Curiouser and Curiouser

“If a young Leonardo were alive today and attending grade school, he would probably be on medication.” Michael Gelb

I teach a class where we study some of the great creative minds throughout history, including Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci and Maya Angelou. One of the traits they all share is curiosity. When my students ask me how they can increase their creativity, I tell them to be more curious. Ask more questions.

Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead, is a great example of this. His interest in drums led him to collect percussion instruments and become a renowned expert on the history of drums and drumming. He has written four books, testified before the U.S. Senate and was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. A member of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function at Beth Abraham Hospital, he continues to investigate the connection between healing and rhythm. Not exactly what you’d expect from a drug-soaked rock and roller.

You can use your curiosity to delve more deeply into any subject that interests you. As a writer, I have studied the history and process of papermaking, ink and printing in addition to pursuing a hobby of hand bookbinding.

Here’s an assignment I give my students. Visit a local museum and find an idea you can adapt to your personal or professional life. One woman visited the Titanic exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and came away with the idea that you always need to have a backup plan, no matter how safe you think you are. Imagine if the Titanic captain had asked, “What if this isn’t the safest ship on the sea?”

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Against the Grain

"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite."
G. K. Chesterton

If you’re looking for an innovative idea to make your business stand out, think about doing the opposite of what everybody else is doing. If the conventional wisdom in your industry is to market products to giant corporations, maybe you could find an untapped niche in the small- or medium-sized market.

In this age of globalization, some companies make a distinct regionalism work for them. The Buckhorn Exchange restaurant in Denver is one example. It is our oldest restaurant, in continuous operation since 1893, and holds Colorado’s first liquor license. Thumbing its nose at political correctness, the historic building unabashedly displays hundreds of hunting trophies, Native American artifacts and Wild West memorabilia. The menu features buffalo, elk, pheasant and pot roast. People come from all over the world for this unique dining experience.

If you wrote a business plan today for a restaurant like this, funding agencies would probably laugh you out of the office. Much like Hollywood producers, banks are looking for the sequel to McDonald’s, not something completely different.

If your idea flouts conventional wisdom, chances are good that you will be on your own. That’s okay, because it also means that when you hit it big, you will reap all the profits. The thing about conventional wisdom is that it is so frequently wrong.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

The Entrepreneurship Boom

“The biggest temptation is . . . to settle for too little.” Thomas Merton

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the ranks of the self-employed aged 55 to 65 rose 33 percent in 2006, while the number of self-employed 25- to 35-year-olds fell 2 percent.

In a related quarterly survey by outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas of its clients -- mostly managers and executives -- the number starting firms or turning to self-employment rose 29 percent in the first quarter of 2007 over the first three months of 2006. Of those, a staggering 88 percent were 40 and older.

A number of reasons might account for these statistics. Older people have a harder time finding a new job when they leave an old one, so some people may turn to self-employment as their last choice. Workers in their 50s and 60s may have lower living expenses, with a paid-off mortgage and grown, independent children. They may qualify for early retirement pensions that give them more financial freedom. All of these situations leave them freer to explore things they may have always wanted to do, but found impractical or impossible at an earlier age.

Articles about this phenomenon always refer to “aging baby boomers,” and while it is true we are getting older, I’d like to point out that everyone on the planet is aging, not just the baby boom generation. The possibility of starting a small business is one more reason to look forward to our later years.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Other People’s Problems

"There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise." Gore Vidal

Here’s an exercise I do in my classes. During a segment on time management or other problem areas, I break the class into teams of about 4 people each and give them sheets from a Post-It flipchart and colored markers. On the paper, they write one problem each person has regarding the topic.

Then they trade papers, so Team A has the list of problems from Team B and vice versa, and brainstorm possible solutions. Trading lists accomplishes a couple of things:

1. Participants must state their problems clearly and succinctly. They do not have the opportunity to explain or give background information or tell their entire life history, as many want to do. They have to focus.
2. During the brainstorming session, the person with the problem is not participating and therefore, cannot argue with the solutions by saying things like, “I already tried that” or “That will never work and here’s why.”
3. If you are like me, you are frequently brilliant at solving other peoples’ problems. For your own problems, not so much.

Try it on your own by emailing a concisely stated problem to a group of four friends and asking for solutions. You may be surprised by the results.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Tryout

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”

Robert A. Heinlein, The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

After my experience at Cirque du Soleil last week, I have re-immersed myself in learning all I can about the French-Canadian circus company, visiting their website, checking out a few DVDs and rereading the novel The Spark, the book tells a fictitious story of a sports agent who reignites his creativity by visiting Cirque du Soleil.

