creaTREEvity
February 2012
5 posts
Inspirational Story: The Elephant Rope
As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.
He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”
The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.
Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?
Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.
“Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.”
—Michael Michalko
January 2012
10 posts
Creating Perfect Solitude for Creative Focus →
the99percent.com
Minimalist author Leo Babauta writes about finding solitude for creative work in our busy, cluttered and noisy lifes.
Can you create in a lousy environment, with people talking and phones ringing? Or do you seek some lonely spot where you can actually listen to the quiet voices in your head?
How Mundane Routines Produce Creative Magic →
the99percent.com
Creative coach Marc McGuinness talks about routines to “set the mood” for creative production.
I still haven’t figured out a good way to “trigger” creative work. Sometimes ideas just pop up out of nowhere; sometimes it takes lots of sketches and doodles and hard thinking until something good comes up; and sometimes I am able to sit at my desk and immediately start working - without the usual “let’s just check out the e-mail before starting”…
How about you? How do you create? Do you have some sort of habit or ritual? Do you sit and wait for that mystic spark of inspiration?
Create →
zenhabits.net
Another short and great text written by Leo Babauta, Create gives us simple and powerful advice, perfect for making things happen in 2012!
December 2011
9 posts
“Bring new creative life into the world, change the lives of others, and in doing so, change yours.”
—
That’s what I’m talking about! That’s what makes me wake up and move on, even when the day and the tasks ahead are uninviting.
“As muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions to a world in turmoil.”
—
Alan W. Watts
Being an introvert, I couldn’t agree more.
