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LIGHTS, CAMERA... ACTION!!!

29/12/2014

"You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
James 2:18

We all are creative. However some people are more aware of it because of the creative activities they do.

What are creative activities?
"a child in a classroom finding a new way to annoy a teacher, an artist developing a unique brand of sculpture, an office worker creating a bow and arrow from paper clips and rubber bands or a scientist trying to solve a problem"
(http://www.ask.com/hobbies-games/creative-activities-ebb39d5fc6ccf03e)

"You are creative whenever you make something new or do your own version of a thing"
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/uk/get_creative/newsid_2166000/2166557.stm)

List of activities:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hobbies

When you do something, when you practice any activity, then you are aware of being able to do that activity. When an activity has not been done for a long time the confidence on our skills can be reduced and not sure if being able to do it.

When there are new activities, new challenges, we need to dedicate time and effort. Sometimes can be something like a "guerrilla" technique in which we approach it, we do some, we leave it and then we come back to try again, repeating this process on several occasions.

Whenever we have to do a new activity that is different to what we are used to, we feel uneasy to have to leave our comfort zone, but when we try it we can improve it gradually. On the other side, if because the new activity has some difficulty we refuse to do it, then if the pattern continue and we continue avoiding doing that activity on several occasions because we see it as "difficult", then, at the end we can have some thoughts such as "I cannot do it", "It is not for me", "I am not good at...", when in reality, the main reason why we are having difficulties is because we have never tried seriously to overcome them.

New activities and new experiences can be perceived as "inconvenient", however, they offer us the opportunity to increase our awareness about our skills and about the benefits of doing them.

Our creativity can even help us making the same routine as if it is a different type of activity, just by changing small things or having different thoughts while doing it.

There is a quote that states that it is better to have just one idea and implement it, than to have hundred ideas in your mind without putting any into practice.

Let´s wish that 2015 is a year of action. Not only the action of thinking, but also the physical action of making things happen. You can start by singing, dancing, writing, tidying, decorating or helping others and giving them compliments.

This action will happen when the ideas we want to implement are very motivating to us and we feel enthusiastic about them.

These days, I don´t worry too much about doing the things "perfect". I just enjoy doing them. It is not so much about the objective of creating or building something that is good, as to how we feel while we are doing some creative activity. There can be feelings of being relaxed, calm, excited and flowing with the activity without thinking about it, just enjoying it (like when you are singing while doing something else).

Praying for... ideas with enthusiasm to implement them.

29/12/2014

The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it's to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they're valued.
Ken Robinson

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.
Henry Ford

Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.
Bo Bennett

Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is a spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process. Enthusiasm - from the Greek, 'filled with God' - is an ongoing energy supply tapped into the flow of life itself.
Julia Cameron

"Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and who obeys it: ideal of art, ideal of science, ideal of the gospel virtues, therein lie the springs of great thoughts and great actions; they all reflect light from the Infinite."
Louis Pasteur

Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.
Earl Nightingale

I always had a philosophy which I got from my father. He used to say, 'Listen. God gave to you the gift to play football. This is your gift from God. If you take care of your health, if you are in good shape all the time, with your gift from God no one will stop you, but you must be prepared.'
Pele

“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”
Osho

“A painter told me that nobody could draw a tree without in some sort becoming a tree; or draw a child by studying the outlines of its form merely . . . but by watching for a time his motions and plays, the painter enters into his nature and can then draw him at every attitude . . .”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body.
Anthony de Mello

People mistakenly assume that their thinking is done by their head; it is actually done by the heart which first dictates the conclusion, then commands the head to provide the reasoning that will defend it.
Anthony de Mello

http://www.beliefnet.com/Prayers/Protestant/Work/Prayer-For-Creative-Work.aspx

http://www.prayerforce.org/prayerblog/2009/08/04/prayer-for-creativity/

http://bustedhalo.com/features/exploring-your-creative-side

http://prayingincolor.com/drawn-in-a-creative-process-for-artists-activists-and-jesus-followers

http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/christian-lifestyle/christian-art/the-importance-of-prayer-in-the-creative-process.html

http://brainzooming.com/praying-for-creativity/2486/

https://www.24-7prayer.com/video/prayer-as-creativity

http://issuu.com/efga/docs/living-pdf-prayer-as-creativity?e=3559787/2463320

http://greggfraley.com/blog/2009/03/10/the-innovators-prayer/

http://brainzooming.com/a-creativity-prayer-for-creative-inspiration/6725/

Imagination is more important than knowledge

29/12/2014

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Albert Einstein

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
Albert Einstein

Is imagination more important than knowledge?
What is the difference between knowledge and information?
What happens when there is so much information available?