One of the things that intrigues me is the way the main character and all the Cirque performers have the freedom to learn new skills, try out new interests. What an extraordinary idea. When I was working as a community college administrator, the thing that made me the most crazy (and that drove me away) was that nobody was allowed to try new things. Ever. You were hired to do a job because you had experience and education in doing that job and you were expected to continue doing it until the person ahead of you quit or died.

I’m the kind of person who gets bored doing the same thing in the same way over and over again. I like teaching because, even if I teach the same subject many times, each time is different and I have the flexibility to bring in new information and present it in new ways. Writing allows me the same variety.

My goal now is not to run away and join the circus, but to use inspiration from the circus to reinvent the work I already do. What can I learn from Cirque? To push myself beyond my self-imposed limits. To try things that scare me. To collaborate with other creative people. To quit thinking so much and just do it.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Storyline

Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever. Italian Proverb

Two years ago, Mia Michaels lost her father to lung cancer. She grieved, I suppose, as any loving daughter would, but Mia Michaels is not just any loving daughter. She’s a gifted and renowned choreographer. Last night on the TV show, So You Think You Can Dance, she paid tribute to her father, Joe Michaels, who was also her first dance teacher, in a remarkable piece where she imagined getting the chance to see him one more time. The dancers, the judges and most of the audience were too choked up to talk.

One thing I’ve noticed in watching this show in its third season is that the dances tell a story. More and more I am coming to realize that what we do as human beings is tell stories and the stories come out in different ways. Choreographers tell them through dance.

I first started paying attention to our need for story when I ready Daniel H. Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, where he identifies the ability to tell stories as one of the necessary skills for the 21^st century. Once I started paying attention, I noticed stories everywhere. I noticed especially how telling stories can elevate just about any situation. What made Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo more than just a collection of circus acts was the storyline of the performance. Not surprisingly, Mia Michaels was tapped to choreograph the Cirque du Soleil show, Delirium.

We all tell stories and, as author Natalie Goldberg said, “Your first job is to get your own story straight.“ How you tell it is up to you. There’s a famous story about a man passing by a construction site. He stopped and asked one of the tradesmen what he was doing. The worker replied gruffly, "I'm laying bricks, can't you see that?" The man watched a while longer and then asked another worker what he was doing. "I'm just earning a living," he replied. A third time the man asked a worker and the response was much different, "I'm building a cathedral."

Using our work to tell our stories is a way of putting heart and soul and love into our work. It makes the difference between laying bricks and building a cathedral. Mia Michaels is building a cathedral.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Simpsonized!
"Doh." Homer Simpson

It's me as a Simpson. Try it yourself. Go to

Simpsonize Me

and upload a picture to see what you would look like in the movie or TV series. I look GOOD.

Peak Performance

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'."
--Erma Bombeck

In August of 1964 I saw the Beatles live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and that has been the crowning moment of my life. No show I’ve seen since, musical or theatrical, came close to matching the experience of that performance. Until Saturday night. That’s when, thanks to my friend Sheila, her daughter Michelle and son-in-law Dayn, I saw my first Cirque du Soleil show, Corteo.

Wow.

I’ve been a fan of Cirque du Soleil for many years. I’ve watched them on TV and in 2004, I even watched a series on A&E, Cirque du Soleil Fire Within, about how they develop a show, from recruiting performers and finding music to rehearsals and launch, a fascinating study of the creative process in action. I read a book, CIRQUE DU SOLEIL® THE SPARK: Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All. But I never actually went to see them live and in person, although I wanted to. The tickets were expensive and I didn’t have anybody to go with, blah, blah, blah.

When they launched the new show, Love, featuring Beatles music last year, I thought the time had finally come. Although I wasn’t willing to go to Las Vegas to see it, I figured it was only a matter of time until they had a touring version that came to Denver.

Then Sheila called to tell me her husband couldn’t make it and ask if I would like to be her date. YES!

It was magical. From silliness in the audience before the show started to the final curtain call, they kept the entire audience enthralled. Most of us have seen traditional circuses and, if you’re old enough, you saw individual circus acts on Ed Sullivan. Many of the acts in Cirque du Soleil are traditional circus acts, but the music, costumes and storyline tie them all together and the brilliant staging and set design make them transcend anything else I’ve ever seen.

