Carrying on the theme from my last post on sources of inspiration I feel blessed that over the years I have managed to amass such a good collection of books. Clearly, books as a source of new knowledge are always inspiring and thought provoking. But what I love about having such a varied array of books at my disposal is the opportunity to pick one up randomly at times and come across some serendipitous nugget of information that is exactly what I'm looking for to spring me into action or to change my thinking in some way. Some examples of my music book collection (along with various other work related books that normally live elsewhere in the house??) One such book that I revisited yesterday was Eric Maisel's 'Life Purpose Boot Camp' - The 8-Week Breakthrough Plan For Creating A Meaningful Life which I can strongly recommend. It provides a very structured approach to exploring what activities are meaningful and life affirming for you and how these 'meaning opportunities' can help you live a life that is 'on purpose.' What I also like about it (which was one of the key takeaways on re-reading the first chapter again) is that we shouldn't think in terms of a 'single' life purpose but rather a multitude of 'life purposes.' And that activities we find meaningful one day might not always be meaningful all the time but that doesn't mean it is not contributing to our overall sense of purpose. In terms of new books I've recently bought Dave Trott's(2023) 'Crossover Creativity.' I love Trott's books not only because they are full of inspirational stories and insights but they are great for just dipping into and reading them in a non-linear way which I really like in terms of serendipitous moments.
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Music is such a big part of my life. Whether it's listening, playing, watching or reading about it what I've come to realise is I can't imagine a world without it.
Recently I've watch two films/documentaries that were both really inspiring in their own way and again made me realise how music influences my thinking at times. The first was David Byrne's 'American Utopia' which was just brilliant not just in its conception but also the songs and the underlying theme of the movie. The set was mix of Byrne's solo work and his and that of the Talking Heads (a band who was very important to me growing up - not least because of the connection to Brian Eno). The film also reminded me of their brilliant 1984 documentary/movie 'Stop Making Sense' which is just about to celebrate it's 40th year anniversary. Both are a MUST SEE if you've never seen them. The other much shorter film was a South Bank Special on the Velvet Underground. As with the Talking Heads (for me at least) the Velvet Underground are one of those massively underrated bands whose influence has long out lasted the band itself. There was lots to take away from the film in terms of inspiration but one comment from Stirling Morrison really stood out when he was talking about the era they were playing in (the late 60's ) and the comparison with other bands when he said that they were trying to 'do' something but not in a way that others were doing it for somebody else. They were just doing for themselves and weren't bothered whether they were successful or not which in turn gave them a lot of freedom just to experiment. Which I think is an important lesson if you really want to explore your creativity. Don't think too much about it in terms of what the outside world might think or what it might lead to. Just do your own thing (and enjoy the freedom that brings). If it end up being successful in some way then great. But if not, at least you had fun doing something you got pleasure out of doing/creating and that in itself is a worthwhile endeavour. While I've been away on holiday the question of regularly reminding myself of what's important to me and whether what I am doing is aligned to my values has been upper most in my mind.
In the course of my life coaching work, supporting the over 50's back into work, asking them to identify what's important to them and to review their values has become an essential part of the process in establishing what they'd 'really like to do' as a job (or as one client put it "what I want to do when I grow up."). As I know from experience, it's easy to drift or make compromises over time that can erode (unsuspectingly) aspects of your core values. This erosion is often the thing that ultimately lies at the root of people's dissatisfaction or sense of unhappiness with life. So, if you're feeling a little down in the dumps about your current situation I would encourage you, as a starting point, to re-evaluate what's important to you and consider what 'core values' underpin 'who you really are' and how you want to live your life. .Ok, this is just a quick post as I really want to maintain the habit of posting at least once a week. But it's a recognition of a habit I've returned to, after a long time of not doing it, which is to review my day just before I go to sleep and identify 6 good things I've done or achieved. This is just a mental review but I have done it now every night for about the last 10 days and it's definitely becoming an automated response on going to bed. To be fair I did used to do it over a period of about 30 years. So I guess that's the reason I've managed to 're-install' it so quickly -which I'm very pleased about...I just wish I could say the same about my return to Duolingo! Oh well my Spanish will just have to wait a little while long.
