Tag Archives: creativity
getting from point a to point b
July 10th, 2008. Published under reflection. Comments.
Going places. And getting from you are to where you want to be. Or looking back at where you came from to where you are now. Funny how one bit of information in life leads to another, and how paying attention to its essence opens up other possibilities.
Parkour
I have been thinking about some father-kid things that would be fun to do together. Something cool. Something where their friends might say, “Wow, you’re dad is cool!” And, I came across parkour. My youngest two kids practice martial arts and are already quite athletic. This could be something fun to practice and play together. Though that’s not as important as some of the principles I uncovered when I was investigating it.
Parkour seems to be about getting from point a to point b in the most efficient way possible. There’s a lot of room for creativity. It’s not a competitive sport, nor one to “put on display”. It’s probably not even right to call it a sport. It’s a way of being where the entire world around you becomes a playground. Everything changes when you’re walking around town and you ask yourself, “how could I get from here to that fire escape 3 stories up?” There might be a hedge, a car, a spiral staircase, a 6′ gap and a throng of middle school kids in your way; though you say to yourself, “with the proper training, I could get there in 20 seconds or less.”
That seems silly, yet the state of mind you can get into where your physicality and creativity thrive on one another for the pure enjoyment of play and improvisation can be quite amazing. From Chau Belle Dinh:
It is when you trust yourself, earn an energy. A better knowledge of your body, be able to move, to overcome obstacles in real world, or in virtual world, thing of life. Everything that touch you in the head, everything that touch in your heart. Everything touching you physically.
Gas Prices
And then I happened upon a post by a engineer who has a great blog about design and programming. His post about getting from point A to point B focuses on how we have certainly have reached the tipping point in fuel prices where the market is correcting itself of its excesses over the past 30 years. We are seriously going to have to think about how better to get from here to there. And why we are so far from all the there’s we want to get to. And that not going there and instead hanging out here can be better and maybe, just maybe communities can be built again where people live. Even people in rural areas are starting to carpool!
As painful as it is to know it costs me $25 a round-trip right now to commute to my office, I have already started to shift how I move about from here to there. I don’t go there as often. I stay here to work. I combine trips outside the house… pet store, library, grocery store, etc.; a little planning starts to save more than just a few pennies.
An Emotional Scale
Wanting to be excited, jazzed, proud, in love, loved or delighted doesn’t do much if all you do is want it. Knowing where you are in your emotion is key to then knowing how to get where you want to be. Since emotions are such an incredible gauge on their own, you can tell a lot about yourself where your thinking and feeling are (or are not) in alignment. It’s easy enough to let yourself get knocked down a notch or two when people around you are taking shots at you. Yet if you’re the one choosing your reactions around you, why would you want to do this?
Everything Together
If you don’t know how to even start to get to point B, it’s not such a big deal. Better to put a foot forward than to stand dormant in your own doubt.
I’m listening to my own words here, “Take time to feel where you are… and look for confirmation in your environment.” It goes back to relaxing your heart and letting yourself feel. Feel your own emotions. Feel the movement in thought and word around you. To get where you want to go takes creativity. And we all have it. Trust in your own ability to make the creative choices that will get you there.
Do you have any stories about how you got from point A to point B with or without the help of the universe?
the future is supportive
July 7th, 2008. Published under reflection. Comments.
Set your goal and setpoint out in the future even though you may not know how to get there… describe what it looks like… and then watch things shift around. The events and people of your life will start to alter themselves in support of you. Things will start happening. And you might be surprised as you watch yourself shift to get there.
Make the future your friend. It’s there and unknown and wants to know you. And it’s ready to work for you. You don’t have to do everything to get there.
The things I read in Creating, by Robert Fritz ages ago are finally making sense to me. I set a vision for myself out 90 days in the future and in just a month I already see a shift in myself and the world around me as I approach the reality of my vision. Fritz talks about the natural tension between your vision and current reality and the universe likes the path of least resistance and will do what it takes to get to your vision the simplest way possible… as long as you remain true to your vision and keep it steady.