Now I’ve ordered the book and the DVD from my local library with the idea that I will enjoy them more than ever, now that I’ve seen a show. And I don’t think I’ll miss another show they bring to town. If I have to, I might even venture to Sin City.

Corteo is the unlikely story of a funeral, with all the deceased friends showcasing their best talents in tribute to their departed loved one. In case you’re still around when the time comes, that’s what I want at my funeral. That and a lot of Beatles music.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Boob Tube

“Everyone has a purpose in life. Perhaps yours is watching television.”
David Letterman

I watch too much TV, so much that I would be embarrassed to tell you how much. Let’s just say I’m above average, okay? Whenever I hear myself say, “I don’t have time,” I hear another nagging little voice tell me that I would have time, if only I didn’t watch so much TV.

Here are my current must see shows:

The Young and the Restless CBS

Monk USA

The Closer TNT

So You Think You Can Dance Fox

Flip That House TLC

Sell This House A&E

House Hunters HGTV

The Daily Show Comedy Central

I’ve also been getting into The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC.

An article in Psychology Today reports that watching Comedy Central may boost creativity. “Studies show that people are better at solving exercises designed to measure creative thinking immediately after exposure to comedy.” Laughing makes us “more alert, active, interested and excited.”

On the other hand, the same article suggests that we limit TV watching because “when you watch television, your brain goes into neutral.” Okay, sometimes I want my brain to go into neutral, but probably not for as many hours as I watch TV. I really don’t think that watching television is my purpose in life.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Idea File

“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it’s the only one you have.” Emile Chartier

Most of us have ideas that we never act on. In fact, I sometimes think ideas are a dime a dozen. What’s really rare and valuable is someone who will put those ideas into action. That’s why I think it’s funny that potential entrepreneurs are afraid to tell people their business idea because that person might steal it. Writers do the same thing, keeping story ideas close to the vest.

Keeping a file of those ideas as they arise can help in a couple of ways. First, it gets you in the habit of paying attention to your ideas, and therefore, in the habit of having ideas. Second, the file becomes fertile ground to mine for ideas when you need them. You might find that something you thought of long ago will work today in a completely different context.

It doesn’t matter if you keep the ideas on index cards, in a notebook, in a computer file or a voice recorder. Use whatever works for you, but try to keep things in a central location so you know where they are when you need to access them.

This is such a good idea that Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind writes a column called The Idea File for the Wall Street Journal’s center for entrepreneurship, the Startup Journal. Blogs (like this one) are another place where thousands of people record, share and track their ideas.

Of course, if you are more the implementation person than the idea person, that’s fine, too. You can use magazines, books and the Internet to mine for ideas you can act on.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Building a Nest

“Ah! There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.”

Jane Austen

Every summer, my friend Chris and her husband Peter spend the month of July at the same lakeside cottage in Maine. They read, play on the lake, take walks and naps and just relax. They take a cell phone, but no computer.

As soon as they arrive from their home in New Jersey, they set about changing the house (as tiny as a dollhouse, according to Chris) from a generic, tacky summer cottage into their home. They remove the furniture, pictures, knickknacks and dishes to a storage facility and replace everything with their own stuff. This takes about five hours.

At the end of their vacation, they reverse the process, replacing the original furnishings and putting their belongings into the storage unit. They do this because their surroundings are very important to their state of mind.

The way we decorate and live in our houses, studios and offices affects our mental states more than we may realize. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t get much done in a beige room. I need color, plus lots of books and paper and (colorful) pens and music and natural light and my computer. My cats are also a nice addition, although I frequently have to shoo them off the desktop.

When I ask my students to design their ideal learning space, they always include music and elements of nature such as plants or aquariums or windows facing trees and gardens.

Think about the kind of environment that makes you feel most creative and productive. Start by imagining what you would like if money were no object. Then see which of the elements you can incorporate into your work space, now.

According to Pregnancy Weekly, the nesting instinct kicks in at about 5 months, with “an uncontrollable urge . . . to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.” Since many people refer to creative projects of all sorts as their babies, it isn’t too far fetched to think about designing a nurturing nest where your creativity can thrive.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Animal Dreams

"If you don't take a chance now and then, you stand still -- and then you begin to slide backward." Gregory Peck

This is a story for people who think learning is only for young people. Lee, a woman in her mid-fifties, has been cutting my hair for several years. A self-employed stylist, she also helps her husband train greyhounds for the race track. She loves working with the dogs and puts her heart and soul into finding good homes for those who can no longer race.

