Wednesday, May 30, 2012

CaveDude and the Creative Spark


Are you afraid that people will laugh at your ideas? Guess what? You’re right. There will always be people who laugh at you, whether you do anything or not. Some people will dis you for sharing ideas; others dis you for not sharing them. They don’t matter. Seriously, the people who put others down – they are just trying to fulfill a need of their own – the need to feel less inferior. Yes, I said less inferior, not superior. It’s almost the same thing. Some folk desperately need to be better than others, but most just want to feel equal. They want to be ‘as good as’.

Some people will give you an honest assessment of your ideas. Often that starts with ‘that won’t work because….’ You have options. Ignore them. Listen to them. Listen, then resolve the buts.  If the ‘because’ is a valid point, work it out. Imagine CaveDude making a wheelbarrow to haul home the mastodon. CaveBuddy says ‘That won’t work, squares don’t roll.’ Valid. Round rolls. Problem resolved, roll that mastodon home and fire up the grill. CaveDude could have ignored this, discovered his idea didn’t work, and dragged the mastodon home the old way. He could have listened, said ‘Duh!’ and given up right then. Not our guy. He figured out how to roll.

That is what creativity is – finding a solution. CaveDude had options. Rocks are roundish. Lay the mastodon on rocks and push (or pull.) When you get to the edge of the rocks, run the rocks at the back up to the front and repeat. Sounds like more work than just dragging the beast home, doesn’t it? Trees are roundish too. Cut down a bunch of trees and – well, that works the same way the rocks did. Inventing the wheel took a lot of trial and error. A lot of work goes into the failures and almost-ran’s. Persistence and creative thinking invented the wheel. You know CaveDude’s people were persistent. They had to be to get that mastodon home. They had to be creative too, to figure out an effective way of hunting and killing something that could just stomp them to death.

That is what fuels creativity – need. Sure, they could wait around for an animal to get killed or die on its own. Hungry waiting and a lot of competition for the meat from other carnivores. Better to figure out how to get meat without waiting for something to keel over spontaneously. Hmmm. Sneak up on the mastodon while it sleeps and club it to death.  That probably worked some of the time, but I bet most of the time the mastodon woke up and stomped him some CaveDudes. CaveBuddy, watching from over there must have decided distance was good. He probably threw rocks, which would have just made the mastodon mad most of the time. Stomp. Try a sharp stick. Hey, not bad. Just stay out of the way while the beast rampages himself to death, then fetch the meat. Except, well, there went more CaveDudes lost in the rampage. More distance… yeah.

Hunting techniques evolved through necessity. Can you imagine how CaveDude would have reacted if MusketDude had suddenly appeared and shot the mastodon? KABOOM, plop. On the other hand, what if CaveBuddy had described his idea for a stick that fired rock-sized projectiles at the mastodon from a distance? CaveDude would have thwacked CaveBuddy upside the head and grunted the equivalent of “You moron, lay off the freaking mushrooms, will ya?!”

Is there a point to all this? You bet yer sweet bippy there is. Let ‘em  laugh. You go right ahead and innovate, CaveBuddy. The world needs more folk like you.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Elemental Journey: Can you trace your soul's evolution through time?

There is art work and music that speaks to me, and there is artwork and music that leaves me cold. Native American music makes my teeth itch. The artworks baffle me. That bear doesn't say 'bear' to me. I love the idea of the totem pole, but not so much the carvings on it. On the other hand, the first time I heard bagpipes, I was transported. I knew instantly what they were and I loved them. Uilleann pipes touch something inside that vibrates and spins.  Celtic knots thrill me, Celtic crosses delight me.

Both of these cultures are part of my genetic make-up, yet only one speaks to me. Is that because the European influence is more deeply engraved through multiple existences? Did I, perhaps, experience more incarnations along that particular path? What really got me thinking was Cycladic carvings. I don't like most 'primitive' art. Fertility sculptures, Egyptian hieroglyphs, these all strike me as kindergarten doodling. I look at them and wonder how a culture could fail to evolve artistically for ages on end. How is it that the faces never got more realistic? The carvings remained exaggerated.

Realistically, the carvings are religious icons so changing them would be bizarre. That makes me think perhaps I traveled a more interpretive path. Hieroglyphs didn't change because they are written language, but it still seems like there should have been stylistic representations of a calligraphic nature. Neither of these ancient art forms seem artistic to me because there aren't variations on the themes.

Looking at Cycladic sculptures, I was instantly smitten. They are primitive; no facial detail, not a lot of variation on the basic pose. These are thought to be funereal carvings, found in graves with no eyes or mouth and arms folded across the body. They have different head shapes, some have wide shoulders, some not. Some are clearly tall people, others are more petite. These feel like art to me, individual expressions rather than carbon copies. Clean lines, soft curves.

Then I considered architecture. I love the clean lines of Greek architecture, and the arches of Gothic cathedrals, but not Japanese architectural lines or the stalactite-like garishness of Italianate cathedrals. I adore the curvaceousness of mud huts and cob houses, that sort of man-made cave feeling, but not the fluid lines of India's temples.

