Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category
Is That A Lawnmower or a Lama?
Monday, April 2nd, 2012As soon as we put the lawn mowers on the embankment, they gathered a crowd, people in cars stopped and took photographs, it was really interesting to watch people watching our new lawnmowers. You see our lawnmowers happened to be in the shape of 3 Alpacas and about the same price, although most people think they are Lama’s. Many people would say ‘Why’, people say that a lot to us, but we say ‘Why Not’, you see there’s more than one answer to a problem, and the solution you choose is often related to the risk level you are willing to take.
Risk is always an fascinating topic because many of the great entrepreneurs of the world are risk takers, they have got out of their comfort zone and done something others wouldn’t do. Our logic behind the whole process of getting the Alapaca’s was simple, we had no way to cut the enormous embankment that has appeared over the last two years, part of the flood defence project to protect the houses from the river. So it was a question of get a bad back or get someone who would do it for us.
Many of our neighbours are elderly and we thought how sad it was that they had lost their precious view of the river and now all they see is an 8ft grass embankment, so you can only imagine what they were saying when they saw three beautiful animals appear on the embankment. They are fascinating creatures and how much nicer to look out on rather than grass.
So next time you have to find a solution to a problem, don’t go ordinary, go extraordinary and do something that helps others at the same time as helping you, we may never know but we have probably made a positive difference to someone’s life and that’s what counts.
Ten Inspirational Ideas to Help You Live a More Creative Life
Monday, March 26th, 2012Ten Inspirational Ideas to Help You Live a More Creative Life
What does creative mean to you?
Write down 3 words that mean creative to you?
You see being creative doesn’t mean becoming the next Monet or Mozart, it simply means adopting a more resourceful approach to everyday life and with a bit of practise it’s something we can all benefit from but it means different things to different people, just try that little test on your family or friends and you’ll see.
Here are a few ideas to get you started.
1. Change something about your appearance every day for a week – wearing your hair differently, for example, or dressing in a colour you don’t usually wear but makes you feel good.
2. Write a poem – it can be about anything at all. It could be just a couple of lines or something much longer, whether it’s descriptive or funny, just write about something that means something to you.
3. Think about one person in your life who inspires you. What is it about them that you really admire? What skills do they have that you would like?
4. Go somewhere this weekend that you’ve never been before and take your camera with you to photograph this new and exciting place.
5. Take time to walk outdoors, whatever the weather, and experience for yourself how inspiring it can be and stand still and hear the sounds, smell nature and look at just one colour, perhaps yellow or blue and see what you can see of that colour.
6. Take a different route to work. If necessary, set off a bit earlier and if possible park somewhere different too and perhaps a bit further away so that you can walk into the office, exercise builds your energy reserves.
7. Think of a time when you’ve been creative. It could be anything from adopting an unusual approach to solve a problem at home or work, or offering advice and support to a friend. All these activities are resourceful and recognising when you are already being creative will help you to do it more often.
8. Paint a picture and drop the judgement, no-one is going to measure your ability or take some scenic photos outside. Taking time to look at what is around you and paint them or take unusual angles, it will encourage you to adopt a more creative outlook on life.
9. Watch a comedy show on TV or DVD or better still book tickets to a comedy night. Laughter not only makes us feel better, it also inspires us to throw off our self-imposed rules of behaviour.
10. Treat yourself. Too often we find excuses not to do the things we love, whether that’s a fishing trip, a day at the shops or even just some healthy selfish time out. Break the self imposed rules and make time for you.
You’re worth it!
The Dog Bit Me
Monday, March 26th, 2012At the weekend my mum who suffers from deteriorating dementia came over for the day and it can be a challenge with such a debilitating disease because her words don’t always flow and if they do they can be garbled and make little sense. But you have to change your communication to match the people you are with because it’s important to understand others and what they need.
Within a few minutes my step-daughter and I had involved her in doing word searches and she was beating both of us hands down with finding the words and laughing when she did.