Last month she told me she was going back to school to become a veterinarian’s assistant. When I saw her Friday, she was so excited she could barely contain herself. She had started school and completed four classes.

After working on her feet all day, she attends class from 5-10:30 Monday through Thursday, then goes home to do her homework until 2 in the morning. She’s exhausted, and says she sometimes cries herself to sleep at night, but she is also more alive than I have ever seen her.

Why? Because she’s learning something new, and it is leading her toward a new career working with the animals she loves. She works hard and earns top grades, which is typical of people in her age range who go to school. Simply put, they know why they are there: because the want to be there. Not because anybody is forcing them. Frequently, in fact, people are telling them they are crazy to go back to school at that age. Who, they wonder, will hire someone her age who is just starting out? Anybody who wants an assistant who is interested and vital and excited about the job and who also, by the way, has an outstanding work ethic.

If I were a veterinarian, I’d be lining up to hire her.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Time to Create, Part II

“All of man’s troubles stem from his inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Pascal

In our helter skelter, rush-around world, time is our most precious commodity. And time—time spent alone, time to think and tinker and play—is the one ingredient that is absolutely necessary for creativity and innovation.

An article in this month’s Inc. magazine, Creative Control: Even Bosses Need Time to Dream, analyzes the need for entrepreneurs and CEOs to make time for idea generation because:

• “Companies need new ideas to thrive.”
• “Staying cretive is among the healthiest tings a CEO can do personally and for the company.”
• “Idea generation may be the CEO’s strongest suit, and consequently a company’s greatest asset.”

Paul Budnitz, founder of Kidrobot, is one CEO who hasn’t given up his creative juice for the more mundane tasks of business life. “He came up with 53 original items last year alone” because he forces himself to make time for idea generation. During a recent trip to China for a week of crisis management, he took time to “sit in a room and think about new toy ideas.”

Travel can be a great opportunity for creative thinking, not only because a change of scenery gives us a new perspective. Time spent waiting in airports and hotels and on airplanes can be used for creative incubation.

Take a hint from Erik Djukastein, president of Contech Electronics, who recently turned the management and finance functions of his company over to somebody else and gave himself the title of chief innovation officer. I’m hoping that title catches on. It will definitely appear on my next business card.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Time to Create

“Don’t say that you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.” H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Okay, that’s a scary thought. Do you know what these people managed to accomplish in their lifetimes? It’s all I can do to clean the bathroom. On the other hand, I can’t imagine any of these people having to spend time cleaning the bathroom. While not exactly single-minded in their pursuits, they were at any rate single-minded in pursuing what they considered important.

As Charlie Chaplin said, “Genius is the ability to edit.” That’s true in life as well as acting, writing or painting. Most of us have WAY too many things and WAY too many activities and we’re not especially good at getting rid of those we don’t really need. I speak from personal experience.

My students sometimes get very angry when I suggest to them that while they are in school, they may not be able to do everything they did before. Like most people, they think time management means learning to do things faster so they can fit more into the same amount of time. Not true. The first rule of time management is to eliminate everything that doesn’t contribute to your goals. As humorist H. L. Menken once observed, “It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf.”

Another rule of time management is to match your tasks to the times that are best suited for them. One study reported that our best ideas come at the following times:

6 a.m. – noon 30%

Noon – 6 p.m. 14%

6 p.m. – midnight 33%

Midnight – 6 a.m. 23%

The times will, of course, vary from person to person, but it looks like another argument for afternoon naps.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Creative environments

“You can’t wait for creativity. You have to go after it with a club.” Jack London

You can improve your creative output by working in a space that contributes to your creativity. For me, that means lots of visual stimulation: books, pictures and color. I also need music or TV for background noise, toys (juggling balls, a yoyo, and a teleidoscope are my favorites), plenty of colorful marking pens, paper pads in various sizes and Post-It notes in all sizes and colors.

Other ideas are a flipchart or white board and markers, a baby picture of yourself, a symbol or picture of your vision, cartoon books or other inspirational books such as Living Juicy by SARK. You also need a comfortable chair or bed. Natural light and a view of nature from a window is also nice. If you can’t manage that, pets, a fish tank or a plant will help.

Even with the perfect environment, you may still find that you get your best ideas while driving, exercising, sleeping or bathing. Be prepared to capture these flashes of inspiration by:

· Keeping a pad and pencil by the bed.

· Having a voice recorder in the car.

· Keeping a grease pencil in the shower.

