v=a, w=b, x=c, y=d, z=e

A short coded message:

Ymnx xnruqj rjxxflj nx bwnyyjs zxnsl f Hfjxfw Hnumjw.

Of course, if the code breaker suspects that this cryptogram is a simple shift-cipher, she could start with the the single-letter word "f", which would almost certainly be "a". Counting the five letters from "a" to "f", the code would be broken. The message could be decoded in minutes and read as follows:

"This simple message is written using a Caesar Cipher."

As you can imagine, any cryptogram as simple as this can be easily broken. Since there are only 26 "shifts" possible in English, you could break such a code quickly by trial and error. A computer program could try all 26 in seconds, display the 26 versions, and the viewer (or computer) would immediately recognize which was readable.

This is why simple substitution ciphers, while used for entertaining puzzles, are not used by themselves for truly secret messages. They may be used as a start, however. The Vigenère cipher, for example, uses a shift, but shifts again at different points in a message, the shift value determined by a repeating keyword. Of course there are many other ways to make a cryptogram or secret code more difficult to break.

Increase Creativity A-Z - B Is For Balance – How To Use Your Creativity In ALL Areas Of Your Life

2007-06-10T19:05:00.001-07:00

Sometimes a head-down-no-distractions-don't-even-come-up-for-air-for-eight-hours creative marathon can produce fantastic results. We can get deeply into the flow of a creative project, really get our teeth into it and make some wonderful progress.

But if we did this all the time, it wouldn't be so helpful. Or practical. Or sociable.

Unless you live in a shack in the middle of the woods, miles from the nearest living soul and have no financial, family or other commitments, this kind of creative behaviour day after day is just not sustainable.

If the description above describes you exactly and this lifestyle works beautifully for you, that's fantastic! Long may it continue...

But for those of us with the rest of our lives and obligations to fit in around our creative projects (or vice versa), we need an approach that is more realistic and flexible.

And we need balance. Balance between each of the connected elements of our lives that are important to us.

What we often do is separate our creative work - the time and energy we spend on creating in the ways we most enjoy – from everything else in our lives.

This then causes friction, a situation of "My Creative Life" Vs "Everything Else In My Life" and "I'm either creative or not creative." This approach isn't the most beneficial to either your creative work, or all the other important areas of your life.

So what's the solution?

Is there a better way to approach this conflict between creative time and non-creative time, and to achieve a happy balance?

The secret is to realise that as a creative person, this creativity influences your whole life. Being creative is an inherent part of your personality. It's not like a set of dentures which you remove after mealtimes and when you sleep.

Your creativity is there all the time, embedded in you as deeply and indisputably as there is blood running through your veins.

Once you accept this and put it into use, the conflict between creative and non-creative in your life simply won't exist.

The easiest way to do this in practice is just to trust your creativity and ask. Ask yourself "How can I use my creativity in (state an area of your life)?"

Do this for each area of your life, trust that you will come up with plenty of solutions that'll help you and then start putting some of them into use.

To recap, you can use your creativity in all areas of your life to achieve a more balanced and happy life overall.

Recognise that your creativity is ever present and there to help you in any way you need.

You've just got to ask it.

Are You A Mardy Bum? (Part 1)

2007-05-14T13:48:00.001-07:00

Do you find that you have times when you are being irritable with everyone around you? You know you're doing it, but find it almost impossible to stop yourself? A lot of people in the music industry (and me too!) tell me that have days when no matter how much they try to stop themselves, they are almost biting the heads off everyone around them! You too huh?

If you are not familiar with the term, 'mardy bum' - it has now been immortalised by the fantastic Arctic Monkeys' song "Mardy Bum" from their first album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not".

But what is a mardy bum? Do you display 'mardy bumness' within your music career? And how can you stop being one?

Mardy is a word that describes someone who is: sulky, in a bad mood, being stroppy, grumpy, tetchy, irritable etc. They usually look as bad as they feel and people will often say, "What's up with him? - he's got a right face on!" meaning that he looks really mardy.