We then progressed onto creating some art and we all started to colour in some pictures, and I was amazed how neat for someone with arthritis could keep within the lines. When is the last time you stopped and just did something simple and easy like a child and coloured in a picture. Why does responsibility and fear of what others think stop us doing some of the simpler fun things in life. I witnessed a wonderful moment when at nearly 90 years old she turned to us both and said ‘I love it when you give me things to do with my hands’. What a lovely and very lucid statement, and after a few hours she went home happy and relaxed.
Four hours later I had a phone call from my brother to ask if my dog had bit her! The picture she was colouring in was of a dog and she had got her words confused; we both ended up laughing. Maybe it did bite her but in a way that she connected with and remembered rather than the painful kind.
Creativity is important for young and old alike, so get involved this month, you might find a new talent or even better, perhaps help someone to communicate.
Just keep the dog away from them, apparently it bites……………………
People Have To Get Involved In their Own Life
Tuesday, March 20th, 2012People Have To Get Involved In their Own Life
There’s a big event happening in our household this year in fact two, the first is at Easter and that’s where my step daughter of 13 is moving in with us permanently. Now to many this may seem no big deal because she has spent 2 or 3 days a week for the last 9 years but what’s different is now she’s moving school, friends, and hobbies which is quite a big thing.
Like any parents we want to make the transition easy and it would be the simplest thing in the world to redecorate the room and put some new pictures up and make it a done deal. But many teenagers suffer from lack of ownership, low confidence in conversations and you have to get them involved in their own life. So many times I see young people’s ability to make decisions and solve problems taken away because parents feel they are helping them by doing it for them. You are not, the only thing that happens is they stay dependent on you and the first time a crisis hits, they may go into meltdown and not know how to deal with it.
We needed to make sure she would take ownership from day one so when she mentioned paintings and pictures on her walls, we encouraged her to take her own, with a London theme in mind. This was a young person that hadn’t really done much photography before but she got involved last weekend. With that activity will come the memory of taking them, the fun manipulating them and then getting the photos on the walls.
In a couple of hours she learned to be more creative, had some great fun and could be proud of what she had achieved. The other thing often overlooked is that she now has a conversation piece to talk to her friends about when they come over.
Creativity is something that many people learn not to do as they get older but it is the one thing that has helped the world to progress.
So consider this month and look for opportunities where you can encourage young people, friends, family to create something rather than go out and buy it. The connections to conversations, memories to share and fun will stay with you a lot longer than a trip to Sainsbury’s.
Are we losing our sense of fun?
Thursday, March 15th, 2012What made you laugh last week?
People can be so solemn; I work with people and organisations who are constantly going through huge changes and life can get pretty serious and dull if they let it. Our sense of fun and the need to laugh is something that is natural to kids but as adults, life and responsibilities can really cause a drop in our ability to engage in laughter and it is essential to our well-being.
I got home on Friday night after a 4 hour drive and my sense of fun was seriously lacking, I bent down to greet my 4 month old puppy ‘Ozzie’ with ‘Hello Honey, how are you?” to which my partner replied in the background “oh yes he’s a right little B, honey is a good word for him but I called him a different one earlier!”.
The stress of my drive back left me as I realised in one sentence what kind of evening my partner had experienced and we both ended up laughing. It made me realise how important it is to laugh to reduce the stress and look at things in life more proportionately.
We sometimes get so wrapped up in our own challenges we forget the ones that the people around us are also experiencing and it’s not a competition to see who has a worse life. When we can laugh at ourselves in times of difficulty, we can come up with much better solutions to change how things turn out.
If things are feeling like there is no answer and looking bleak, then get some laughter into your life; watch a funny film, go to see a comedian or just spend times with friends who make you laugh. Taking time out can actually help you to clear your mind to come up with much better more creative solutions. It gives you some persepctive through the dark tunnels you can find yourself in and can show you some light at the end of it.
So leave the gloom behind, even though it can feel difficult and irresponsible, get your mind in a more fun mood and get more creative; the solutions will come to you a lot easier.
Creative Stories
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012Most of us can tell a story of an experience as a child when we were told we either couldn’t draw or paint or very quickly we decided that for ourselves. The interesting thinking about drawing is that most of us have huge expectations and when they are not met, we quickly give up because of the lack of trained skill.