One of the things that I been thinking about since my re-engagement with my blog is habits and about how all the good habits I once had, particularly with regards to personal development and taking action, have kind of fallen by the way side over the last couple of years. Given the situation (over the last few years) it's totally understandable on one level so I'm not going to beat myself up about it but I do feel it's time to 'get back in the groove' and re-establish some old habits and maybe regularly writing a blog post can help with that?
As I've been reflecting on things there's been 3 Rs floating around in my head (there maybe more but so far there's just three!)- Re-discovery, Re-establishing and Repetition. In terms of re-discovery it's about remembering the things I used to enjoy doing and giving them more of my focused time. While, re-establishing is about re-introducing good habits that I used to have but have just stopped doing. Finally, repetition is just my recognition that if I want to re-introduce these good habits I'll need to repeat some behaviours for a while before they become as automatic as they once were. Over the years I have bought a number of books on goal setting, motivation and changing beliefs all of which I'll be re-visiting again soon that's for sure! However, in the last day or so I've been reading James Clear's Atomic Habits which is a really practical book and has definitely kick started my thinking about my habits and how they have become a bit of a barrier to me at times. As I continue to reflect on why, in the past, I have found it so difficult to regularly post on my blog page (other than life getting in the way) it has become obvious that it's not because I don't write about stuff or journal - I do - the issue is I'm still just a bit old school and prefer to use notebooks. The beauty of notebooks for me is that they don't weigh too much, you can take them with you wherever you go, you don't need a power supply or internet connection to start working, you can very quickly scribble your thoughts down or stick things in them like a scrap book to come back to later if you want to expend on an idea and generally just seem so much more flexible.
That's not to say I'm talking myself out of blogging but my notebooks serve a very definite purpose for me. and as yet. they are still my preferred method for propagating my ideas and exploring topics. That said, there's no reason that my blog can't complement my notebooks and perhaps help expand my exploration of topics and ideas in a more interesting and interactive way? I guess I'm just a BIG fan of notebooks and journaling (maybe it's years of writing and encouraging my students to keep a reflective journal as a teacher trainer?) and would encourage anyone reading this to give it a try particularly if it not something you've ever really done before. As not only does it provide somewhere to capture things of interest to you and reflect on ideas, sparking your creative thinking, it can also be quite cathartic. Having a place to park all those thoughts that are whizzing around your head can be extremely useful. As although at the times some thoughts might appear rather random with regular reflection they can often reveal an insight or unexpected connection that you hadn't previous considered or thought about. This can be particularly good if you are wrestling with a problem or looking for a new angle on things. Why don't you try it for a while and see if journaling or keeping a notebook to capture things of interest to you can work for you in developing your creative thinking and approach to problem solving? After posting yesterday (and my tongue in cheek comment about being a 'Digital Immigrant') it got me thinking - why has it been such a problem adding to my website or posting blogposts in the past other than life just getting the way? And the conclusion I came to pretty quickly is that I just don't find this website / blog that intuitive. Maybe it's just me, but I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to work out how to do things on here (despite watching guidance videos on YouTube) and even when I do suss out how to do something I'm not always 100% happy with the end result.
So, one of the things I need to do, for the moment, is to 'learn by doing' and just play about with things until I become more proficient using the platform and not worry too much about how it looks. This means some of my attempts might not be pretty as I don't want to waste too much time agonising over things, which is how I've been up to this point The key right now is to build some momentum! If I get annoyed with what I'm trying to do or it's taking too much time I'm just going to post it / leave things as they are until I decide to come back to them or post a new post. And not worry about how I might be perceived. Therefore, my project for the next few months is learn how to use the 'affordances' this platform has to offer. That way, I learn to get the most out of what it has to offer but more importantly I'll hopefully increase my speed. when I come to do things, and that will make the whole experience more enjoyable for me. So first challenge... the next blogpost needs to include a picture! Note post Post: I've just looked back at some of my earlier posts and noticed I was happily included photographs /pictures! s**t, maybe it is me! I've definitely lost some digital skills (or maybe my digital confidence) in the intervening period...that is FRIGHTENING! I now understand why some of my over 50s workshop participants have a fear of technology." Yikes! A lot has happened since the last time I wrote a blog entry... and not all of it good. Despite all my good intentions to regularly write something somehow life has conspired to get in the way.
