Etikettarkiv: create

22/24 – What’s your Why?

Publicerad den av
Svara

If you know me at all, you know I have a soft spot for the question Why.

Why makes my heart beat a little bit faster, as I truly believe knowing what lies at the heart of something, a passion, an interest, a purpose, makes a difference. It makes the feeling behind the action and/or words purer, more energetic, vibrant and full of life.heart

So ask yourself – what is your Why?

But don’t stop there. Do it the Toyota Way, asking at least five why’s in a row, really getting to the bottom of it, finding the root-cause.

But it doesn’t have to be a problem that needs fixing. Not at all. Rather. Get to the heart of what makes you happy everyday, and then, DO more of that. Create a life where that Why infuses your day. Every day.

I know my Why. But still. I get prompted by this Advent Calendar to dig deeper. To redefine it. Or clarify it. It’s as if the rough sketch is about to turn into a sharp and well-shot photograph. With great clarity in the details, and unquestionably clear in what it’s showing.

Yeah. My Why is getting sharper. Your’s?

Reflection #22 of 24 from the notes I took and the experience I had at the Seth Godin Q&A-session in London, November 2015. These reflections will constitute my Advent Calendar for 2015, and will be posted daily from December 1st to the 24th.

Podcast 47/52 – Peak creative windows

Publicerad den av
Svara

Jonathan Fields points the finger on a sore spot for me, in this Good Life Project riff. How do I structure my days to ensure I work with my natural thinking and creation cycles, rather than fight ‘em? And what times of the day am I most organically creative? Listening to Jonathan, I realize I don’t really know my daily thinking/creation cycle all that well.createLike Jonathan, I have a peak creative window late at night, say from 9 or 10 pm and a few hours onwards. If I am still up by then, and there’s something to get done, boy, can I ever get it done, and with good quality at that.

But what – or rather, when – is my daytime creative window? Hm. I don’t really know. Have gotten into a somewhat lethargic routine on mornings when I don’t have to be somewhere at a set time, with a social media-session (that usually lasts much longer than the 15 minutes I aim at…), my daily Headspace meditation, doing my Seven exercise and then making a green smoothie, drinking it while reading the news paper and completing my daily Sudoku. And you know what? Nice as these slow mornings are, there is something within me wanting to come out, that isn’t. I’m not helping myself by structuring my days in a way that helps me get it out. Running more on mood than anything else?

I read someone who said they preferred to give people a hand up rather than a hand out. And that’s what popped into my mind now. How can I give myself a hand up to actually work with my natural creative windows? Making the most of them, if nothing else because it’s enjoyable?

Day 8 #NaJoWriMoPrompt: Write About Your Creative History

Publicerad den av
Svara

For today’s prompt, write about your past in relationship to creative expression. What are your earliest memories of being creative? Describe some great opportunities or missed opportunities for creative expression? What do you think helped or hindered you from being creative? Do you have creative people in your family? How have they inspired you? These are general questions. Write about the topic and see where it leads you. Happy journaling.

My creative history. Wow. That feels like a massive assignment. Especially since the Create the impossible-course I took at the beginning of the year, which made me realize that there is (an opportunity for) creativity in everything, even something as mundane as making dinner is a creation.

My earliest memories…. ah, I honestly I have no clue. But, my maternal grandmother taught me to crochet (and later on to knit as well), and I do remember being at kindergarten an crocheting endlessly long threads from a ball of yarn. Rolled it into a skein, and voila, had myself a new ball of yarn, in a manner of speaking, to start all over again. So I crocheted yet another endlessly long, but slightly thicker, long thread, from the initial endlessly long crocheted thread. Think I might even have repeated the same procedure yet once again. Limited use for long crocheted threads most definitely, but I did create. And I might have been around 4 or 5, I’m guessing. There’s remnants of other kindergarten creations still remaining at my mom’s place. Various ornaments for Christmas and Easter for instance.

wrist warmersAs I’ve written about before, I think my creativity has, to a large extent, been expressed using my hands, in handicrafts. When I think about creativity, that is where my mind goes first of all. And perhaps there’s a bit of a need for results and usefulness in my thoughts around creation, for myself. I create something which is needed, or desired, or that which is useful. Like the wrist warmers I’m wearing right this instant. I knitted them a few years ago, when the urge to create something with my hands grew within, until I couldn’t contain it anymore, and dug out needles and yarn from my various hiding places… Having a set end goal in mind, I started to create them, working without a pattern, but knowing what I wanted them to become, once finished.