Creativity is something we can develop through life, it’s true there may be many people who are natural at it but then isn’t that true of many professions where some people excel and others are mediocre at best.
But drawing is something that is available to everyone and it’s a skill that can be very rewarding and relaxing because it kick start our creative thinking. I once took a friend who hadn’t painted for 30 years to an art club where you could experiment with ideas. She got started and slowly began to relax and create something that a pizza restaurant would be proud of but it didn’t matter, because she had started to unlock her creative side again. But very soon the fact it really did look like a pizza got stronger and she gave up and never came back because she was so unforgiving of her painting, yet most people don’t give up when learning to walk or talk, mainly because we don’t know how to.
We learn to give up and some people get really good at it but if you look back at some of the ancient drawings, they may not qualify for the National Gallery but through them we have been able to listen to an unspoken story of the past and what a tragedy it would be if those people had thrown the towel in.
So in March when the sun starts to shine and we creep out of the dark slumber, get yourself a small sketchbook and start drawing again but think about something specific and that is start drawing the story of your life, in pictures. Drop the judgments because the more you do the better they will become and forget the fact that they may not be hung in the Tate Modern. Start to tell your story for this generation and the next, be remembered for living, you never know where that little sketch book will end up and perhaps it will tell our future generations a story. Imagine in 20 years time sitting down with one of your family, friends or grandchildren and telling them the stories.
You see we all have a creative story teller within us we just need to find them and give them an airing.
You can read more about getting creative in my ebook ‘Walk On The Grass’, click here to read more and enjoy a great discount this month.
Start Writing Your Story
The True Story Teller – Billy Connolly – Born On A Rainy Day
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012The phone rang:
“Get yourself to Birmingham by 3pm” said the voice
“you have to drop everything and go” she continued
“and pick me up on the way” she finished.
Perhaps an opportunity in a lifetime or perhaps a new years resolution that was finally coming to fruition. It’s not out of the ordinary for my friend to make this type of call, after all she is an artist and they are renowned for their unpredictability. She is still working out how to travel around Scotland on a trike, which was one of her previous ideas for us both.
Born On A Rainy Day
The urgency was because of Billy Connolly who in my opinion is an incredibly creative person, he’s a storyteller, a musician, a singer, actor and many more talents so it was with real excitement I jumped at the chance to meet him.
Billy is launching a series of drawings called ‘Born on a Rainy Day’ which started life on a rainy day in Montreal and the series was launched by the Castle Galleries on the 16th March.
But two weeks before the launch I was finally going to meet the person I had listed on my ‘top 100 things to do before you croak’ list, there was nothing that could stand in the way. What I consider creative and what others consider it to be may well be different but I have a real infinity to story tellers because of the inspiration they have brought for centuries particularly through my Irish heritage. And here I was meeting what I considered one of the greatest story tellers of our time who had now turned his hand to my other passion; Art.
On meeting Billy Connolly I was amazed at his modesty, no big ‘Hollywood ego’ in front of me, just a down to earth human being who had none of the pretention the art world is renowned for. He spoke of his gratefulness to all of us who had bothered to turn up, because he was unsure whether we would or not. After all he said, why should we, but that small group of 40 or so people were there because we wanted to be and to meet an inspirational man who has turned his very creative hand to many things. He captivated us with his many stories and shared with us the saga of a short story he had written, which was about a young boy whose best friend was a puddle and inspired us with his stories of how his drawings had come to life, he considered them his friends.
I was particularly struck by one drawing that was called the ‘Story Teller’ and Billy told me about how the aboriginal story tellers became so animated in their relaying of stories that they would dance around flailing their arms, inspiring the people around them who listened intently. Much the same as we were at that moment in time but minus the dancing and flailing, far more reserved in Birmingham!
I loved all the drawings for their intricacy so get along and see the real thing, I’m sure there are the critics amongst us that will artistically critique each and every pen stroke but think way above that, he may well be wealthy and exotic beyond our dreams but he’s been brave enough to open his heart through art to the world and let you meet his friends.
When he was asked what the meaning was behind his drawings, he said he just didn’t think like that and he just enjoyed doing them and if the viewer sees something he didn’t, then it is a connection that is made with him, to them through art. How honest in such a pretentious world.