· Carrying 3/5” index cards or a small notebook in your pocket or purse

· Leaving a voice mail message for yourself

If you still find yourself in a situation where you can’t write down or record your ideas, try composing a song or rhyme to help you remember. These bursts of insight can be fleeting, so we have to be ready to catch them whenever they appear.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

The Nap Manifesto

Working at home allows me the luxury of indulging in to my natural tendency to nap. Mine are not the 20-minute “power naps” people boast about. My naps like to last about an hour and a half, which, it turns out is the time it takes to complete one cycle of sleep.

Of course, I don’t take a nap every day, although I’d like to. I’ve attended enough meetings and taught enough seminars at 1 p.m., right after lunch, that I know it’s a deadly hour. It seems to me that the cultures that have a general siesta in the early afternoon have the right idea.

Our society thinks nappers are lazy. Now science has the evidence to prove the case for napping. In her fascinating book, Take a Nap! Change your life, Sara C. Mednick, Ph.D. proclaims that napping “is free, it’s nontoxic and it has no dangerous side effects.” Instead, it will:

1. Increase your alertness
2. Speed up your motor performance.
3. Improve your accuracy.
4. Help you make better decisions.
5. Improve your perception.
6. Fatten your bottom line.
7. Preserve your youthful looks.
8. Improve your sex life.
9. Lose weight.
10. Reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.
11. Reduce your risk of diabetes.
12. Improve your stamina.
13. Elevate your mood.
14. Boost your creativity.
15. Reduce stress.
16. Help your memory.
17. Reduce dependence on drugs/alcohol.
18. Alleviate migraines, ulcers and other problems with psychological components.
19. Improve the ease and quality of your nocturnal sleep.

Oh, yes. It also feels good. Right now, if you know what’s good for you, close your browser, find a comfortable spot and catch a few zzzzs.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Queen Bee

(Bee keeping) is an unruly, benign kind of agriculture, and making a living by it has such a wild, anarchistic, raffish appeal that it unsuits me for any other, expect possibly robbing banks.

Sue Hubbell A Country Year

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd made my list of all-time favorite books when I first read it several years ago. I have since discovered that every woman I know who read it also loved it, so I was delighted when I found the CD version on the shelves of my local library last week. Listening to the book in my car seemed like a great way to revisit a beloved book, and I’m enjoying it just as much the second time through.

In the spirit of synchronicity, I was not surprised to see a story about bees on CBS News Sunday Morning yesterday. According to the report, Bees first came to North America when the pilgrims brought them to Plymouth Rock. While most people fear bees and their potential stings, they may be a miracle wonder drug. Bee stings can alleviate pain from arthritis, headaches and shingles. Alexander the Great, Confucius and Hippocrates all used bee stings for pain.

You don’t have to get stung, however, to reap the benefits of bees. Bee pollen is widely touted (although not scientifically proven) to help with weight loss, relieving allergies, increasing energy and slowing the aging process. I swear by beeswax in my lip balm and hand cream.

When I woke up this morning with excruciating arthritis pain in one hip, I thought about bees. I don’t know a doctor like the one interviewed on the news, who keeps a box of bees in his office for application to afflicted human body parts. Nevertheless, I believe in signs, and I think the signs might be directing me to take another look at bee therapy. It couldn’t hurt.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Capturing Youth

"Children laugh an average of 400 times a day, but adults laugh an average of only 15 times daily." Stephanie Young

One of the secrets of being creative is to retain or regain a childlike sense of playfulness and wonder. Einstein was famous for it. Picasso pointed out that "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

Award winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns invites young people to work on his films because “They haven’t yet learned ‘the right way’ to do things, so they come in with wide-open creativity.”

Carlos Santana had the same idea when he recorded his album Supernatural collaborating with top young musicians and it became his most successful album ever.

When you’re stuck for new ideas and need a fresh point of view, talk to a young person. Invite student interns to work on your projects. You might discover that you learn as much from them as they do from you.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Building Boxes

“I don’t feel alive unless I’m learning, moving, changing, growing.”

Eric McDougall

Thinking outside the box is one of those clichés that has been overused to the point where it has lost all its meaning. Now author Harry Beckwith says that we should forget about thinking outside the box because it’s just too hard. Instead, he suggests, we should push out the edges of our normal way of looking at things and grow our box.

“If you read Vanity Fair, read In-Fisherman. If you read Tattoo, pick up an Architectural Digest. If you read People, scan The New Yorker. If you attend the theater, catch a NASCAR race (not least of all, because of its immense appeal). If you’d never dream of watching ballet, listening to bluegrass, or going to a county fair, go.

