Tuesday Thoughts

Today, my Creative Every Day project will be to change this memo board. (click to enlarge)

It has been this way for the better part of two or three years with only a few things changed or rearranged, and many things just added over something else. I stopped looking at it for the most part, even though it is right over my computer desk area.

Later, maybe I'll get around to the design boards which suffer from the same neglect.

I've spent a good bit of time thinking about the Creative Every Day Challenge.

First, I love the freedom from restrictions, the broad interpretation of creativity, the idea that the challenge allows such freedom of expression. I can sew, embroider, doodle in my journal, pursue my Renaissance Mind self- challenge, try a ballet class, try a new recipe...

Second, I am inspired, amused, dazzled, and uplifted by the creativity I've seen on various blogs.

Third, I don't feel pressured, but empowered and stimulated. The challenge makes me examine some of the different aspects and expressions of creativity and to appreciate areas in my own life that can be considered creative (by my own personal lights).

In a way, the challenge is to become aware of things we may not have noticed and to look for different, even small ways to express creativity.

Creativity has become, in a few short days, less about what I produce and more about an appreciation of opportunities. It is a way of looking and a way of thinking...

I'm grateful for this epiphany because it is making my life more interesting, more fun. Two words that I'm associating with "creative" -- "imaginative" and "fertile."

On a slightly different note, I'm often surprised about the importance and impact of semantics. It happens over and over, and I should not be surprised, but I frequently am. Especially in the interpretation or connotation of a particular word.

For example, discipline or self-discipline as opposed to commitment. I have great difficulty with self-discipline, but when I make a commitment (and I usually give commitments serious thought), the emotional impact on my psyche is much more positive.

Sometimes, my husband (or daughter or friend) makes a statement with which I initially disagree, only to discover within moments that my objection is to the connotation of one word. That connotation can change an idea completely for me, so I must be careful of quick judgment.

Another example-- the other day Kim used the word ritual instead of habit. Creating rituals seems so much more desirable than changing habits!

Spending a certain amount of time committed to developing new rituals appeals to me; disciplining myself to change bad habits makes me look for excuses. The first statement seems creative, the second restrictive.

The concept behind each set of words may be the same, but my response is not.

Jan. 6- A Year of Living Your Yoga: Trust yourself first.