Trace a line on a map, from the earliest arts and architectures I like, through to today, and you trace a line from Greek Islands, across Europe to the British Isles. Through the British Isles from Wales, into Ireland, to Scotland. A specific route, with the Scottish influences being the strongest of the three, so I suspect that to be the most recent 'incarnation period' for me.

The entire concept pleases me in a way that feels right, like a tiny epiphany. In a way, it's like looking at a face in the crowd in a photograph from the past and suddenly realizing the face is your own. Finding bits and pieces that come together to make an unexpected whole. This is how I came to be who I am, this is the path I traveled, these are the peoples I knew, those are the experiences I had.

If you traced a path back in time, through art, architecture, music, even belief, where would you find yourself? Would you find yourself? Would something suddenly make sense that never did before? Could the path ahead become more visible if you knew the path behind? It all makes me think of a song from the 70's:
"Do you know where you're going to?...Do you know what you're hoping for? When you look behind you there's no open door, what are you hoping for? Do you know?" (Theme from Mahogany, Performed by Dianna Ross, written by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffen)

Comments welcome.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Living Your Passion

Life is hard work, but it shouldn't actually be a struggle. I mean, if you want to succeed at whatever you're doing, you do have to make an effort. I just think that if you're doing the thing that fits your soul, you don't struggle, seeming to never advance. So how do figure out what fits your soul? Supposedly, the things you are most passionate about indicate your true path.

I'm passionate about learning, creating, and teaching. I like learning just about anything, but the things I return to most often are psychology/philosophy in the form of self-improvement and understanding, and making stuff. I like figuring out how something was made. I like seeing if I can make one too. I like seeing what something can become - like seeing a fork as a giraffe, or figures in driftwood. I like sharing what I know or what I think, when it comes to being a better person. Mostly, "better" means happier. Considering these are life-long endeavors that I haven't stopped pursuing, it seems to me that my true path lies in there somewhere.

I could teach arts and crafts. I like doing them, and I like sharing how, and I am inspired by the things other people think up. I offered art glass classes for nearly a year and never had a single taker. I advertised, I made signs, I did demos. Glass classes aren't exactly cheap, but you'd think there would be one person who actually signed up, right? So, I guess that isn't my 'thing' to teach. Now I am considering doing much less expensive craft classes, teaching fun crafts geared toward people who think they aren't creative but wish they were. I think everyone is creative, some people just need a few successes to open up their imaginations. As I gather ideas and plan out strategy, I keep coming back to a list of failures - including the glass classes mentioned above.

Failures. Weird failures, if you ask me:
  •  I volunteered for the Red Cross. They asked me to make one sign. That's all. The coordinator literally told me that they didn't actually need any volunteers, but I could make a sign if I wanted to. I made the sign. I wanted to help somehow. 
  • I also volunteered to help at my local library. They had a backroom overflowing with un-shelved books and not enough hands to re-shelve them. I submitted my application to be a volunteer. On the application, I said that I checked out over 300 books a year so it seemed fair to help get them back onto the shelves. No one ever responded to the application in any way, even when I called to inquire about it. I ended up leaving a message that was never returned. 
  • I tried to donate a magazine subscription to the library also. Content they didn't have to pay for, I was willing to pay for it since I couldn't seem to give back any other way. I called repeatedly trying to find out how to make the donation. Cash or actual subscription, I didn't care which. I left messages. I went in person to see the head librarian - who was never available whether by phone or in person. No one would or could tell me how to make a small donation to my local library!
  • I tried to donate over 1000 snow shovels as a fundraiser item for the local homeless shelter - in winter!  At least there I got to talk to someone who said it had to go to committee and they'd get back to me. No one ever did.
Those are weird failures. I've been in the Salvation Army Thrift Store when someone tried to donate three trailer loads of merchandise from a closed store. The director of that particular shop rejected the donation because she didn't feel she had any room for the merchandise. She suggested he try the church thrift store down the street. He said he already had, and they rejected the offer also. Okay, so at least it isn't just me that can't give away services or products, but come on!

Anyway, I keep coming back to those failures and others. I'm normally a pretty positive person, but I guess it's not real positivity or I wouldn't keep thinking about things that didn't work. I'm at the point where I desperately want to do something that adds value to the world but I'm fatalistic about ever succeeding! If I offer fun, inexpensive classes, will anyone come? It's worth trying, right? Except trying costs money and I'm just about out of spare change. I spent it all trying!

Another of the things I'd like to do is set up sessions that revolve around life-enhancement programs. I find that one of the best ways to cement what you've learned is to help others learn it too. I also find that such sharing helps to keep me motivated through the hard work of improving myself. By improving, I mean I want to be kinder, forgiving, more positive, I just to be a better person. I believe that if you think negative thoughts (like that list of failures!) you get more negative experiences.