Tinker with your box. Buy an orange sport coat and a pair of red suede shoes; see what changes. Grow a bigger box.”

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Something Happened

"For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen." Douglas Adams

Sometimes being self-employed feels like nothing continues to happen no matter what you do. You have to keep marketing and developing products and expecting to happen and, suddenly, something does.

So far this week has been like that for me. After a long dry spell when I sent out proposals, went on interviews and submitted writing samples, I’m beginning to get some results. Monday, I got a new teaching assignment, and yesterday the training company that I work with called with an opportunity to teach a workshop at a conference. I can hardly wait to see what happens today.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but I know that I can’t let my guard down. I need to continue putting myself out there. I have plans for a monthly newsletter/press release to help establish myself with the media as an expert in creativity. Since I can’t find a graduate certificate program in creativity here in Colorado, I plan to develop my own. And I’m thinking about joining the Professional Speakers’ Association.

As best-selling author and career counselor Barbara Sher said, “Perhaps the best reason to plan is that following a plan gets you out into the world. If you go to the library and look up articles, call people, join organizations, go to appointments, something can happen to you.” On the other hand, beloved western author Larry McMurtry pointed out, “If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.”

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Step Lively

“Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away, and you have their shoes too.” Anonymous

I started walking for exercise, but quickly learned that the benefits went far beyond the physical. Walkers have less incidence of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other killer diseases. As a result, they live longer. Because walking increases the blood flow to the brain, it also alleviates depression and hones thinking skills. Walking, of course, is one of Julia Cameron’s basic tools for improving creativity in her classic book, The Artist’s Way. The others are morning pages and artist’s dates.

When I get stuck in a writing project or wrestling with some other problem, walking helps. Some speculate that the rhythmic and repetitive movement of walking balances the brain. I’ll buy that, and I will also argue for walking outside. Walking in nature activates the senses as I feel the wind and sun on my face, smell the roses or the river, see the changing seasons and listen to the birds. You don’t get that from using a treadmill and listening to your iPod.

It’s raining this morning, so I have to delay my walk until later. I will go out, however. Last winter, when a huge early snowstorm clogged our streets and sidewalks for weeks and made walking treacherous, I went more than a little stir crazy. No less a scholar than Soren Kierkegaard advised, “I have walked myself into my best thoughts.” Maybe your best thoughts are just a few steps away.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Chaos Theory

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”
- AA Milne

My artist’s date this weekend was a garden tour sponsored by the Conflict Center. Normally, this annual event is a favorite of mine. The gardens in my working class neighborhood are not the overly designed and manicured gardens of the wealthier parts of town and that is fine with me. These gardens require more creativity than cash and typically feature recycled materials and plants acquired from friends and neighbors. As acclaimed dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp said, “Whom the gods wish to destroy they give unlimited resources." Nobody around here has unlimited resources.

This year, I was a little disappointed. The gardens were more ordinary, not the exceptional examples I enjoyed in previous years. As usual, my favorite garden was the one that was crammed full of plants and artwork, with something interesting to look at no matter where your eyes lit. If you’ve seen my house, you already know that I’m the opposite of a minimalist, although the simple and serene Japanese style garden with incense burning throughout was also nice. For me, it would be a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

One of the best things about a garden tour is the ideas it gives me about what I can do in my own yard. This year was no exception. My yard has suffered from neglect the past couple of years while my focus turned to, among other things, my dad’s declining health. Yesterday, though, I took another look at it and found a few things I could do to reclaim it from chaos. My neighbors will be happy to hear it.

If you don’t have time for a real artist’s date, take a few minutes to watch this amazing Women in Art video.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

To Sir With Love

Sir Paul McCartney’s new album, Memory Almost Full, came out this week and he’s all over the telly promoting it. I admit I was not pleased to hear that Starbucks sponsored it, feeling as I do that the ubiquitous Seattle coffee franchise is the personification of evil on earth. Still, it’s Paul McCartney, a man I’ve been in love with since I was 16 and who can simply do no wrong in my eyes.

When he married Heather Mills, I was dismayed that he chose a woman younger than at least one of his daughters, but encouraged that she was not a bimbo. Her charm and spirit of adventure won me over during her tenure on Dancing With the Stars. Of course, by then, their marriage was through, and I saw another chance for me to hook up with my idol.

I offer my students a guaranteed A if they can put me in touch with Sir Paul. After all, with only six degrees of separation, I’m bound to encounter someone who knows him, right? When I was sixteen, he was too old for me. Now, it seems, I’m too old for him. Life’s just not fair.