Billy Connolly Talks About His First Art… by 5minArts
I would encourage everyone to pick up a pencil and sketch book this month and start your own story telling; you can read why in my next blog.
"Getting Back To Nature"
Monday, September 20th, 2010I remember the day when I spoke those immortal words to Andy my partner, who has probably been a fisherman well before he could walk! I only went up to Scotland for this weekend for a three day chill out in Scotland, and that included the 11 hour train journey to get there. British Rail should really improve the Spa arrangements on their trains!
I arrived in Forsinard and before I knew it, was whisked off to the Melvich Hotel to find myself having dinner with two English and five Spanish fishermen. The conversations were full of incredible passion about their sport as I listened to the tales of near misses, of triumphs and just darn bad luck, I was enthralled. Within an hour they had me captivated, I knew I shouldn’t have asked questions but I couldn’t help myself and there was no going back. I showed far too much interest and the Spa’s and Shops were fading into the background, being replaced with a fishing rod and a pair of wellies.
The following morning I was kitted out with fishing clothes, apparently high heels are not great for wading in. The clothes were so big I needed a belt to 
keep them up, looking like a cross between a Hobo and someone from the Australian outback.
Apparently the bright turquoise jacket wasn’t the best choice of colour, which I gather is the reason they wear dark green to blend with nature; they was no blending me in that outfit. On the way to the river Andy gave me some advice, “Be careful you don’t hit the power lines with the rod and don’t fall in the river, the first will kill you and the second gets you soaked”. Classic advice that would serve me well, as I bolted in the opposite direction but I was captured and told not to worry. Then my ghillie (the bloke that knows what to do) also known as Andy, demonstrated how to cast a line out. “Can you give me any advice on how to catch a salmon” I naively asked. “Yes he said “if the hook is in the river, you have a chance of catching a salmon, if it isn’t, you’ve no chance”.
I think his advice was in relation to me treating the rod and line more like a yoyo than a fishing tool. Well it seemed fun flicking the line in and out, apparently that’s called casting. After 20 minutes I felt the line pull and I was positive that I had hooked the otter on the opposite bank, well I didn’t like the way he was scowling at me and I was aiming for him! Then I thought the hook must be stuck on bramble, that was until the end of the fishing line leapt out of the water and on the end of it was a 5lb salmon.
I was speechless as I thrust the rod into Andy’s hand; “Nope” he said “You caught it, you land it”. At this point his friend arrived, Andy’s that is not the salmon’s and they proceeded to have a chat about where to eat later that night. It was reminiscent of the scene in Men in Black when Will Smith gets thrown about by the alien baby in the car whilst Tommy Lee Jones carries on with his conversation. Needless to say the odd word of “tighten the line’ or “let the line go” in between the restaurant discussions reassured me that I was doing ok.
After a few minutes I landed the salmon and Andy unhooked it and made sure it was ok before setting it free to swim off again.
I was dumbstruck by the whole experience, people go fishing for twenty years and never catch a salmon and here was I after 20 minutes.
The real lesson for me was how creative salmon fishing really is, I learnt that day how much emotional creativity is used in the process, and it wasn’t all bravado, which I had anticipated. It was explained to me how to feel at one with a fishing rod and that it was just an extension of me not a piece of wood and metal. It was about clearing your mind and being in nature, and if you were lucky enough to catch a salmon then it was a real bonus but you could still enjoy the whole experience regardless.
I think everyone should have an interest that involves being outdoors; because we spend far too many hours within buildings and it can have such a grounding effect getting back out into nature.
Why not make a promise to yourself this week to get out more and not just to dash about in life but to really experience the beauty that is all around us that we don’t always appreciate until we stop rushing around.
The funny thing is my name will apear in the Trout and Salmon in October, all because I broke one of my own rules, which was not to go fishing.
Will I do it again? Yep I’m hooked!
