The creative process of and gardening 2

Both gardening and the creative process have seasonal cycles. There are times of intense activity and productivity, as well as periods of rest and reflection. Seasonal cycles in the creative process and the concept of beauty and expression in creative endeavours add depth to understanding how writers, poets, painters, and gardeners approach their work:

Spring (Inspiration): This phase is like the awakening of ideas, much like plants sprouting in spring. Creatives brainstorm, gather inspiration, and start planning their projects.

Summer (Productivity): Just as summer is a time of growth and abundance in a garden, creatives dive into their work with energy and focus. They write, paint, or create intensely, often producing their best work.

Fall (Harvesting): Fall symbolizes the culmination of efforts. Writers finish drafts, painters complete artworks, and poets refine their verses. It's a time of harvesting the fruits of creative labour. Harvesting and Sharing: When the time comes, creators "harvest" their finished work and share it with the world, much like a gardener shares the fruits of their labour. The final step in gardening is harvesting the fruits of one's labour. Similarly, writers, poets, and painters must share their work with others through publication or exhibition.  Just as a gardener proudly displays their harvest, creators can showcase their work, sharing it with the world and receiving feedback and recognition.

Winter (Rest and Reflection): Similar to how gardens rest in winter, creatives take a break to recharge. They reflect on past work, gather new ideas, and prepare for the next cycle of creativity.

Adaptation to Conditions: Just as a gardener adapts to changing weather conditions and pests, creative individuals must adapt to new trends, technologies, and challenges to stay relevant and innovative. Gardeners adapt to changing weather and environmental conditions, while creatives adapt to feedback, trends, and new ideas in their respective fields.

The creative process of and gardening 1

Gardeners start with seeds or young plants; creatives (in this case, poets, painters and prose writers)  begin with ideas. These ideas can be tiny seeds that grow into full-fledged projects. In gardening, planting seeds represents the initial idea-generation phase. Just as a gardener carefully selects and plants seeds, a writer, poet, or painter must cultivate their ideas, selecting the best concepts to nurture. In both cases, the goal is to create a solid foundation for growth.

Writers, poets, and painters nurture their creations through research, practice, and exploration. This nurturing phase is akin to providing the right soil, water, and sunlight for plants to thrive. As seeds sprout, they require care and attention. Similarly, writers, poets, and painters must research and edit their work to refine their ideas and shape their creative output.

Pruning in gardening involves removing dead or damaged plant material to promote healthy growth. Similarly, editing helps refine the creative work, removing unnecessary elements to strengthen the overall piece.

Like plants taking time to grow and mature, creative works require patience. Just as gardeners remove weeds to ensure healthy plant growth, creatives edit and refine their work to eliminate unnecessary elements and enhance the overall quality. Writers, poets, and painters often go through multiple drafts or iterations before reaching their desired outcome.

Watering and fertilizing provide essential nutrients for plant growth. Similarly, inspiration and feedback from others can nourish a creative project, helping it flourish. Just as plants respond to changes in their environment, creative work can adapt to feedback and inspiration, evolving into something new and unique.

Creativity where dreams take flight

In the realm where dreams take flight,

Creativity ignites the darkest night.

It's the spark that lights the fire,

New ideas soaring ever higher.

 

From the human heart, it springs,

A need to grow on joyful wings.

To innovate, to elevate,

Creative minds collaborate.

 

Thinking new, thinking bold,

Unseen paths we now unfold.

Refine, experiment, explore,

In the unknown, we seek for more.

 

Dedicated time, a precious gift,

For creativity to uplift.

Exercise, a dance of mind and soul,

Ideas bloom, a vibrant goal.

 

Try something new, expand your view,

Fresh experiences, a creative brew.

A different route, a book unknown,

Unleashing seeds of thought once sown.

 

In music's notes or written word,

Creativity's song is often heard.

Challenges embraced, passions fed,

Innovative thoughts, where paths tread.

 

So let creativity be your guide,

Innovation's journey, side by side.

Grow, expand, in creative play,

In every moment, find your way.

Buy the shoes

 Fascinating, isn’t it, how there are those who decide upon living in abundance, and the next thing you know, they’re swimming in it?

There are those who think about being more creatively fulfilled, and as if by magic, all the right steps, connections, and inspirations present themselves. Being creatively fulfilled can be a rewarding and fulfilling aspect of life. It can allow individuals to express themselves in unique ways and can also lead to a sense of personal satisfaction and accomplishment. However, it’s important to remember that creative fulfillment looks different for everyone and can be achieved through a variety of different activities and hobbies. Some people may find fulfillment through art, music, writing, or other forms of self-expression, while others may find it through problem-solving, building, or other more technical pursuits. 

Ultimately, the key is to find what makes you happy and fulfilled and to pursue it with passion and dedication.