An interesting answer to "Is imagination more important than knowledge?" can be found in http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/172613.article, where the conclusion in the article is "It depends on whom you ask, what you ask about, and when." Read the article for a better understanding.

More thougths about it can be found in:
http://www.ted.com/conversations/11887/is_imagination_creativity_more.html

Imagination and knowledge are explained in wikipedia in the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagination
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge

Imagination is the ability to imagine, to create "images". We can remember images we have seen before. We can even try to remember other things such as music, voices, emotions, temperatures, tastes. We can imagine being relaxing in a garden, being lying on beach feeling the sun, the wind, the voices around, the sand... the water and the waves.

We can remember difficult situations in the past and imagine them changing things, changing the way we react and the outcome of our behaviour.

When we have to do something, we can visualize it first, imagining ourselves doing the steps. This is a type of mental training. We can imagine conversations with other people. Not only we can imagine things that we have experienced but things to experience in the future.

The same way as drawing comics, we can imagine impossible things, we can imagine faster cars, lighter planes... we can imagine peace in the world, imagine ourselves doing well, doing good, doing things better than we usually do.

Imagination is perfect for those situations in which we ask "What if?". What if I had half/double of my age/energy/income?

We can remember how other people do things and imagine ourselves doing them the same way or differently. We can imagine ourselves being assertive, expressing compliments, asking for things, being intrepid.

We can imagine ourselves doing exams, doing presentations. Imagination can be very useful to do simulations, where we prepare ourselves not to be nervous and to deal with issues.

Imagination can be used to relax and to overcome fears. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_desensitization

We can "build" things without materials, combine products, imagine services.

In Karate, with the KATA, people practice different type of movements. To make it real the person doing the KATA should visualise the enemies attacks and his/her responses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karate_kata

Also there are different types of KUMITE (combat) in which a series of movements are practiced by a couple in which they practice the attacks and the answers to these attacks. It can be practiced alone by imagining the movements of the contrary. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumite

Always imagine yourself on the battlefield under the fiercest attack; never forget this crucial element of training. Morihei Ueshiba (Aikido)

Regarding technique, from ancient times it has been said that movements must fly like lightning and attacks must strike like thunder. Morihei Ueshiba (Aikido)

When thinking about generating ideas, imagination and knowledge are very important. However, the "experts" have the knowledge and can have more difficulties to look at the problem with fresh eyes, as they have already a lot of ideas, a lot of answers. The person with imagination, the person that does not know much about the topic, can be the one that ask the questions that can be perceived by the experts as stupid questions, but on the other side can be the questions that trigger a breakthrough.

Narrowing objectives and changing habits

25/12/2014

This blog post is dedicated to my brother on his birthday.
Happy birthday bro!!!

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
David Thoreau

Today I had a bath and put on my clean clothes. Fresh start.
Around this time every year I think about what I would like to achieve or do during the next year. It is the time to think about what happened during last year and how to improve it.

Narrowing objectives make reference to focus on some important goals for the year (something that cannot be achieved in just one month).
How to choose this year´s goals? Answering the following question: Which are the goals and habits that can have a greater impact on your life? Probably you are already aware of your strengths and weaknesses and what you are more motivated to achieve. People usually think about financial goals, material things to have, savings to build, debts to pay, holidays to do, change of employment, new things to learn, new products or services to create, get fit, loose weight, improving relationships, do new activities to enjoy and have fun (hobbies, volunteering, etc.). Other goals could be related to improving the accommodation where you live (decoration, repairs, etc.), improving things in our behaviour (ie. to be less grumpy, more brave, more generous, more active and passionate).

There are some objectives that may seem more urgent and others that can be very important in the long term, for example, to improve our quality of life (ie. having fun, do new activities, be fit, improve relationships).

See yourself how you want to be 5 years from now and start acting like that person today.
Fiona Harrold

A practical way of thinking about our quality of life making specific changes is by doing S.M.A.R.T. goals, such as for the end of 2015, for example, to have:

Created X new products.
Reduced X kg or weighted y kg.
Saved X pounds.
Increased X number of customers.
Decorated all the rooms in the house.
Learnt the basics of a new language.