The self I am finding and the self you could find on the other side of the unknown and the resistence you might face is so much bigger than where you see yourself now. Surrender to your own choices you’re making and you will suprise yourself with your capabilities.
notes on self-expression
July 2nd, 2008. Published under music, reflection. Comments.
I played another open mic last night and didn’t do as well as I had before… I began to be really hard on myself about it and was replaying every little mistake in my head. A friend mentioned something about how Coltrane could never really listen to his own music because of his quest for perfection and all he heard were all the little mistakes.
Though I’ve always kept close the quote from Miles Davis about mistakes, “Don’t fear mistakes. There are none.” I’ve taken that to mean that mistakes are crucial to the creative process and can be a incredible source of new ideas or ways to approach a song.
On that note… (um, no pun intended) I was able to stop myself from beating myself up about the performance and instead took a step back and asked myself, “What could I have done different? What are some strategies for making the next performance even better?”
NOTE: I’m figuring out that taking a step back and asking yourself something is a pretty f-in good thing to do.
Here’s a short list of what I came up with (and read further below for the big kicker about this process for myself):
Connect With Them
It’s always a good thing to establish a relationship with someone new. And this is a great thing for starting of a set of music. For me, this could look a lot of different ways: say hello, my name is… or taking a moment to breathe and looking out at them and making eye contact with a few… or even starting off with a story instead of music.
Clarity Counts
Across the arc of the night, from beginning to middles to end, being clear about what’s going on is key. Without it, I found the audience wandering and loud conversations taking over the place. I imagine that recognizing that one song has ended and another one is about to being is big. It’s like saying, “Here everyone is where the song has ended. We’re in this quiet time in between and I have this story or an introduction to the next piece… and here we go it’s about to start this new song and Bam!”
I’m not up there to just spew out some noise (unless I’m in a punk mood). It’s an experience we’re having together… not just me on the stage.
Passion
Passion should be apparent in every song… and not just to “them”, I gotta know the passion, too. If not, then why the hell am I out there? That doesn’t mean loud and boisterous all the time. If I’m deep into a song and it’s moving me, then it’s a pretty sure bet that it’s moving them, too. It’s infectious!
When passion is working, I lose my self and find a bigger Self to connect with. It’s a place where we all come together during that space the music is creating. To hit that FLOW when everything and everyone is grooving, that’s magic. In there, I can be the container and the base and the foundation through which everyone else has the space to find and have their own experience that can take them outside themselves to something greater. And when it’s places they don’t expect, it’s beautiful. Be excited, be proud, be fun.
Be Prepared
Down to the technicals of the execution of the song, it’s gotta be solid. I have to know the song in and out so that when it comes to making it live, there’s opportunity to improvise and adjust to the context of the place. When the song is easy, then I get to experience the magic of making it different. My mood, my intention, the crowd, the place… they all feed into creating a new and unique experience every time the songs are “made”. And they are made over and over each time they are voiced. This is having dominion over the music.
Everything In Working Order
And down then to the physicality of the instruments… my guitar, my body, my fingers, the strings, the stool, the capo, the clip. All of this should be in top shape. I can improvise when it’s not, though a lot of times that will take me out of the flow of creation when the song is being played. I forgot to move the capo down two frets for a particular song and it threw me off when I started to hit the higher notes. It’s a “mistake” that could have some potential, though. It changed the song fairly drastically… Hmm… maybe I should take a look at that.
Either way, fresh strings and a clean guitar. Clipped nails and a tight capo. All the little details make it important to be able to shine when the time comes that a song emerges triumphant in the shared space of experience.
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So, after writing all of this… I realized, wait, this is not about music. Or, rather the music is about life and the things I’m telling myself about the music is directly related and applicable to everything else in my life. Facets, facets, facets! It’s all the same and so electrifyingly unique at every turn. All of my attitudes and approaches are reflected everywhere I turn. Passion in my work, being prepared with my kids, keeping my body in great physical shape, clarity in communication, connection with every relationship… that’s where it’s at.
If I’m grooving in one are, I’m going to open it up and let the other areas take it on.
Take your own particular experience that was not what you thought you could do. Ask yourself, “how can I make it better next time?” Be specific and answer yourself in detail. Then take a step back and ask, “where else can this advice work in my life?” Go for it!
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