And then there are those who simply want more friends, laughter, and song. Having friends, laughter, and song in one’s life can be an important aspect of overall well-being.

Having friends can provide a sense of belonging, support, and companionship. Social connections can also lead to increased happiness and can help reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Laughter is a great way to reduce stress and improve one’s mood. Studies have shown it to release endorphins, which are chemicals in the brain that act as natural painkillers and mood elevators.

Music can also have a positive impact on one’s well-being. People can use it as self-expression to relax and unwind and to connect with others. Listening to music can have a calming effect and can also help to improve one’s mood.

If someone wants to have more friends, laughter, and song in their life, they can try to put themselves in social situations where they can meet new people, take part in group activities, and attend events where they can enjoy music. They can also seek online communities and forums where they can connect with others who share similar interests. Joining a group, club or society that aligns with their interests can also be a great way to meet new people and make friends, and their life becomes a celebration.

Mind you, I didn’t say everyone. Some want these things, they even want them real “bad,” but they simply don’t put themselves within my reach by physically preparing the way, acting “as if,” or “buying the shoes.”

Understanding Your Credit Report Score

Understanding your credit score is important since it may help you determine your chances of being approved for your credit applications. Your credit reports score usually will help lenders and credit institutions to determine if you are good enough for credit that you have applied for. Lenders would need to be ensured that people they lend money to are able to pay back their loans. That is the purpose of a person's credit report.

When a person applies for a personal loan or mortgage on their homes, lenders would usually check upon a person's credit history to see if one is a good borrower in that he or she pays back on credit dues on time.

A person's credit history would help lenders determine the risk of that they put themselves in when approving a person's credit. In a way, credit institutions are trying to protect their own investments (in terms of handing out credit) by checking out a prospective borrower's credit report score.

In essence, a person's credit report is part of the lender's background check. It is a detailed history of a person's borrowing habits. From it, lenders are able to extract the following information about the credit applicant:

• It provides a person's identifying information such as one's complete name, past and current addresses, date of birth as well as a person's employment history

• A record of accounts that previous lenders have submitted to who the individual has loaned from in the past. This record includes the type of credit extended (mortgage, credit card, car loan, etc.), the amount of credit, the date when it was opened and a record of payments already made as well as the remaining balance.

• A record of inquiries made on the credit report for a period of two years. This includes voluntary inquiries made for previous credit applications as well as involuntary inquiries made by the lender without the knowledge of the credit report holder. 

• A collection of information of state and county court records associated with previous loans made. The credit report also includes recorded information about previous bankruptcies, lawsuits, foreclosure of properties, liens and other judgments that can be attributed to previous loans made. 

When availing of the credit report, the lender or credit institution may also get hold of a person's credit score. A credit score is calculated based on the information that is provided by the credit report. This is usually done by credit reporting agencies that consider the information and provide the necessary score to help lenders better assess your future credit risk level. 

Your credit score is also being more commonly referred to your FICO score. The reason for this is because most of the credit scores are calculated using a software developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation, also known as FICO. Your FICO score can range from 300 to 850. The higher your FICO score figures, the lower your credit risk is perceived by lenders, thereby giving you better chances of being approved for credit.

Understanding your credit reports score makes it also easier for you to determine your own chances of being approved for a particular credit application. If you know that you have a high FICO score, you can then try your best to maintain or even improve on it in order to increase your credit chances with a number of lenders.

Knowing that you have a low FICO score may also do you some good. This knowledge will motivate you to act on improving your credit score in order to make yourself less of a credit risk to lenders the next time that you apply for another loan.

Creativity and inventiveness

As you strive to put thoughts to words and raise your pen to write

Remember it's not from the known, but the unknown, 
that creativity and inventiveness are born
Turn away from the predictable, cliché, and reliable. 

Brave the void where the darkness is greatest. 
Trust the quiet, find the stillness, feel the calm.
Then steadily think, speak, and move as if you were led. 
Behave as if your vision were clear. 
Anticipate the emotional rush that will come with your triumph. 

As you raise your pen to write, 
you'll find the words have already been summoned, 
flooded in the light that was there all along, 
in a world that has just as anxiously anticipated their arrival.

Do you believe in Santa?

It is interesting to me how my grandson is developing as he approaches his third birthday, so I thought I would do some research on how a child's mind develops and share some of what I found. We can see how children’s minds develop in stages by looking at what they cannot do at different ages. Following the discoveries of psychologist Jean Piaget in the mid–twentieth century, development experts have recognized many ways in which children do not think like adults. For instance, preschoolers consistently believe that a tall glass can hold more than a shorter one, even if the shorter glass is significantly wider, and that there are more books and toys if they are spread all over the floor than if they are stacked away. Not until about school age do children realize that different people can have different knowledge of the world. And researchers are still debating when  children can clearly sort out the real world from what they vividly imagine. Experience plays a role in moving children to the next level of cognitive development, but it seems that the brain has to be ready for that step as well. Parents and teachers can hurry a young child along only so much.