You can listen to excerpts from the new, critically acclaimed album here.

To celebrate the 40^th anniversary this year of the Beatles’ most famous album, Sgt. Pepper, I put the album cover image on my monitor.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Change Agent

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” Milton Berle

I’ve been planning to change my accounts from the downtown bank I’ve used for thirty years to a small local bank within walking distance from my house. With direct deposits and ATMs, I rarely go to the bank anymore, so it was easy to put off making all the changes necessary to switch banks.

Last week, I had an insurance paper that needed to be notarized and wanted to avoid a trip downtown, so I headed to the little community bank in my neighborhood. They informed me that they only provided notary service for people who had accounts there. Since notarizing a signature takes less than a minute (and I was perfectly willing to pay for the service) I thought their policy was unfriendly, to say the least. I decided that I wouldn’t transfer my accounts to them after all.

Still trying to avoid a trip to my bank, I went to the local branch of a huge national bank which holds my mortgage. This branch was much bigger than the first one I went to, although still small by most standards and still within walking distance from home. Unlike the other one, they were extraordinarily busy. I waited for almost 45 minutes to see a personal banker who was also a notary. As I sat waiting, my anger grew and I swore I would never come to that bank again. When the banker finally got to me, she apologized for the long wait and treated me very well. My insurance paper turned out to have some questionable language and she had to call the insurance company to find out exactly how to complete the form. My anger started to cool.

After completing my form, she told me that because of my mortgage, I qualified for free checking with no minimum balance and free checks, a much better deal than either my current bank or the one I was planning to switch to. Because of the banker’s calm and friendly attitude in the face of my anger and frustration and because she offered me great service, I will probably transfer my accounts there in the very near future. She was a woman who definitely had the ability to turn a sow’s ear (me) into a silk purse. That’s an amazing talent to have and one I hope to cultivate in myself. Who knew you could learn something about creativity from a banker?

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Take a break

“Your unconscious can’t work when you are breathing down its neck.” Anne Lamott Bird by Bird

Last night I tutored a 52-year old college student on her writing skills. She was frustrated because she earned a B+ on her latest paper and wanted to earn an A. She worked very hard, spending virtually all her non-work hours on her schoolwork. Unlike some students she didn’t seem to think that she deserved a higher grade because of the amount of work she put into an assignment. She sincerely wants to learn how to write better and is diligently using all the tools available to her, including me.

I applaud her for that. It sometimes seems to me that the students who need the most help are the least likely to seek it out.

Her husband, who accompanied her to our session, kept telling her she was working too hard, that she needed to take a break. Every time he said that, her mouth would clamp shut and she would glare at him. She was raised to be a hard worker, she said, and her response to any problem is to work harder.

Clearly, she is one of those people who can’t relax. WikiHow has a cure for that with their tutorial on How to Do Nothing. Here are some of their tips:

1. Plan ahead. Set aside time to do nothing and put it on your calendar
2. Let people know. Tell everyone that you're unavailable.
3. Find a quiet, private place. This might be your bedroom, the backyard, or a local park. Find that place and go there.
4. Set your alarm. Set an alarm of some kind to go off when your "nothing" time is over, so that you don't have to constantly look at the clock and count the minutes.
5. Turn off the phone. Turn off your cell phone, work phone, pager, PDA, Blackberry, computer and any other means of sending or receiving calls or messages. These distractions will only keep you from enjoying the nothing.
6. Sit by yourself. Feel the wind, the sun on your face. Listen to the rustle of the trees, birds chirping, water flowing. Avoid the temptation to turn on the TV, listen to music, write a note to yourself, get a bite to eat, or anything else.
7. Learn how to free up your mind. Clear your mind of all thoughts of work, worries, family, etc.

Serious workaholics will have to start with five minutes and practice until they can regularly do nothing for longer periods. Taking time off will increase your productivity, creativity, health and morale. Even God rested on the seventh day.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Point of View

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Albert Einstein

Have you ever had the experience of seeing something familiar upside down or in an extreme close-up view and having no idea what it is? We get so accustomed to seeing things one way that we can fail to recognize that there are other perspectives. One of the hardest, and potentially most valuable things for most of us to do is to change the way we look at things. Here’s an example of how useful it can be.

I used to dread doing faculty peer reviews at the University where I teach. As part of the quality assurance program, each faculty member is observed in class and evaluated by a senior faculty member. As long as I saw these visits as a management tool focusing on critiquing other teachers, I resisted doing them, putting them off as long as possible and trying my best to get out of doing them at all.