The goals must be achievable according to our other commitments. We can think about our current timetable (daily, weekly, monthly) and analyse the habits we have. We can think about 3-5 negative habits to stop and new habits to implement.

On the bed site table we can have our list of yearly goals, weekly timetable (where we identify the commitments we have, the gaps to do purposeful activities and where we can integrate the new habits). We can have a to-do list for the day that we carry with us to remind us to do the things (ie at lunch time) and to check at the end of the day what has not been achieved, why and what to do the next day or the next time.

I like using analogies among different areas of knowledge. When a business goal could be to increase networking a family goal could be to improve relationships. What about our family? How can we improve their lives? What weaknesses do they spot on us that we can use as goals to achieve during 2015? Partners can act like our managers to provide feedback and indicate areas of development. On the other side, we could consider our partners as our long term customers. These days it seems that companies are focusing more on generating new customers rather than on taking care of the long term customers. However, it is stated that to acquire a new customer is 5 times more costly than keeping an existing one. So maybe is time to talk less about customer service and more about "partner service" or "partner care" instead of customer care.

Each of us has a vision of good and evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good. Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the word a better place.
Pope Francis

Christmas creativity

20/12/2014

Christmas, Christ´s mass, to commemorate the birth of Christ (in Spanish, Navidad, meaning "birth").

I always go to church with a notebook as for some reason I find sometimes ideas I can apply, analogies to problems that happened thousands of years ago. From this point of view, to attend mass can be a weekly review of our lives and an opportunity to reflect on ourselves and how to be happier and better. Also an opportunity to think, to feel inspired, to have ideas to innovate. A type of coaching session to try to "be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect".

Thinking about creativity, in the bible there are many parables such as "the good samaritan", "the prodigal son", "parable of the pearl", "parable of the mustard seed", "parable of the talents". It is interesting to notice the link with problem solving, decision making and how the ethical dilemmas can bring ideas with strong motivation.

Apparently, Reverend Samuel Kyles was the one who said "you can kill the dreamer... but you cannot kill the dream". This was his reply when people threatening Martin Luther King said "we will shoot this dreamer and see what happens to his dream".

I like thinking about the birth of Jesus like the birth of an idea. In the beginning the idea is vulnerable. However, there could be a lot of potential and a lot of hope in the idea. It is humble in the beginning but it can grow exponentially.

Jesus can be the example of a leader that people follow because of admiration, because of his ideas, because of the innovation that provokes around him.

Thinking about Steve Jobs, is thinking about design and innovation in products, computers, etc. When thinking about Jesus, there is a sentence that I think is not only innovative but revolutionary: "love your enemy".

In the beginning, an idea may seem crazy. Later, more people believe in it and becomes reasonable.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Nelson Mandela

"every healthy tree bears good fruit"

‘Ideas become powerful only if they appear in the flesh; an idea which does not lead to action by the individual and by groups remains at best a paragraph or a footnote in a book.’
Erich Fromm

Creative Perception

19/12/2014

A new idea can consist of a combination of old ideas. A new concept can consist of a combination of old concepts. A new product or service can consist of a combination of old products or services. Or a new combination of its components.

We can perceive information with our senses: eyes, ears, fingers (skin), nose, tongue (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste). According to Wikipedia, perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception

Without going too technical, this information goes to the brain, which interprets it and decides what to do with it. I like a sentence from "The little workbook of meaningful listening", from Nerea San José, that makes reference to Dr. Robert Scharber stating: "We hear with our ears but we listen with our brains".

http://www.easynlp.com/NLP_Communication_Model.pdf?lbisphpreq=1
According to NLP once we perceive something, our brain filters this information and it can be deleted, distorted or generalised. Then we interpret that information according to our past experiences, our expectations, our beliefs, This is like when in CBT different people can hear the same sound and think that could be different things and act accordingly. What we hear can be influenced for what we believe or think automatically, so we can listen something different and react according to it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_distortion

All this is relevant because it shows how the information we receive can be perceived in different ways, what can affect our creativity.