In movement, memory, and other functions, therefore, you will see your child develop preliminary skills, refine them, and then build on them to achieve more advanced skills. Inside your child’s brain at this time, neurons are firing signals, selected synaptic connections are growing stronger, and myelin is coating the nerves to make them more efficient. What educators see is potential: the more your child uses his or her brain, the more it grows. How can you facilitate this process? You can enrich your child’s environment and encourage him or her to explore it (even if that results in a few mistakes).

Child-development experts are recognizing the importance of imagination and the role it plays in understanding reality. Children’s imaginary friends are part of a healthy childhood development, which helps them learn more about their environment and build the connections in their brain to practice independent, autonomous thinking, so they gradually develop decision-making skills and master self-discipline. Parents should encourage their children’s creative and imaginative processes rather than threatening them with punishments.

Dr. Woolley's group at the Children's Research Laboratory has conducted a series of studies involving Santa, the Tooth Fairy and a newly made-up character known as the "Candy Witch" in order to examine the age at which children are able to distinguish between real and fictional entities and how they process contexts and cues when dealing with them.

In one study involving 91 children, Dr. Woolley asked young kids if a number of people and characters, including Santa and the garbage man, were real. She found that 70% of 3-year-olds reported that Santa Claus was real, while 78% believed in the garbage man. By age 5, kids' certainty about the garbage man grew, and Santa believers peaked at 83%. It wasn't until age 7 that belief in Santa declined. By 9, only a third believed in Santa while nearly all reported the garbage man was real.

So, "if kids have the basic distinction between real and not real when they're 3, why do they believe in Santa until they're 8?" says Dr. Woolley.

The researchers found that while children as young as 3 understand the concept of what is real and what isn't, until they are about 7 kids can be easily misled by adults' persuasive words or by "evidence." They hold onto their beliefs about some fantastical characters—like Santa—longer than others, such as monsters or dragons. Most of the kids in the study were Christian, and the numbers of those who believed in Santa would likely be smaller if there were children of other religious backgrounds in the sample, says Dr. Woolley

Logically, from what young kids observe, it makes sense to think that Santa is real, says Dr. Woolley. And Santa and the trash collector share certain characteristics. Both are people whom kids have heard about but have likely never met before. There is proof for Santa's existence—the gifts that appear on Christmas morning—as well as for the garbage man's—he makes trash disappear—even though kids don't usually see them in action. A 5-year-old has the cognitive skills to put together the pieces of evidence, but because the pieces are misleading, he or she comes to the wrong conclusion. Younger children may not have the cognitive skills to put the pieces of evidence together, so may in fact be less likely to believe in Santa's existence. The realness of some other characters, such as Sesame Street's Elmo, can perplex kids because they know Elmo is a puppet, but does that make him real or not?

All children are wired and ready to learn during their progress through childhood; it is important for parents to acknowledge and understand when children are using their imagination.

Creativity

Happy New Year and while we celebrate the new Mayan calendar and our own new year, lets take some time to look ahead and my hope for you is that you  have a creative, bright, and wonderful new year.

You have probably had two types of experiences with creativity.  Perhaps while talking to a friend, going for a walk or reading a  magazine article, you find yourself suddenly inspired with an idea  that solves a problem totally unrelated to the conversation, scenery  or article.

On the other hand, creativity can occur in brainstorming sessions where you are actively generating ideas; while mind mapping; when you are sitting at your desks trying to figure out how to make a business presentation more compelling to a client; and in any other situation where you are actively trying to solve a problem. 

The first type of creativity has been called passive and the second active, and there is a relationship, active creativity and passive creativity are closely related. You cannot have passive creativity without some element of active creativity. 

In fact, one could argue that all passive creativity is the result of previous efforts at active creativity. The author who dreams up an idea for a novel may not have actively been looking for a new novel idea. However, since her profession is writing, you can be sure she frequently does actively seek new ideas. 

Likewise, the scientist who, through sudden inspiration, invents a new chemical or technology or theory, will almost certainly have been actively looking for such solutions in the past. Indeed, passive creativity seems to be one approach our mind takes towards solving problems. 

Research carried out by the University of Luebeck in Germany found that sleep seems to be an essential ingredient for passive creativity (although they didn't call it 'passive' creativity in the experiments - just creativity), which confirmed what many people have long suspected: sleeping on a problem can help you solve it more creatively. 

Although the exact process is not clear, it seems that the biochemical process of the brain restructures memories before storing them during the night. This restructuring most likely allows our minds to see problems in new ways and so bring new solutions to them. (Ref: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/01/21/sleep.creativity.ap/index.html )

Likewise, walking, talking, reading and otherwise absorbing new input gives our minds new material, which may be applied to existing problems for which are seeking solutions.