Most of my clients tell me that they either display 'mardy bumness' themselves or they certainly come across others who do! How does this manifest? Artist Managers will tell me that the artists they represent are 'difficult' and become 'mardy' leading up to a live gig or before an interview, for example. Artists themselves have said they become mardy before going into a studio to record or when they just feel the pressure of a huge music schedule. Unfortunately the impact of you being mardy is that everyone around you finds it hard to talk to you and feel like they are walking on eggshells around you.

Of course mardy bumness isn't confined to just artists, but extends to everyone involved in the music industry - managers, producers, A & R personnel, studio managers, publishers, promoters, booking agents - you name them, they get mardy!

However, most people don't get mardy just for the sake of it - there is usually an underlying reason for it. So what is this mardy bumness all about? It's about your stress, your pressure, your loss of confidence, you lack of self-belief, your feelings of insecurity. The problem is, is that most people don't realise what is happening to them and certainly don't know how to communicate their feelings of stress etc and so it inevitably comes out through being mardy.

In part 2 of this article, you can see a worked example of how to work through your own mardy bumness!

How to Use Brainstorming to Solve Problems

2007-05-07T15:30:00.001-07:00

Have you heard the term "brainstorming"?

Now, the word brainstorming doesn't really mean you have a storm in your brain.

Brainstorming is a technique that was invented about seventy years ago to help people think more creatively when they needed to solve problems.

Brainstorming is used in a variety of ways by many different organizations to try come up with a variety of different types of new solutions to existing problems. Brainstorming techniques are used by many different sorts of organizations, from large corporations to tiny neighborhood groups, and even families.

The types of problems that people use brainstorming for can range from how to get humans to other planets, to how to be more profitable, or how to have more enjoyment in life.

The essence of brainstorming is that a group of people meets to come up with ideas to solve a particular problem. While they create and write down their ideas, no one in the group is allowed to criticize or judge the concepts they come up with.

Even if you think of yourself as a person who is not particularly creative, brainstorming can help you find innovative ways of thinking that might not have occurred to you before.

The size of the group matters. It's best not to have more than ten people involved, but there should be more than three. One person should be the leader, and one person should take down notes about the ideas generated. It's a good idea to involve some people who have used brainstorming before, because you can get better at it the more often you do it.

Before you start, it's very important to clearly define the problem you are trying to solve. For example, a business might want to brainstorm ideas such as "how can our business save money in the coming year". A group of city planners might want to brainstorm ideas about "how do we cut down on crime in our inner city neighborhoods" or "how can we attract more people to live in our city". A family might want to brainstorm "what sort of vacation would we all enjoy this summer".

Before you start brainstorming, make certain that everyone in the group is very clear on the exact nature of the problem they are trying to solve. Remember to have one person designated to keep order and focus in the group, and have someone write down all ideas as they are presented.

The leader should try to encourage the participation of everyone present. No matter how wild or how ordinary the ideas might be, no one in the group is allowed to criticize or judge any idea or person.

When the group seems to run out of steam, the leader can suggest new questions to encourage everyone to think about the problem from a different angle.

Here's a list of questions that can help the group look at the problem in a new way.

• What if we did this backwards?

• What if we change the order we do things?

• What if we spend no money?

• What if we have a lot of money to spend?

• How else can the same products be used?

• What can be totally eliminated?

• What can we add?

• What can we combine?

Try random combinations of ideas, and see if they trigger new solutions.

Only after all reasonable ideas have been presented does the group move on to the next step of evaluating, discussing, and choosing the best ideas.

Instead of moving into the evaluation stage immediately, it's best to let the group take a break of several hours.

This will help the information to sink in and get sorted better. Remember that the process of generating creative thoughts is quite different from the process of analyzing them rationally. These two processes use the brain in very different ways.

If at all possible, schedule the analytical sessions to take place the day after the idea generating sessions. Very often, the process of sleep will help a person see solutions in a new light. During sleep our brains sort through the thoughts, impulses, and data of the day, and consolidate information.