There are many ways in which we change the information and play with it, and according to the laws of perception, the communication model of NLP and the cognitive distortion in CBT, we tend to build a picture based on the little bit we can see. It is like the story of the blind men and the elephant, where different people explain what they belief they are holding according to what they perceive. As they are blind and the elephant is big, each of them is holding a different part of the body of the elephant and interpreting something different.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant
Also we can misinterpret what somebody is saying as we are again building the meaning of what the other person is saying, having heard just a bit of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_representation
Due to our short attention span we tend to create concepts, to work with mental representations. This happens with images, conversations, and when we are defining problems and we can add our own bit of information to the reality. This is good on one side because it allows us to work with the information we have in an efficient way. On the other side is bad because it tends to distort the reality and takes us to make assumptions that can be wrong.

The same way that we can make problems bigger or smaller than they really are, we can make judgments that are not very accurate. Ideas can be modified using different level of abstraction, different physical properties, different meanings for different people or environments. As I have mentioned in some of my books, a "house" can be mentally represented in a very different way by somebody living in a house, in a flat in a sky scrapper, in an igloo, in the forest, etc. So, when solving housing problems, different people will think about the problems in different ways.

To remember this important topic about perception and creativity, to mention "Ceci n´est pas une pipe" or "This is not a pipe"the famous painting with a pipe (as it is really a painting and not a pipe).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images

Rest in creativity

18/12/2014

Maybe you are feeling tired. Maybe you have not slept enough for some reason. Maybe you have some interesting idea that did not allow you to sleep till you put it in writing.

What do you do when you are tired? Sleep? And if you don´t feel like sleeping? There are activities that at the same time that are producing something, help you to relax. When writing freely about whatever topic you are interested or when inventing something related to one of your favourite topics you can fall in a type of flowing experience in which the concentration at the same type is relaxing you, re-energising you with the pleasure of thinking.

During the process of thinking there are some activities such as going for a walk, washing dishes, having a bath or shaving, or doing some house cleaning that can be done without much mental effort and promote the step of incubation, in which without trying to generate ideas, there are thoughts that appear in our mind.

On the other side, there are times that we can try to relax without thinking about anything and is when thoughts come to us. That is why is good for relaxation to concentrate in something such as our breathing, some image or sound, or counting; doing something that doesn´t require too much effort but that keep our minds settled.

There is a simple activity I used to do sometimes that consists of writing one sentence (the same sentence) several times without thinking too much about it. It is interesting that when writing something we can change the speed we write, the quality of the writing, the size, the spaces, etc. and trying to write it with better handwriting can take us away from the meaning of the sentence, even though our brain continue keeping it in the back of the mind. And this sentence can be a question, or anything else.

We are used to input a lot of information with our mobiles, internet, newspapers, etc. and the absorption and digestion of this information in the same way as the digestion of the food can make our body to feel tired. In the same way as fasting can help to heal the body, reducing the information overload, can help healing the mind and the emotions. And the same way as exercising the body, exercising the mind helps to keep a healthy body. By doing physical activity we can at the same time relax our mind and generate ideas.

When we are tired, still we can think and generate ideas and these ideas can be different than the ones we generate when we are not tired. Besides, for some reason, when I generate ideas and when I write about them I feel re-energized, what is a very good tool to be aware of.

Don´t choose the best idea

4/12/2014

You have enjoyed generating ideas and now... which one is the best?
There are several tools to make decisions, but some people might think that the best idea is one that is similar to others used in the past.

So, try to see how to improve any other idea, for example the third one. In which circumstances could be the best idea? What modifications could be done to make it the best one?

Some times people can just use the first idea that has appeared without spending some time to generate more ideas.

Some times people rank the ideas according to some criteria to choose the best ones.

However, in the same way that different techniques, different people, different routines can be used to generates different ideas, also there could be different ways not only to choose the ideas, but to improve them and refine them. Different ideas can have their own strengths and weaknesses. Then choosing an idea become not only a critical thinking process, but a creative one, in which the ideas can be modified and combined till you can feel that is the right one.

Thinking about Wallas four stages of the creative process (preparation, incubation, illumination and verification), we could highlight that having generated a number of ideas, the next step is not only to make a decision about which one is the best, but to try to verify them, looking for modifications and adjustments that can improve the ideas.

Break the rules! Some times the best idea is not the cheapest or the easiest, but the different one, the challenging one!!!

"If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it"
Albert Einstein

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