What this all means is that passive creativity cannot exist without active creativity. Inspiration alone will not give you ideas. You need to break down your problems into creative challenges and actively try to solve them. However, if the solution does not come through the usual idea generation channels, one of the best creativity tools you have available is to put the problem to the side of your mind, so to speak, and give your mind a chance to add new input and surprise you with passively creative ideas. A good night's sleep along the way will only help. 

19 Scientifically Proven Ways to Increase Your Creativity

I thought this was an interesting post written By Larry Dignan so enjoy

Despite being the most necessary organ in the body, scientists continually find themselves astounded by new and exciting facts about the brain’s intriguing, mysterious complexities.

Creativity in particular oftentimes piques their curiosity because it both keeps humanity moving forward and stands as notoriously difficult to fully define. Although much of its realities remain shrouded, researchers do know of a few proven strategies for nursing it.

When inspiration stalls, try applying some of these methods and see which one works best.

Psychological distance

When puzzling over a creative quandary, take a step back and create some physical and psychological space. Indiana University at Bloomington students in Greece and their own state alike contributed to Lile Jia, Edward R. Hirt, and Samuel C. Karpen’s study, which revealed that absence makes the head and heart grow more innovative. The more distance, the more the brain processes a problem in the abstract – a necessary component of creative thinking.

Embrace the metaphors

Funny enough, “putting two and two together” and “thinking outside the box” completely work on a not-at-all-figurative level. An article in Psychological Science explored this phenomenon and discovered that acting out the metaphors in real life bolstered creativity, though it didn’t improve overall performance. Do keep in mind, though, that researchers took measures using the standardized RAT.

Attain REM sleep

Dream a little dream if those creative sparks need more than just a bit of flint to get going, because hitting a REM state remains one of the best things anyone can do for their projects. One doesn’t need science to see this trope in action, however, as notable names like Salvador Dali, Mary Shelley, and Michael Stipe all cited their unconscious nocturnal adventures as the starting point for some of their most popular works. Several University of California researchers went ahead and looked for the psychology and biology behind it anyway, and found that dreaming nurtures new information syntheses that don’t occur in waking life.

Channeling that inner Hulk

Multiple studies by University of Amsterdam and University of Gronigen noted that a little bit of anger promotes innovative thinking, but it comes with a temporal price tag. Negative emotions allowed to simmer prove less conducive to pumping out excellent projects than their fresher predecessors. So make sure to (peacefully!) lay that rage out quickly before the creative component starts dissolving; it’ll definitely prove more cathartic.

Moderate alcohol consumption

Psychosomatically, anyways, according to an Addictive Behavior article on the frequently disputed link between alcohol and creative output. In actuality, performance improved little, if at all, in the test groups given a tipple – though they ranked themselves higher in terms of perceived performance. While the controversy continues splitting scientists, avoiding blackout drunkenness will certainly keep a brain healthy for everything that comes its way.

Listen to music

Scientific and engineering unfortunately receive little credit as truly creative pursuits, but they certainly are – and they just happen to benefit from the same stimuli as their painterly peers. Next time a theorem or AUTOCAD assignment starts drying up the well, as it were, take the advice of Georgia Tech’s Parag Chordia and indulge in something a little melodic. Future studies will delve into what specific musical styles impact the mind in what specific way, if any.

Blue, da ba di da ba dai

Come to find out, blue achieves far more than just calming down anxious patients at the dentist’s office. Tobias Funke was really onto something when he painted his entire body the venerable color, because come to find out it can actually bolster one’s creative spirit! Red also benefits cognitive function as well, though it improves the ability to process details – a necessary component of innovation.

Intentional culture shock

Blend “thinking outside the box” with “psychological” distance and dive headfirst (with proper research and resources, of course!) into one highly valuable strategy for nurturing creative thought. In their Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin paper, Hajo Adam, Adam Galinsky, and William Maddux extol the potential of spending a stint abroad. Even the tiniest of cultural differences piques the ol’ grey mass and challenges it to consider the world in bright new ways.

Interacting with technology

Most technological interfaces with a high degree of interactivity, such as those intended for design and art, engage the brain in ways traditional media never could. In addition to this additional stimulation, the University of Gothenburg study also believed the faster, easier programs also cut down prep time, meaning more energy pours into the actual creation process. Not to mention quicker edits and brand new techniques otherwise impossible with the standard pens, pencils, and paints.

Extended or flexible deadlines

Harvard’s Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration Teresa Amabile knows many people claim to create best when suffering beneath looming deadlines, but her research shows otherwise. For more than a decade, she’s studied interplay between creativity and time pressure and discovered the latter typically (though not always) holds negative sway over the former. Creativity thrives more in environments where deadlines wrap around minds, not the other way around.