Why does brainstorming work? The technique provides a safe way to imagine and express creative thoughts, which encourages the flow of even more creativity. When the critical faculty of the mind is suspended, our inner creativity can surface without fear of judgment or ridicule. The rational part of the brain wants to analyze and classify as soon as it comes across any new idea. It starts to think, " Is this idea good or bad? Will it work or not? What will other people think of my ideas? What will they think of me?"

Although both the analytical and the creative components of your mind are important, your brain cannot do both activities effectively at the same time. Concentrate on one of these tasks first, and then do the other. When you need to be creative, send your inner critic out for a walk.

If you would like to know more ways to use brainstorming effectively, simply type in the word "brainstorming" into your favorite search engine.

You can also use other variations of the word, such as "how to brainstorm effectively" or "improve your brainstorming."

Creativity Killers - How A Clown In Your Kitchen Kills Your Creativity

2007-05-05T19:29:00.001-07:00

Imagine you had a clown in your kitchen.

Bright red nose, painted face, huge floppy shoes, baggy trousers, the full outfit. Just sitting there right on your worktop in between your kettle and your toaster.

The first time you saw him, no doubt you'd get quite a shock.

What's this clown doing in my kitchen??! Unless you live next door to a circus, it's unlikely you've had a clown in your kitchen all that often before...

The next time you go in your kitchen, he's still there. You still jump a little, but it's not as big a shock as the first time.

A few weeks pass and by this time, you're getting used to Bobo being there.

Sometimes you even make him a cup of tea and engage him in polite conversation. "LOVE those shoes. Do they come in any sizes smaller than a 30 Extra Extra Wide?"

Months down the line though, you don't even notice him anymore.

He's blended into the background, become part of what you expect to see in your kitchen when you make your breakfast every morning.

Friends come round for dinner. Friends you don't see very often.

"Hey there's a clown in your kitchen!" they shout in surprise.

"Oh yeh," you reply. "We don't really notice him anymore, he's part of the furniture".

So how does having a clown in your kitchen drain your creativity?

Remember when the clown first appeared? What a shock it was? Then how over time, the impact of him being in your kitchen got less and less until months later you barely noticed him.

It's the same with the kind of negative, destructive thinking that slowly kills your creativity, often without you even realising.

The thoughts start off kind of obvious.

Just as you settle down to begin a new project, they appear in your mind:

"Why are you even bothering to start? You know this'll end in failure, you'll mess it up just like you do all the other projects. Stop kidding yourself, you haven't got any creative talents anyway."

If you were with a friend who was just starting a new creative project and they this said this out loud, how would you react?

It's unlikely you'd let it pass without comment, and without reassuring them that they have LOADS of creative talents and they DON'T mess up everything they start, and then produce the evidence to prove it.

Why is it ok to turn a deaf ear when you say the same to yourself?

Because they're just clowns in your kitchen.

They've been around so long, and been heard so many times, that you don't notice them anymore.

But this is the precise reason WHY they're so dangerous.

Although it SEEMS you don't notice them on the surface, deeper in your subconscious you're absorbing every negative comment, every disparaging word.

And this adds negative pressure and makes it more and more difficult for you to create.

So what's the solution? How DO you get the clown out of your kitchen?

Step one, you have to recognise the negative thoughts as they appear.

Step two is turning them around, replacing them with something more positive.

Here's an example:

Negative thought: Why are you even bothering to start this project? You know it'll end in failure.

Positive Turnaround: The only way to truly fail is not to begin in the first place. Each time I get a result I don't expect, I can learn from it. Then I'm in a better, more informed position to take the next step.

This won't be easy at first, it takes patience and practice.

Make the commitment to start right now. Each time you have a negative, critical thought, stop it, write it down, and turn it around into one more positive. The more you do it the easier it'll become.

Stick with it and the positive rewards for your creativity in all aspects can be quite profound, and more dramatic than you could have imagined.