I wonder if that’s a bit of a hindrance I’ve imposed upon myself: there must be a need, an end-result that can be put to use? Have I ever created just to create? For the sake of making it? Without any hidden agenda, a lack of purpose? Just. To do it. Nothing more. Nothing less. I don’t know.

I mean, even my blogging is to a certain extent purpose-driven. I blog with the intention to get my thoughts and ruminations down on paper, making them come alive outside of my head. So… How do you do it, when you just create, for creation’s sake itself? I honestly don’t know. Do you?

Be reckless

Publicerad den av
Svara

I listened to Parker Palmer giving this commencement address to the graduating class at Naropa University, and several times I got goose bumps and shivers. For me, those have become telltale signs that there’s something important and/or very true being said/shared.

BoldomaticPost_Be-reckless-when-it-comes-toThe six suggestions Parker provides on living a life worth exploring are simple. And powerful. So powerful I feel an urge to split this recommendation into six consecutive blog posts.

The first suggestion is: Be reckless when it comes to affairs of the heart.

He urges us all to fall passionately in love with life. And to go boldly, not fearing the vulnerability that is a certain companion when living a life worth living. When we give of ourselves, there will be times when we risk getting hurt. But the alternative, of holding back, of not giving of ourselves, of not letting that happen through me, that is mine to give the world. That’s just too sad to even contemplate.

So – go out there, and be reckless. Love. Live. Create! Because if you are anything like me, you are more afraid of regretting what wasn’t done rather than that which was done, when lying on your death bed. Or?

 

Create something from nothing

Publicerad den av
2

As a part of the Create the impossible-project, we get a short audio in the morning 6 out of 7 days of the week. This week Michael Neill set off with a challenge to ”create something out of nothing” each day of the week. Yesterday, my creating was the necklace-hangers from the #cleanse4expansion-project that you can read about here: https://cleanse4expansion.wordpress.com

Not ”having created anything from nothing” today, except a few slides and tweaks to a class on quality and environmental management systems I’m holding Thursday, I got a wee bit stressed when evening rolled in, as I had choir practice for the first time this semester tonight. Luckily, that’s where it was. The creation. As a part of the last bit of warming up our voices, we were to no-no-no-sing in three tunes (Soprano, Second Soprano, Alto) to Twinkle twinkle little star. We did. A couple of times. And then, Jens, our choir leader, told us to break out into our own tunes, experimenting… and we did. I did.

Twinkle twinkleAnd as I sang, simultaneously listening to the myriad of notes soaring out into space, while still clearly being Twinkle twinkle little star…. it came to me:
WOW, talk about creating something out of nothing!

And when the last note faded out…. Jens voiced what I was thinking: no one will EVER hear that specific version of Twinkle twinkle little star, ever again.

Pretty amazing to create something from nothing, having it take form for a minute or two, and then fading away, back into the formless again.

Have you created something from nothing today?

A girl’s best friend

Publicerad den av
1

Diamonds right, that’s what you thought I’d blog about? Well. No. That’s a load of crock. Diamonds cannot be the best friend of anyone.

And really, I am misleading you. Because that’s not what I want to talk about. Rather it’s the best friends of a coach I’m curious about, and taking an even larger view on it, these are probably the best friends any human being can have! All of ‘em, including you, although it might not be something you are concious of.

So, anyway, as a coach, and as a human being, I have three best friends:

Questions – great questions can sometimes totally flip a client, as it can be an invitation to an insight. New bubbles of conciousness opens up in a flash moment.

Silence – I no longer have the urge to avoid silence, needing to speak the moment it goes quiet. No. Nowadays I love silence. It’s a great help, and again, by keeping silent, sometimes that can be an invite to a turning point. Accepting the silence without the nagging desire to fill it with something, just being with it, in it. Magic!

Mind – this is the greatest one of them all really. Because this is where insights come from. This is where original though come from. This is the one I listen for, and sometimes it sparks insights that strike like lightning, out of blue sky. Sometimes much more subtle, wispering ever so quietly, so the only way to pick up on it is by being very quiet with sharp ears.

serve

So these three are the best friends I’ve got, questions, silence and mind, all working together to create the best life and world there can be. This is how I can serve my coaching clients the best way I know, and it’s also my contribution to creating a more loving world.

What are your best friends, for serving yourself, your surroundings and the world?