Avoid brainstorming

And, if brainstorming is necessary, try to do it solo instead of in a group, as the latter tends to accomplish the exact opposite of the true intent. When multiple people participate, the dynamic usually begins obsessing over one particular idea, which discourages others from contributing to their fullest potential. These findings come courtesy of a collaboration between Texas A&M and University of Texas at Arlington researchers.

Rewards…kind of

Children do exhibit heightened creativity when presented with a reward for their efforts, but only if the association between task and receipt has already been pre-established. Interestingly enough, studies conflict over whether or not the findings extend into adulthood, as many believe a job well done elicits far more satisfaction than any award or honor. When it comes to the kiddies, though, consider training them with this tactic to challenge their growing minds.

Multilingualism

Traveling gets expensive, and for the cash-strapped hoping to score a little perspective without forking over the dough should attempt learning a brand new language. A study conducted by the European Commission revealed that multilingual individuals enjoyed heightened creativity and innovations thanks to overall improved cognitive and problem-solving skills. So investing in those Rosetta Stone programs might very well bolster one’s own all-around mental performance.

Exercise

Aerobic workouts are some of the simplest strategies for making the brain a very happy organ indeed. Not only will they generally lead to a more satisfied, positive mood, but it can lead to greater creativity in kind. Rather than pausing for nap time and struggling to sleep when sleep just won’t come, try 15 minutes of heart-healthy exercise instead.

Transcendental meditation

Transcendental meditation works for the spiritually-inclined, skeptics, and nonbelievers alike – no dogma necessary. Cornell researchers published a curious article showcasing how practitioners, over the span of five months, watched a marked improvement in their creative skills. However, this did not apply to verbal acumen, though they were more mentally flexible and figurative.

Play video games

In a finding sure to anti-delight video game detractors, the ubiquitous pastime does benefit players beyond heightened eye-hand coordination skills. Much like other interactive technologies, they encourage innovative thinking and problem solving through puzzles and other challenges. The most creative individuals also ended up the most negative (which shouldn’t be a surprise considering the anger link) and more lethargic.

Sarcasm

Similar to anger, sarcasm and its ilk also influence devotees and their peers to start approaching tasks with a broader imagination and innovation. Interestingly enough, though, while feeling anger bolsters the brain, witnessing it held the exact opposite effect. These findings come courtesy of Ella Miron-Spektor’s team, who published them in Journal of Applied Psychology.

Exposure to absurdity

Pick up absurdist – or at least whimsical – literature during creative dry periods for a generous dose of inspiration. A collaboration between University of California, Santa Barbara’s Travis Proulx and University of British Columbia’s Steven J. Heine exposed participants to Franz Kafka’s short stories, discovering that the writer’s techniques promoted pattern recognition and novel thinking. Both of these abilities prove necessary when whipping up the most creative projects possible; plus, Kafka also happens to totally rule, so everyone wins.

Play

Kids and adults alike benefit from playtime, giving parents, guardians, and teachers a perfect strategy for kick starting their own stalled pursuits. Enjoyable recreation relaxes as well as stimulates, easing the mind into a project instead of falling headfirst. Besides, pretty much everyone loves getting out and having fun, unlike some of the other suggestions here.

About the Author

Larry Dignan is a freelance writer and blogger as well as Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Open your horizons Part 2

The constant preoccupation with one’s self prevents one from having experiences, real, enriching experiences. Affirmations of being good, or getting “gooder” by the day, is such a preoccupation that too often turns into self-criticism, intensifying the labels of what’s wrong with oneself. When that’s the main theme of one’s existence, then what do you think this person experiences? Occupy yourself with experiencing things.

Turn your attention outward rather than toward what you think to be your deficiencies. You may be unhappy because you don’t have: you don’t have money, you don’t have youth, you don’t have health, you don’t have beauty, you don’t have a sex-partner, you don’t have parents, you don’t have a job, and the list goes on and on. Life can pass you by and you won't notice that you forgot to live and experience. As if this wasn’t serious enough, the consequences of focusing on what we miss are even more morbid.

About 99% of humans fear uncertainty and lack of stability. However, when you look at the lack, then that is what you increase since you create your own reality by focusing. By putting your attention on things, you make them real. So when you put your attention on a lack, you increase that lack. In order to feel stability — which is a feeling, an attitude, and not something objective — you ought to change your attitude. You are not confronting immediate life threatening problems. You are afraid of the future, afraid of how you will perform in the future. To solve this problem, think of uncertainty in a different way: try to learn to live with uncertainty

 How? Through faith in knowing you belong; faith in yourself. The wider your scope of activity becomes, the more uncertainties you will face. Learn to live with uncertainty and then you won't need to shrink the sphere of your activities and interests in order to entomb yourself in certainty. Expand, have faith, and then you can live with uncertainty and live well, feeling stable in spite of uncertainty uncertainty.

Know that you, the real you, can never be hurt, only the role, the possessions, the temporary part. That is indeed a leap into the spiritual realm. Faith. When you have faith, your attitude changes, and you won't view uncertainty as an unwelcome guest. When you have that attitude, then you will have freed attention to work with and expand into more stability in your everyday life, without pressure, without feeling that doom hangs over your head, which was placed there by your own self in the first place.

Stability is due to control. Life is one big uncertainty, which you cannot control. What you can control is your attention, which when controlled can guarantee your stability even within uncertainty. This ensures that you can live well in uncertainty.

Happiness could be a few blocks down the road, once you can control your attention and when you know where to direct it. If you are bored, uncreative, or you feel life is a drag because of all those things you have to do, put your attention on things that really interest you, and then you will be able to enjoy your life in full. However, this is not always as simply done as said, because you may feel you have to do those things you don’t enjoy and you have no choice.

The main lesson to learn is to handle energy, which includes knowing where your attention is aimed at and controlling it. This teaches you to look and observe, to see others including their problems and desperation. This is exercising control over your energy.

When you are familiar with the techniques of controlling your attention, you can become a virtuoso with abilities that may seem supernatural to those who don’t know how to observe. Your memory and intelligence will improve as well as your creativity. First, however, you need to learn to focus. Focusing is the ability to concentrate on one thing for a long time (long defined as relative to you). It is putting attention on something, investing your energy as stated above. It is also paying attention to detail. When you can lock out the automatic mind chatter, then you can start splitting attention and focus on more than one thing at a time, thereby creating a kind of field, which is very creative in all respects. That’s when you get insights, connect between things you have not connected before.

Splitting your attention allows you to trigger things within an area in which you focus and then things happen. This focus allows you to see the nature of things as a process, the relations within a certain complex structure, and from there you can easily create changes by changing the dynamic aspect, the relations of the complex structure. Then the whole structure changes somewhat as seen from your point of view. Try to visualize this paragraph, even in meditation, until you get it. This is the result of the ability to focus, which of course starts, as I have stated, with a laser-like ability to center, locking out all other noise.

Controlling the wanderings of one’s attention is controlling awareness, which is the access code of consciousness. Our attention is the most basic dynamic aspect of our creation

Open your horizons part one

Open your horizons. Find quality in small things, not the big ones. Be more open to observing the details that go by unseen when you look for the big things.

Can you control your attention? The ability to control your attention, to control where you focus your attention, endows you with the ability to create your environment.

The ability to control your focus furnishes you with energy to do work, study, finish projects, succeed in your endeavors when you can see both the whole picture and also the details, and in general, it enables you to react to situations with enough rationality to direct them toward your objectives. You become aware by focusing your attention on something. Before placing your attention on that something, it may not have existed for you.

Now that you focused on it, you became aware of it and it exists for you. By observing you make things alive in your own world. And obversely, when you put less attention on something, it tends to disappear. Is your life precisely what you wish it to be? If not, no matter the reason, you can still learn to control your attention, and thereby, learn to create.

Is your attention being controlled by external events when everything disturbs you, when the smallest rustling distracts you? If that is the case, then you certainly don’t know how to handle energy. When instead of being directed by you, your attention is controlled by external events, then your energy too is controlled by external events.

We have minds to learn how to handle energy. People who have a high concentration level, who can control the flow of their attention, appea to have more energy than others do. It’s not that they have more energy — they simply know how to handle it better. But you can control it. You see, usually, when not working on it, awareness, or one's attention is guided, controlled by outside events: by emotions, unwanted emotions, the chattering of the mind, etc.

However, when you work on it and develop your control, consciousness is the one directing the awareness, and that's as it should be. Individuals with easily dispersed attention often seem to act neurotically. They feel they have too many unfinished tasks on their conscience. They get into something, then something else comes up and they give that something else attention while they leave the first thing unattended and so on and so on. Too many loose ends.

They seldom finish things before going on to the next thing, and yet they leave their attention on the unfinished projects or wishes. They don't even end them in their minds, so they are kept in a constant state of distraction, their concentration dispersed, and then they judge themselves on all those things they haven't done. Learning to control one’s attention could cure many disorders.Your energy is your ability to focus your attention where you wish.

Perhaps, you keep playing the same record in your brain, disabled by the automatic repetitions of babble. Maybe your attention is stuck in past events, thinking that if you had only said this or that, then… whatever, or maybe you hold onto all those terrible things that were done to you. When your attention is trapped in past unfulfilled wills, you have less attention, less energy to carry on. If you become more in control of your attention, you can learn to let go and thus become involved in the present rather than in the past. For that to occur, however, you need to know how to control your attention.

Of course, you could be one of those who lack self-confidence, which is the result of being too self-conscious, which means your attention is stuck on yourself. This may be the result of being afraid of critical attention. If that’s the case, then you should turn your attention outward instead of focusing it on the self. That’s listening. I call listening everything that has to do with putting your attention outside yourself. Listening can be achieved by being interested in the other instead of being interested in oneself.