Things are still not quite how I'd hope them to be but I guess they never are so putting my best foot forward I intend to have another stab at engaging more frequently with my website and blog and just see where it leads. My view of how I should use this site (especially after having recently renewed the domain name and its hosting) constantly changes. However, the override feeling I have, as I write this, as it was with my last post back in 2022 is that it should just be a 'space' for me to explore stuff in whatever form that takes. As with most things I involve myself in I want people to take me seriously and I want them to see me as credible, particularly when it comes to things that I feel passionate about (like the main themes of creativity and finding meaningful work identified on my home page and in my 'about' section). However, as time has gone on I'm becoming less and less bothered about whether anyone reads or are particularly interested in what I write on here. When I first acquired the website I thought it might be a vehicle from which I could procure work or possibly even run courses! But now I'm not so sure. Maybe it will do that, maybe it won't... either way right now I'm not particularly bothered. Ultimately, I guess what I AM particularly bothered about is whether I can actually make some kind of use of this website/blog? Or whether I just need to acknowledge my status as a 'digital immigrant,' (as Prensky (2001) would define me), and accept that this kind of digital space is just not for me as it feels like too much of an effort to engage with it. I guess only time will tell? Yes, that's right I'm back. After some time away (for reasons that are far too boring to describe here) I have finally found the time and the motivation to re-jig my website and start blogging again - hooray! ...maybe (maybe not).
I'm actually quite excited at the prospect (no really I am). As rather than seeing it as a chore (which is how I think I felt it the last time I blogged) I'm hopeful that this time it will actually provide some structure as I look to re-start the project I (kind of) had in mind for myself back in 2016. This is both a GOOD and a BAD thing. GOOD, because I'm intending to use this space as a way of exploring a few things in terms of the direction I might want to take things. But BAD (possibly) for you, as the reader, as it might not be terribly interesting / you might need to look hard for the real take home value unless the title of any future blog posts gives you any kind of hint. Since my last post (some months ago now – ouch!) I have given a lot of thought (and action) to the potential impact of simply messing about and engaging in little acts of creation (in whatever form/medium takes my fancy) every day. As a result I have started to deliberately engage in some form of creative act every day -even if it’s just for a few minutes –and then reflecting either immediately afterwards or at some point later (or sometimes both) on how it made me feel – not in a judgemental way in terms of whatever I’d produced -the ‘product’ of my action- but how engaging in the ‘process’ of creating has made me feel about myself and my sense of general well-being. The kind of activities I been getting up to are necessarily new to me (e.g. drawing, painting, photography, making music, writing verse, doodling, making birthday cards from scratch etc.) but they are things that perhaps I’ve not done for a while (since I was a child) or neglected - enjoyed doing (e.g. playing my guitar) – but stopped doing due to a perceived lack of time. Clearly, it’s still early days but one thing I can say is that I’m having fun just ‘dabbling’ and giving myself ‘permission’ to just experiment knowing that the outcome of my ‘play’ is not important. As at this point I’m simply doing it for myself (although part of my motivation for engaging in these little acts of creativity is to help me explore where my suppressed creative talent perhaps lies). Indeed, I’ve just recently read Austin Kleon book ‘Show Your Work’ and only yesterday stumbled across (quite serendipitously – or was it?) ‘The 100 Day Project’ -which is a free global art project that anyone can sign up to- all of which is making me realise that the next step of letting go and coming out of the proverbial ‘creative closet’ is to start sharing what I’m doing not just in words but also in pictures and sounds on my blog. So, here are one or two examples of my recent doodles and little acts of creation! This is a collaborative effort with daughter. My contribution being in the centre and to the right. And here some cartoon doodles from my recently acquired sketchbook. Note: they are a bit faint as I drew them in pencil as I'm not confident at this stage to risk drawing directly in ink. However, I have started to ink over my drawings and I have to say I've surprised myself on how happy I am with them. In conjunction with my little acts of creation experiments I have also been doing exercises to support and develop my creative thinking skills (which is also VERY important) which I’ll share with you on a later post. However, for the time being I’d encourage anyone who feels they’ve lost touch with their creative self to start experimenting everyday (just on your own you don’t need to share the outcome of your endeavours with anyone at this stage) and engage in some small act of creativity and see how it make you feel. |
What's Nick Reading?
Gerd Leonard (2016) Technology vs. Humanity. Fast Future Publishing. London. Archives
September 2023
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