By creating a forum to help others, I would also be helping myself to be closer to what I believe is the human ideal. I believe we have total control over our lives, that our thought processes affect our lives, and that we lose connection with our true selves over time. I think very young children still have the 'magic' and we rob them of it with our negative comments and insistence on conformity. I think many great leaders over many centuries have tried to show us the way back to our true nature and we misunderstand the messages. I believe that the only way to really get back there is by helping others. Provide something they need or want. But it can't just be what they need, it has to also be what you neeeeed.

What does that mean 'it has to also be what you neeeeed'? If you are passionate about math,  being a tour guide isn't likely to be fulfilling to you. Likewise, if history is your passion, you aren't likely to enjoy tutoring algebra students. Either one might be capable of the other, but you're less likely to give the same value of service if you aren't following your passion. I think we neeeeed to do the things we are passionate about. I also think that it is pretty common that people have no idea what it is they are passionate about.

I've read a number of blogs and life-improvement books that ask the question "If money and time were no object, what would you choose to do?" That is supposed to give you this lightning insight into what your passions are. Did not work for me. It actually took me 49 years to figure out what I am passionate about. Why? I think it is because we aren't taught to follow our passions, we're told to get a good paying job.

 I knew a college student several years back who was majoring in accounting and minoring in criminal justice. I asked why that combination. He said accounting was boring but pays really well, and criminal justice is fascinating but pays poorly. How happy do you think he'll be working only for money? I know, many people do exactly that. How many of them are actually happy? I know a lot of people who make a lot of money. Many of them dread Mondays. A lot of them have no energy left at the end of the week. I hear a lot of 'I hate my job' and when I ask why they do it, they say they can't afford to do anything else. When I ask what they would do if they could, few people have any ideas. I think that is because they don't believe they will ever have the option to do anything else. Their optimism for life has been dulled by following a path that isn't suited to them. They don't neeeeed to be doing what ever the job is, they just need the money it brings.

There has to be a way to have both your soul needs and monetary needs met. Some people manage to work at a job for pay and spend the rest of their time doing something they truly love, but what I mean is that you ought to be able to get paid for what you love doing. That's an ideal we hear a lot about. Figure out what you love, do it, and the money will automatically follow. Well, not quite. At least, not for most people. Artists and writers would all have all the money they could possibly need if that were true. No parent would ever say 'I know you love knitting socks, but knitting socks won't earn you a living wage.'

I love learning about human nature, spiritual mastery, and how to make practically anything. I love training new coworkers, teaching people how to do anything I know how to do, and discussing the wonders and mysteries of man and the universe. Surely there is a way to do those things and earn a decent living too.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Being more

I suspect that , at some point, everyone feels unloved, unappreciated, mistreated or unfairly judged. I also suspect that the true reason for the feelings is that we've blocked our access to the positive by practicing the negative.

If you want to feel loved, be more loving. Think about what you love about each person in your daily life. There is something in everyone. Maybe there is someone you dislike, you can still find something about that person worthy of respect or admiration. When you get in the habit of finding something good in everyone - especially in those you'd prefer to denigrate - you open yourself to being more loving and therefore more receptive to love. You're not unloved. Someone always loves you, even if you don't see it.

Think of love as a cup filled with water. If you just leave the cup sit, eventually the water goes stale, then becomes stagnant, then brackish. But if you drink of the water, or pour it onto a plant, or give it to a thirsty dog, there is room in the cup for more. You are the cup, love is the water. If you don't pour it out, you can't be refilled with fresh love. Find something to love in each person and you open your soul to love.

Do you feel unappreciated? Most often, when we feel unappreciated, it is one person we are focused on. He doesn't appreciate how hard I work on ____, she doesn't appreciate how much I ____. You fill in the blanks. When you do, take a minute to appreciate something that person does ( or did today) that affects you.

Maybe it's something as simple as they made sure there was coffee in the pot when you arrived, or as complex as seeing your tire was flat and getting it fixed before it inconvenienced you. Maybe it's something they do every day that you take for granted, like a spouse dressing in the bathroom so the light doesn't disturb your sleep, or letting you read the newspaper first because they tend to make a mess of it. There is something. Make a concentrated effort to find it, focus on it, and appreciate it.

Apply this concept to every negative feeling you have. If you feel judged, practice accepting others as they are. If you feel mistreated, practice doing kindnesses for people you don't know or care for. (Of course, be kind to those you love as well, but being kind to strangers and enmities makes you more aware of the kindnesses people do for you. Say thank you when a stranger holds the door!) If you feel lonely, make someone feel welcome.

If you feel anger, practice forgiveness. I've written before about forgiveness, it is a gift that will ease your own miseries immensely. Remember that when you hold a grudge, YOU hold it. It doesn't affect the person you're angry with, it poisons YOU. Forgiveness doesn't mean letting them hurt you again, it simply means you accept that the past is past and will not let the past rule your present. 

What ever you feel is lacking in your life, be more of that. Focus on being it, not on getting it.