Self-confidence is the ability to not focus upon yourself, the ability to give others your full attention. But since your attention is curved back on you, the external world goes unnoticed and you are either unaware or uninterested in others’ predicaments or joys. Because your attention is trapped in the narrow circle described between you and you, there is not much left over for others. When you direct your attention on yourself, you don't direct it upon others. Then these others can't feel you care for them. To really experience — and this has been a great secret — you should experience others by being them, loving them, without expecting something miraculous to happen as a result of this act.

The pure joy of being, existing, is the greatest miracle.How to love would be a relevant question here. The first thing in learning to love is to be Nothing. This means not being beautiful or ugly, happy or unhappy, not this and not that, just being and then seeing — seeing other life forms and listening to them. This means that all your attention is on them, not on yourself. You see them and become them as much as you can. You feel what they feel. You participate in their hopes, loves, whatever, and then it is only natural that you want to make them happy by giving them what they want because you are no longer separate from them. You are they, so you would do unto them what you would have done unto yourself — only it is their wish you fulfill. You are they when you want the same, and since you have gone through being Nothing, you can be anything and you are able to love anyone.

Being self-centered is often the result of a fear of criticism, of what-will-others-think-of-me. Wanting to be accepted and loved, one can become wary of not being accepted and loved. This vigilance is achieved by constantly searching for revealing signs and statements uttered by others to detect what they think of you. Such behavior may be misconceived as attentiveness, and yet what is the self-conscious person really interested in? In the other? No. He is interested in himself through the other. That is still curving one’s attention back on oneself, investing in looking good in the eyes of the other.

Be the actor, not the act. When your whole world is you and only you, it is a small world and you are the act. When you are interested in others, when you can turn your attention outward, then you are the actor, and then you are the world, the big world

As long as your attention is on yourself instead of the joy of doing and acting, you draw critical attention back at you and you receive evaluations. When you enhance your self as the object, then it is you who is getting graded and judged, not the act. This is why you feel you are losing confidence in yourself. Enjoy the doing and you will see the difference. Stop dreaming of how you will be admired, and instead, revel in acting out the different parts, sense the feelings and emotions of the roles. That makes the whole difference.

For all my men friends who have not yet been trained :-)

WICOE

(Women In Charge Of Everything)

Is proud to announce the opening of its EVENING CLASSES FOR MEN! OPEN TO MEN ONLY. ALL ARE WELCOME!

Note: due to the complexity and level of difficulty, each course will accept a maximum of eight participants

The course covers two days, and topics covered in this course include:

DAY ONE

-HOW TO FILL ICE CUBE TRAYS - Step by step guide with slide presentation

-TOILET ROLLS- DO THEY GROW ON THE HOLDERS? - Roundtable discussion

-DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAUNDRY BASKET & FLOOR - Practising with hamper (Pictures and graphics)

-DISHES & SILVERWARE; DO THEY LEVITATE/FLY TO KITCHEN SINK OR DISHWASHER BY THEMSELVES?

Debate among a panel of experts.

-REMOTE CONTROL - Losing the remote control - Help line and support groups

- LEARNING HOW TO FIND THINGS. Starting with looking in the right place, instead of turning the house upside down while screaming - Open forum.

DAY TWO

-EMPTY MILK CARTONS; DO THEY BELONG IN THE FRIDGE OR THE BIN? Group discussion and role play

- HEALTH WATCH; BRINGING HER FLOWERS IS NOT HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH -PowerPoint presentation

- REAL MEN ASK FOR DIRECTIONS WHEN LOST - Real life testimonial from the one man who did

- IS IT GENETICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SIT QUIETLY AS SHE PARALLEL PARKS? -Driving simulation

- LIVING WITH ADULTS; BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR PARTNER -Online class and role playing

- HOW TO BE THE IDEAL SHOPPING COMPANION -Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques

- REMEMBERING IMPORTANT DATES & CALLING WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE -Bring your calendar or PDA to class

- GETTING OVER IT; LEARNING HOW TO LIVE WITH BEING WRONG ALL THE TIME -Individual counsellors available

Have Fun!

For All you Pun Lovers

My thanks Doug for the following:

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

10. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

11. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

12. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

13. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

14. A backward poet writes inverse.

15. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

16. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you'd be in Seine .

17. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

18. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'

19. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

20. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'

21. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

22. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

The Universe is watching :-0

I received this email message and I would like to comment on some of the ideas contained within.The message is in italics my thoughts are not. The idea of the universe watching us and helping shape our lives is from Dr. Mohsen Kermanshahi work on universal theory and you can go to the link to read more about this interesting idea.