One night, while visiting a humanities course taught by an enthusiastic and inventive teacher, I realized that the peer reviews were an opportunity for me to learn the best practices of some really talented and dedicated people. Now I see this obligation as a master class in teaching methods, and I always get great ideas that I can adapt in my own classes.

As my favorite author Anne Lamott said, “The best way to change the world is to change your mind.” It isn’t as simple as it sounds.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

I’m Starting to Feel Like Stephanie Plum

"Well, I had a colonoscopy and a car accident in the same week and they were both a pain in the ass."

Lisa’s Mom, Cool Stuff blog

After having two cars totaled by reckless drivers in a little over a year, I’m beginning to wonder if I have bad car Karma. I sure hope not because today I have to shop for a new car. If only they would perfect the transporter from Star Trek, I wouldn’t have to drive anywhere.

Failing that, my second choice would be to have a permanent driver à la Driving Miss Daisy (Driving Miss Dixie?) to take me wherever I want to go. On the other hand, Princess Diana had a driver and you know what happened to her.

I’m hoping that the car shopping (not my favorite thing to do) will be relatively painless. At any rate, it will all be over soon because one way or another, I have to have a car by the time the insurance company gets the settlement check to me and they cut off my rental car privileges. Wish me luck. Better yet, (if you’re a fan of Janet Evanovich) wish me a Ranger and a Joe Morelli. That might make losing cars worth the trouble.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Quotations on Creativity

“To cease to think creatively is but little different from ceasing to live.” Ben Franklin

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Albert Einstein

"Whom the gods wish to destroy they give unlimited resources." Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit

“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” John Cleese

“Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.” Howard Aiken

“I make more mistakes than anyone else I know, and sooner or later, I patent most of them.” Thomas Edison

“Access to talented and creative people is to modern business what access to coal and iron ore was to steelmaking.” Richard Florida

"Whenever I go into a company and don't hear much laughter, I know it's not a creative place." Mike Vane, former dean of Disney University

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out." Dee Hock

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

It’s a Funny Thing

“Humor helps.” John Cleese

This hasn’t been a funny week for me. While I was taking my 89-year old father to the doctor last week, a garbage truck demolished my car, which was parked innocently on the street. A few days later, we had to have my dad taken to the emergency room and he is still in the hospital with gall stones. Then I interviewed for a part-time contract position with a training company. It seemed like a perfect fit between my skills and interests and their needs, and it would have cured my current money woes. Unfortunately, they decided to go with someone who could work fulltime. Alas and alack.

Like Maya Angelou, I want “to thrive with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style,” but it isn’t always easy. When my own sense of humor gets buried under my sense of impending doom, I rely on others to, well, humor me. My current saving grace has been an audio book, No, I Don’t Want to Join a Book Club, by British author Virginia Ironside. The main character is an opinionated, contrary woman facing her 60^th birthday. Her comments on beginning old age make me laugh out loud.

When the book ends, I may have to finally watch Napoleon Dynamite, which everyone assures me is screamingly funny. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

The Soul of Creativity

“There is no force more powerful than that of an unbridled imagination.” Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

I had lunch with my friend Sheila last week and she reported feeling out of sorts. An ordained minister who started her own non-denominational church a year ago, she has the usual workload of preparing each week’s program, writing the bulletin, writing the sermon, providing pastoral care, conducting the Sunday morning service and all the other tasks, big and small, that preachers are (literally!) called to do. And yet, she has time on her hands. She said she finally realized that she needed to do something creative.

Her talents are so obvious that several years ago, I bought her a name plaque identifying her as Sheila Johnson, Artist. Sewing, painting, writing, doll making, and quilting are a few of her interests, but like most of us, she pushes them to the edges of her life, fitting them in around the “more important” things that fill her days.

Only when the need becomes overwhelming does she start a project. This time she turned to the canvas and made a tiny mixed media piece out of the parts of flowers. First, she rubbed in the yellow pollen from the center of a flower to create a sunny background. Minuscule blossoms became stars in the sky and a dried leaf turned into a bird. She coated the whole piece with acrylic to preserve it. Although she only spent about an hour on the project, it brought her a new, positive outlook and renewed energy.

I’ve heard similar stories from others and I could relate a few from my own life. We were all born creators, and our creative impulses will not go away if we ignore them. They will remain at the periphery of our consciousness nagging us until the day we die.

© Copyright 2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved