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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Law of Attraction Coach

Nanette Geiger, Law of Attraction Coach , writes…

Just over 4 years ago I realized what my core fear was about having and keeping a mutual, wonderful intimate relationship. The light went on, so to speak, and ever since not only have I acquired a positive, renewed platform to live my life from, but the things I give to others assists them in uncovering their barriers to experiencing love as well.

We grow up with a lot of mixed messages about what a relationship is. A lot of these messages arise from our fractured family lives and TV and from deep down in our subconscious. But these days, more than in the past, people are looking for meaningful connection, spiritual healing, hope, and freedom from the shackles of their minds. Luckily, the answers are within. It is not about being better than everyone else, having the right background, career or college education, mingling with the right people, speed dating or joining the perfect online dating community. The Law of Attraction is a wonderful tool for positive realization in your experience.

“God’s will for me is perfect happiness” This is a workbook lesson from “A Course in Miracles.” Oftentimes I find that spiritual people don’t realize it’s okay to have desires, goals or something to aspire to. That’s our inner creative drive. Made in the image and likeness, it’s part of who we are to contain the urge to create and manifest our desires in ways that are fulfilling to you. Coming together in relationships is one way we expand, heal, and remind ourselves of who we are. Oftentimes I have found my marriage to be the platform for joyous personal growth, the reflection of my unhealed ego and chance to let go on a deep level and allow God in. It is all of these things and so much more.

If being in an intimate, thriving love relationship is a prospect that makes your heart sing, and once you truly understand that God wants you to be outrageously fulfilled, expressed, healed and happy, the only issue question remaining is “Why do you think you haven’t been successful?” The bottom line answer is fear. Fear comes in many different forms, justifications, and excuses. Ultimately, we fear knowing ourselves as the love that we are. You can attract wonderful Law of Attraction Relationships when you free yourself from fear and bondage.

It is not un-spiritual to want love, sex, excitement, intimacy, laughter, and play. It is un-spiritual to suppress your creativity and your talents. I get fear, I was one of the most resistant people I knew when it came to actually letting my guard down. If you want to share your life in perfect partnership you must take back your power, take 100 percent responsibility for your messes and ask for Spirit to take over. Obviously what you have been doing has not worked very well for you. Einstein said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that manifested it”. You must take yourself to a higher level. Fortunately we have support groups, trained professionals, counselors, coaches and even home study programs to assist us in seeing what is blocking us from developing lasting loving relationships.

A loving, fulfilled intimate relationship is available for anyone who desires it. Is it always going to be perfect? No. The ego wouldn’t ever let you off the hook that easily. But I know for sure that what you are seeking is seeking you. So find some support to help you move the blocks out of your way, and I wish you all the bliss your heart can hold.

There are hundreds of ways to increase brainpower. They range from dietary practices and specific supplements to creative thinking techniques and even environmental changes. Here are six short examples of things you can try today to boost the power of your brain and mind.

Act Intelligent

When you act as if you’re more intelligent, it sets up an expectation in your mind that your unconscious mind tries to meet – and this affects actual performance. This isn’t merely speculation. In fact, studies in which subjects pretend to be either a failing student or a university professor, show that those who do the latter score higher in the testing that follows.

Reduce Your Sugar Intake

Consuming too much sugar creates many long-term health problems, but the immediate effect is a blood sugar imbalance that will leave you feeling sluggish and hazy in your thinking. To test this you can do math problems fifteen minutes after eating a piece of cake on an empty stomach – you’ll get the point. Reduce your sugar intake if you want a clearer mind. All simple carbohydrates can have this effect, so you may want to also avoid too much white flour, corn syrup, and white rice.

Learn Using Imagination

When learning something new, imagine how you’ll use what you’re studying. Of all the information we are exposed to, little of it is the “important stuff” that is crucial to understanding. But when imagining how you’ll use it, you tend to focus on those things you really need to remember. This aids understanding and aids in retention of the new knowledge.

Limit Criticism

It’s important to know when not to be critical. Analysis is important, but it also can kill creative thinking if done too often and/or too early in the process. Think freely, withholding critical analysis until the right time, which is never during a brainstorming or a creative problem solving session, but after. Allow ideas to develop a little before you shoot them full of holes, because there may be a few good ones in there if you give them a chance to grow.

Saint Johnswort

Saint Johnswort is a common weed. Research demonstrates it’s usefulness for treating long-term depression, but many people swear by it’s temporary mood-elevating effect as well. Since we tend to think better when we’re happy, it‘s worth a try. You can buy it inexpensively, or collect it in the wild to make tea. It’s also known as Hyperacum Perforatum, if you want to look it up by it’s Latin name. Although animals that overgraze on this plant sometimes develop photo-phyto sensitivity (they get sunburned more easily), there are no reported side effects in humans using small quantities.

Chill Out For Brainpower

As some have noted, people often think better in certain temperature ranges. Being slightly cool, but not uncomfortable (that would be mentally distracting), is most conducive to good thinking for most of us, but try experimenting on yourself to see what temperature works best to increase brainpower.

There are many techniques for increasing the power of the mind. Even simple habits like asking a few crucial questions anytime you consider something can make for more productive thinking. But there is one approach that can probably do more than all the other techniques to boost your mind power. It is being ready to be mistaken at all times.

Be Ready To Be Wrong

We like to be right. It’s very satisfying on a certain level of consciousness. So much so that we feel better having argued our point well than having learned something new from another person. Really, when you look at it for a moment, wouldn’t it be more valuable to us to learn new things from others rather than prove to them how right we are? Yet how often are we looking to be taught by a person when we enter an argument or even most casual discussions?

This bad habit of the ego level of consciousness is not limited to our direct interactions with others however. It also shows itself in how easily we identify with ideas as our “own,” and how we feel pride in those ideas. Once we are enamored of an idea that we either worked to arrive at or even invented, we don’t want it to be wrong in any way. But isn’t it obviously an impediment to the power of the mind to attach so much value to an idea that better ones are not allowed to be seen?

A great example of the right approach can be seen in Stephen Hawking’s first idea about information loss in black holes. He proved that there was no way for information to survive entry into a black hole, and for many years nobody could show any flaw in his work. Don’t worry about the technical aspects of this, since they are not important here. The point here is this: Hawking was the one to finally prove his own theory wrong many years after the fact.

Now that’s a true mind of a scientist. It is crucial to the advance of science not only that ideas and theories are overturned in favor of better ones, but that individual scientists look for truth above all else – including above being right. That is also the approach that we all need to have a more powerful mind.

More than just being ready to be wrong, we have to always accept that there may be better ideas just beyond whatever is in our minds at the moment. A good idea often kills creative genius, because once accepted as “the idea,” it stops further exploration. It stops the process that might have lead to truly innovative thoughts, theories, products, inventions and knowledge.

Be ready to be wrong and be ready to look a little further at all times. Challenge what you think you know to see if there is some truth that you aren’t seeing. Argue against your own ideas in order to see what others are possible. This is how you practice your thinking skills and increase the power of the mind.

Believe it or not, there is creativity lurking within all of us. Creativity is not only the ability to draw a picture or write a poem – creativity is simply thinking in a unique way. When you approach a situation, as long as you keep thinking of new ways to solve problems, you’re thinking creatively.

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Here are some tips for discovering your inner creative potential:

1. Do What Makes You Happy. You may already have an idea about what you might like to do creatively, but you may be afraid of failure so you don’t try at all. However, the only failure is if you give up before you start. So what if you fall flat on your face? So what if people are judging you? Adopt the “you only live once” attitude and go for it!

2. Try Again. Let’s say that you feel your true calling is film making. You take a class, but your teacher doesn’t like your work. What do you do? Do you give up or keep going? The answer’s obvious: pick yourself up and keep learning the craft! Take another class or create a film on your own. As long as you’re enjoying yourself, learning, and practicing, you’ll create your own version of success!

3. Don’t Stop Thinking. Of course you never really stop thinking. However, you need to always be thinking new thoughts, solutions, and ideas, especially in mundane situations. You mustn’t just accept that things are done a certain way – you need to expand your thinking and keep coming up with new ways to do old tricks.

4. Inspiration. When you follow what truly inspires you, creativity just comes along for the ride. Let’s say you always wanted to start a business. That doesn’t sound terribly creative on its own, especially if it’s a type of business that already exists. But your inspiration will spark your creativity as you decide how your business will stand out from the competitors.

5. Stay Calm. Avoid situations where you feel overly stressed or uptight. If you’re like most people, you’ll likely do most of your creative thinking in a calm environment. Too much stress can hinder your creative mind, so remember to take breaks when needed.

Act on Your Ideas

There is only one true way to discover if your creative ideas will be successful. You need to make a plan and follow through with it.

Some people are held back by fear of failure, financial constraints, or other setbacks. But if you truly want to accomplish your creative goals, you’ll need to figure out a way to get past the hurdles.

Stuck on Ideas

Remember: there is creativity inside of you, just waiting to be tapped!

If you have a passion in life, you can bring creativity to that passion. If your passion is stamp collecting, for example, you can make that creative. Maybe you could come up with a new design for a stamp collector’s album. You could even design your own stamps or start a website for other stamp collectors to get information. Just be creative!

Set aside at least a few minutes each day for some freedom to be creative. You might find it difficult at first, but before you know it the ideas will be flowing.

* For more tips on how to create a successful life, download a FREE copy of The 77 Traits of Highly Successful People now!

We should always be looking for ways of thinking outside the box. It isn’t that we will always find a better solution through more creative or non-conventional solution. But we sometimes will. Maybe that doesn’t sound inspiring enough, so let me explain.

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Suppose you get in the habit of thinking outside the box and you have many interesting, creative, but unusable ideas. So most of the time you fall back on conventional solutions to your problems, whether at home or in business or in the workplace. But once in a while you have an inspiration that doubles your income or changes your life dramatically for the better or results in a new idea or invention that the world hasn’t seen before? Is that more interesting?

You see, it isn’t necessary nor reasonable to expect that you’ll have great new ideas every day. But one here and there can make all the difference, and repay you for all the time spent brainstorming silly concepts that went nowhere. How do you have that occasional flash of creative inspiration? Here are three ways.

1. Just get silly.

Some of you are hating this already. You don’t want to start spewing out nonsense and look silly in front of others. Or even if you are by yourself you feel uncomfortable imagining eyes on shoes and doodling pictures of people talking to wheelchairs. The good news is that you can get seriously creative without such silliness. There are enough other ways of thinking outside the box.

The bad news is that such seriousness did not lead to reflective strips on running shoes. That safety innovation actually came from a brainstorming session in which one participant imagined eyes on shoes looking out for traffic. Silly ideas often morph into practical inventions if given the chance to exist in the first place. And by the way, there are not only wheelchairs that respond to the user’s voice, but now one that can be controlled by thought.

2. Look beyond the current definitions.

Problems are expressed or defined in certain ways, and that affects the potential solutions that come to mind. You could call the usual ways of stating a problem the “box.” Now get out of it by restating them in new ways.

For example, you might see the problem at your business as how to get customers to buy more of your product or service. That leads to more typical marketing ideas or to price cuts. Or you might redefine the problem as how to help customers see the value you offer and so accept the higher price. Even more out of the box is the question of how to just find customers who already can appreciate what you have to offer and will pay the high price without hesitation. Now you’ve gone from the more stressful task of trying to sell more to just making more money from fewer happier customers – and there may be a way if you look.

3. Cross-breed ideas.

You need to make a house that is more energy efficient. Rather than looking at other houses and what has been tried in this area, why not look at a whole different area, like animals. What do they do to heat and cool themselves, and how can you apply that to your house design? Of all of the ways of thinking outside the box, “cross-breeding” ideas form different areas of knowledge like this is one of the most fun and creative.

When creating a strong and interesting narrative, the author must answer of series of important questions. Among these questions are: What will the narrative be about? Who are the main characters in the narrative?

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What conflict or conflicts will surround the characters? Mind Mapping is an effective tool that authors can use when creating a narrative, because it provides an effective way to organize the main characters, themes, and key conflicts in the narrative. With Mind Mapping, the author can make use of colors, visual images, words, and symbols to more easily outline his or her thoughts surrounding the narrative.

How A Narrative Mind Map Is Created?

A narrative Mind Map should consist firstly of the main idea or theme of the narrative, represented by a central image located in the center of the map. Next, the supporting themes surrounding the main idea, such as the characters or locations that will be central to the narrative, can be listed on “branches” that are attached to the central image. The conflicts among characters can then be listed on “child branches” connecting the characters involved in the conflicts. Lastly, the topics least important to the main idea of the narrative, such as minor storylines or characters, can be shown on “twigs” that are attached the “branches”. In putting together a Mind Map in this manner, the author can use whatever images, words, colors, or symbols he or she wishes to bring, life to the themes, character, and ideas for his or her topic.

Comparing a Traditional Narrative Outline and Mind Map of a Narrative

A traditional narrative outline will most often present the main theme of the narrative, as well as the characters, locations, and conflicts found in the narrative, linearly. Consider the following Chapter One outline of an author who has used a traditional layout:

Title: Murder in the First Degree

I.Chapter One

A.Introduction of the Main Characters and Location of the Narrative

1.Kathryn (The Wife)

2.Aaron (The Husband)

3.Gary (The Wife’s Lover and Murder Victim)

4.John (The Sheriff)

5.Detective Warner

6.Calamesa, CA (The Location)

B.Introduction of Character Interactions/Conflicts

1.Samantha and Craig’s Relationship

a.Where are how they met

b.How long they have been romantically involved

2.Kathryn and Gary’s Relationship

a.How long they have been married

b. Craig’s abuse of Samantha

3.Antagonistic Relationship Between Aaron and Gary

4.Tony’s longstanding dislike of Craig

a.Why John Dislikes Aaron (reason?)

b.Aaron many lawsuits brought against John for slander (?)

C.Murder

1.Body Found

a)How Victim Was Murdered (Stabbed to Death)

b)Who Found Body (Craig standing over body with knife)

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2.Suspect Arrested

Contrast this outline with a Mind Map of Chapter One of the narrative, represented in the attached Mind Map diagram. In the Mind Map diagram, the themes, characters, and conflicts of the narrative are presented spatially, and are spread across the page. Moreover, while a traditional outline includes only text, a Mind Map incorporates not only text, but images, graphics and colors, as well. The results are more visually stimulating diagrams of the main themes, characters, and conflicts, making them easier to conceptualize.

Writing a Narrative from the Mind Map

Both the traditional outline and the Mind Map can be used as a jumping off point for the actual writing of the narrative. However, consider the visual imagery and spatial depth of the Mind Map; the Mind Map engages the writer’s brain in a more creative manner, and allows her or him to more actively visualize the narrative as seen in the mind’s eye. By allowing the author to visualize his or her narrative in this manner, the Mind Map provides him or her with a more intuitive transition to the actual writing of the narrative. The process of outlining the narrative and writing the narrative are thus linked in one creative process, and the development of the story can evolve more naturally.