Having the courage and patience to put out the vibrations of what you desire as to opposed to where you are in the present, is the hardest thing you will ever have to do. Keep in mind WHERE you are and WHO you are in your life right now is based on your past intentions, thoughts, feeling and actions. Choice Theory says that you can change your future by changing your current thoughts, feelings and actions.

The idea that who we are currently is a result of past thoughts, intentions, feelings and actions is interesting but not realistic. The idea that we can control our future by changing our thoughts, feelings, in my mind puts way too much influence on the role of the individual and does not take into account societal influences. Our actions can help determine some parts of our future if other influences are on our side as well.
Remember that your current life situation is nothing more than the outcome of past thoughts, feelings and actions. They have nothing to do with what you are capable of or who you are capable  of becoming unless you continue to make decisions based on those results. If you do, you will continue to create the same things over and over again in your life.

Here is an interesting way of looking at your life. If you look at your current results, you can see what you have been up to for the past five years or so. What you have been thinking, feeling and acting upon is reflected in your current results. Look at your body, your bank account, your house, your car, your relationships, your job or lack thereof and what vibrations you have been offering, because your results are nothing more than a feedback mechanism - a mirror of what you have been thinking, feeling and acting.

Think about a mirror for a moment. A mirror does not judge, it does not say if something is "good" or "bad", "right" or "wrong". It does not edit or delete. A mirror just reflects back whatever is put in front of it. Do you follow this metaphor?

The universal mirror is exciting because when you get what you desire you know you are on your game. When you have less than pleasing results, that's just the universal mirror reflecting back to you where you have the opportunity to adjust your thinking, feeling and actions. Getting upset because you have messed up your  life in any area is wasting precious time. The mirror is there to give you a wake-up call. It is saying "Hey, you're broke. Are you ready to do something about it?"

Seeing the universe as a mirror that reflects back at us what we are doing, is combining the idea of individual responsibility and a higher power that will sweep us up to success if we think right, act right, and do right. The question that springs to my mind is what is right or correct thinking in this universal flow or do we have the  ability to influence our reality. Dr.Kermanshahi  defined Reality as follows: Reality is what we sense and beyond plus what we feel and beyond, so some of his followers have taken this to mean that we can shape reality. Perhaps we can, but this means we can only shape our own reality, not the reality experienced by others.


Do I get upset when I experience less than pleasing results? Absolutely. But the difference between now and my past is I am  willing to let it go. I use the experience as a wake-up call to find a better way. And I always find a better way, because I am looking for it. You can do the same.


Today will bring you a new awareness, a lesson or a manifestation  that you are making progress - IF YOU LOOK FOR IT! No matter how large or small, please record it in your Evidence Journal. It will only take a few moments and will AUTOMATICALLY put you in the Flow.

I agree that one should be aware and if the results you want are not what you get, then perhaps you need to look for a better way to do but that you will not be automatically placed in the flow of the universe. Life opportunities are all around us, but many of us do not have the ability to see these opportunities, because of  the paradigm in which we live our life's. It is not easy to change that paradigm, it is hard work and will take a long time and without help some of us will not change. But that may be a good thing.

Creativity and other thoughts

In the past few days I have been drawn to a number of readings that focus on spirituality, creativity and the science behind both. Is the universe trying to tell me something, those who believe in the concept that we are can control what happens to our us through our thoughts would say yes. I am a believer in the idea that what and how we think translates to actions and those actions affect those around us either in a positive (hopefully) or a negative way. I am not a believer in the concept that we control what happens to us and the law of attraction that seems to be making the rounds in peoples thinking. Karma, I was told does not come into play until your next life, for those who believe in this concept.

Creativity is another theme that I have been drawn towards over the last few days and I find this theme interesting. Can  one learn to be creative, according to Jeffery Baumgarnter who is the editor of Report 103 a monthly newsletter on creativity, imagination and innovation in business, and whose personal website is http://www.ungodly.com/, you can learn.

Jeffery talks about the seven steps of Creative Problem Solving:

1.  Clarify and identify the problem
2.  Research the problem
3.  Formulate creative challenges
4. Generate ideas
5. Combine and evaluate the ideas
6. Draw up an action plane
7. Do it! (ie. implement the ideas)

I think he has an interesting approach to problem solving, but I am not sure if it is an approach to creative problem solving. Creativity happens, I find when I least expect it, creative ideas come from the right brain and for me that process is not as logical or sequential as laid out above. The idea of having a method for solving problems is a great idea, but I am not sure if the left brain approach is the best way to bring out full creativity.

Albert Einstein, Da Vinci and Edison all were creative thinkers, but I suspect that their most creative ideas leapt out for them, and were not part of a formal process. These people were focused on particular problems and I suspect thought about the problems, dreamt about the problems and mulled their thoughts around and then the right brain, which had a solution was able to have the left brain listen to and translate the idea so that others could use the idea.

I believe we can be creative if we listen to the right side of our brains more often