Dealing with Change Creatively
Monday, September 6th, 2010
Well it’s back to school week and many parents will be seeing their young children starting high school for the first time. For some it will be filled with stress, fear and trepidation and for others it will be an exciting start full of new possibilities and ideas and that’s just the parents. The underlying factor running through the next few weeks is that so many people will be experiencing what change really feels like and it is so easy to dwell on the uncomfortable side of change that it sometimes brings with it.
So stop a moment and do this little creative exercise, fold your arms in a comfortable position, tucking one into the other like you might do to keep warm. Take on board what it feels like for a few moments and then unfold them and fold them back together but this time the opposite way, so if you folded your right arm over your left arm then change it to left over right. When you first do it, it will feel awkward and a little bit strange and you’ll be tempted to just change back because it’s more comfortable. The mind likes familiarity, it wants the comfortable feeling we got the first time around.
It’s a good tip if you have kids to introduce them to this simple creative exercise because it helps the mind to make sense of the strange feeling you have when you are faced with change and can remind you to recognise what it really is. It only takes around 21 days for the mind to accept this change and within 3 weeks you could be just as comfortable with your arms folded left over right as you are the other way. This knowledge can help them to understand change.
One of the most uncomfortable business functions that many business people hate to do is cold calling, telephoning prospective clients and engaging in conversation to start a business relationship with them. The gap between Familiarity and Change can be bridged with Discomfort and this is the awkwardness we feel when we have to step out of complacency to reach new clients. We find many ‘What if’ scenarios racing through our mind giving us good reasons not to make a call, what if they reject us, what if they don’t like what we do. The mind can find a hundred good reasons not to do something much easier than doing it.
So my tip for September which to me is the month of change is do something that sparks you out of that familiarity zone, telephone that potential client up and suggest a meeting with them. If they say yes, enjoy the success, if they say no then phone another one until you get a yes.
So get disturbing the comfortable and when you do achieve success treat yourself to a reward to comfort the disturbance.
Clear Out The Creativity Clutter
Friday, August 27th, 2010I’m not an artist for a living but I’ve just dropped off my first publically viewed painting at an art exhibition and the proudest moment was when the organiser said to me ‘what a fabulous painting, how much is it, I could see that on my wall’. I was dumfounded, my first venture into the big wide world of Art. I actually didn’t care if I didn’t sell it, that recognition was firmly captured in my self esteem bank.
When I was younger I used to love to paint and draw and in fact anything creative, as do many children but by the time I was 20 and ensconced in Art College, the doubts had started to set in. I absorbed comments from Teachers such as ’You’ll never make a painter’ and sure enough I never got much better, hanging on to the belief that it was all too difficult and out of reach. My self-belief reinforced the fact that I can’t paint so therefore I didn’t, but after twenty five years of ‘not being able to paint’ when I wrote my book ‘Walk On The Grass’ to encourage everyone to get more creative, I decided I was going to break the mould and started to play. The thing about any art is the more you play the better you become at it and the more fun you have doing it; the less anyones opinion actually matters.
So my simple tip for this month is to get creative again but before you do clear out some of the clutter in your mind first.
- Recognise if you have let one unconstructive statement destroy your confidence, you are not a sponge so don’t absorb what you don’t want.
- Try not to compare yourself to Rembrandt or any other artist for that matter, it’s a hard act to follow so be unique. Everything you do may not be perfect first time but you’ll have some happy accidents along the way.
- Find a creative place in your home and turn it into your inspiration den, you need space to be creative.
- Set yourself a time to be creative and work against the clock, time pressure has a way of getting your sub-conscious involved very quickly and inspiring you.
- If you can’t think what you could paint, then use colours to paint how you feel, and break a few rules, put the brush down and get your fingers in. It was the best thing I ever did and so much easier to express feelings.
Expressive creativity for me is about communication, perhaps it’s painting or sculpting but it can shake up your solution based creativity which is what you need when you are looking for answers to issues or problems at work or at home. So wade in and have a go, the only thing you have to lose is the self-belief that keeps you where you are now.
I’m going to the Art Exhibition tonight to see my painting hung on a wall and it will be such a proud moment for me, it’s not about selling it, it is about recognising how easy it is to change your beliefs and how many people are still stuck with such a common belief that they can’t paint.
Remember you did paint at one time in your life so when did you forget?
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