A working theory

I am working through this post, still trying to revise and understand better, but here goes. I read a chapter from Blake Mycoskie's book Start Something That Matters today with my students. Blake is the founder of TOMS shoes. We read a selection about fear and as we were discussing it, we came to realize that we fear being our best selves because it is unknown. I am very familiar with who I am now, as I've chosen to be who and how I am. It's my normal. While I don't like all of who I am, maybe I am comfortable. I am more attuned to the tough parts of myself. I am more familiar with my anger than my patience. Conflict over calm. Ego and selfishness over humility and selflessness. I know how low I can go, but have yet to see how high I can fly. So the low is familiar and more normal than the me I want to be. Who I want to be is a person I've never seen, so it is unfamiliar and scary. I fear the unknown and prefer the known. Me now is known. Me at my best is unknown. What I have to do is slowly familiarize myself with me at my best and make it my new normal. Again, a work in progress, but I had to start spelling it out for myself.

Lost in success

Things sometimes just don't feel right when everything is going good. Life gets too comfortable and I get too complacent. Success is good in short bursts. Success marks a way, but so does failure. Humans get antsy and restless when life is too smooth. I get agitated more when I don't have things to do or projects to work on. I get to thinking I have it all figured out, when in fact I have nothing figured out. The solution? Fail often. Take risk, take initiative. Not everything I initiate is going to go well. Some will go terribly wrong. But I'd rather that than not trying.

Ideas that fly

Ideas that fly are born from discovering neglected worldviews, and then creating something to fill the void.-Bernadette Jiwa Owning and harnessing our creativity are neglected worldviews. Fill the void through self discipline, ignoring everyone and doing the work.

Lottery tickets for creativity

Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature- all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you'll find out how big a prize you've won. - from The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

Blank Space

Creating something can be intimidating. Staring at a blank page or canvas can make an intimidating thing seem impossible. If this describes you as it does me, a great tip to get started is to put something on the page. We think what we create needs to be perfect. It doesn't. When I sit down to write, I put the command GO NOW!! at the top right corner of the paper. That gives me the command and permission to start and the understanding that I can make mistakes. What will your first mark be? It could be a smiley face, a doodle, a phrase or anything that marks the surface and gives you permission to start. Do it every time as a habit and spend less time thinking or doubting and more time creating!

Cotton fields and sweat shops

Stephen J. Gould once said- "I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweat shops." What other areas are genius, creativity and talent being wasted? The weight of this comment is huge when you think about broken systems like education, foster care and adoption. Our prisons house great numbers of inmates who need, in order to be made whole, a creative outlet for their talents. How many migrant farm workers today have ideas but no access to move them? Access to me is easy, but for a migrant farm worker or a girl forced into modern slavery, it's most definitely of reach.

Forgotten Technology

In the age of re-purposing and up-cycling, what forgotten technologies are there that could be re-imagined for today's use? There's sure to be a mass of forgotten inventions, innovations and discoveries that could be used today. Someone somewhere long ago built a trinket, a device, a contraption that could have value today in a new arena that was not even around when it was first created. Where are these forgotten technologies? How can they be dusted off and what can they be used for?