“Just Relax” “Forget” “Breathe”
Do you ever tell yourself to “just relax” and then continue to do the very opposite? Or tell yourself to “forget it”. Or “frick’n focus!” And then find it impossible? Well that what happened to me today. Then it reversed itself in a way I didn’t expect.
It started with a 75-minute hot yoga class at Y Yoga, my health retreat since arriving in Vancouver. Today was different: a hundred and one thoughts frolicked through my mind — which means today I was not doing yoga. I was stretching, and sweating, but my mind wasn’t connected to my practice which, by definition, isn’t yoga.
Before class I’d been Skyping with my bestie in Sydney, talking through different share-house options for when I return. Taking the tone of a confused dream, thoughts on locations, bedroom/bathroom trade-offs, potential housemates, rental rates, hours I’d have to work for respective wages in different jobs, comparisons to cheap-living Central America; thoughts on research, jobs, boys, publishers…
Thoughts, thoughts and more thoughts.
“Think about your breath,” I told myself.
I did—for one breath.
Then the thoughts returned. I gave up. What was supposed to be a “T” shape created by balancing on one foot with both arms in front and the other leg up behind, looked like a wobbly “M”.
As I strolled home, weaving between glass skyscrapers, skipping through puddles, ducking under umbrellas, and gazing out at the boats, water and mountains, I realised something: It doesn’t matter.
None of the scenarios I entertain in my head are bad. Whether we find an apartment with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, or a house of 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, it’ll be fine. Whether I’m in Glebe or back in Paddington, or Bondi, or in Central America, or somewhere else for a while and then somewhere else again, everything will turn out right. The research, the jobs, boys, publishers… It’s easy to stress about things one has to or wants to do, find, buy, sell… there’s always more boxes to tick. But none of it matters right now.
I am not saying it’s not important. It is. Everything is important. But pondering the different scenarios is not. Life seems to unveil itself in its own time. Answers become clear in their own moments. I don’t need to be thinking about all these things in this moment. There are far more rich ways to be spending this moment. Like by actually doing yoga. Or by paying attention to the beautiful city I’m in.
That thought was followed by a small epiphany: What’s the rush?
I’ve spent the last five years living like I’m running a race. Every moment of every day has been put to use. There’s been a sense of urgency penetrating it. My motto has been “life is short, don’t waste it.”
Not “wasting life” for me meant seeking answers to some questions that were burning inside, and learning to communicate the answers I uncovered for myself. I started unable to put my questions into words. I followed a long line of intuitions, and in a way at the end of 2011 with a book finished and an article that came from my masters thesis published, that particular fire was under control. I have new questions, but they are less urgent. I have to finish putting out those little bits left of the old fires, but it’s much easier now. I feel a new energy. A new beginning. A new motto.
True, I don’t want to “waste my short life”, but there’s no point rushing through it either! Now I need, more than ever, to take a big breath in and slowly let it out. What’s the rush?
Alan Watts talks about how we tend to “run from the maternity ward to the crematorium”. Watts tells a bigger story that we’re a part of, that allows us to relax about our individual lives. There’s no rush.
And so, a new New Years Resolution: Do less, but do it better. Give each moment its deserved attention. Don’t stress over decisions — let the right answer reveal itself. Breathe in faith, breathe out fear.
I’m not in a hurry for ANYTHING. I keep changing my mind, so why worry about any of it. I don’t need to know what the future holds. I really don’t. All I need to know is the present. That’s when I realised something: I had relaxed 
Happy new year!
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Conviction.
Life can be tough. It can be tiring and frustrating. In striving for any goal we face a road of trials. At times its too hard. We throw our hands in the air and shout “I give up!” How do you know when to push through? How do you know when to persevere? How does one come to the conviction that they can, or that they can’t? That they are right, or that they are wrong? That they should continue or that they should give up? And how does one find the determination, the motivation, and the energy, to continue on the journey?
I don’t know the answer to these questions. I don’t know where conviction comes from. But I know what it feels like. This little story, and the sense of conviction I felt at the time, is a landmark feeling I know I’ll refer to in the trials I face in my future.
The story behind a photo…
From the lookout at the top of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. I was exhausted. It was FREEZING cold. My wrists hurt. My back hurt. I tried. It was messy. My back simply didn’t want to bend.
I tried again. And again. And again.
“I give up.” I declared. “My body won’t let me. I just can’t do it.”
But sitting there watching the luminous sunset. The beauty in the trees, the mountains, the sky… changed me. Something inside me changed.
“Get the camera,” I instructed. “I can do this.”
I put my hands under my shoulders.
I thought of the journey I have taken – the most unlikely dreams that have already come true.
I thought of the journey ahead – the dreams in my life that I am working towards.
With all my might I took a deep breath, and lifted my body up as high as I could.
I held it and held it. The beauty before my eyes. The wind catching my hair. The freshness of the cold air permeating my being. The stars and my body aligned for one short magic moment.
And this is the shot.
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Feel the fear, and do it anyway
The first time I sat on my scoot I trembled with fear. I drove it around the block, parked it, and waited half an hour for the adrenilin to calm and my heart rate to slow.
The second time I did some drills with a friend. My thumb hurt too much the next day to even look at it.
Third time lucky, well sort of. I tried to ride to Bondi, but too scared to change lanes ended up in Double Bay.
The fourth time, still feeling the fear, I rode first to the petrol station (even filling up some strange hole under the seat felt scary) and I continued on, through multiple lane changes, all the way to university.
The fifth time the fear faded. My senses hightened to face the life-threating forces from in front, both sides, behind and below.
I rode, and I enjoyed.
There is real thrill in facing a fear, so when I read “feel the fear, and do it anyway”, a Susan Jeffers quote in a Community Mediation manual I was editing at work, I just had to blog about it.
You know, every day we find ourselves surround by things we fear – physical fears, psycholgical fears, relationship fears, financial fears, fear of failure, fear of what other’s think, fear of uncertainty, fear fear fear.
Often we let fear guide our decisions. It is easy to let fear rule over our lives.
I almost didn’t get a scooter simply because of my fear of getting hurt. My fear of ripping apart my skin, breaking my neck, or dying, the latter which would be my preference of the three…
So I held off for months.
Every scooter that passed me tormented me.
I wanted to be on a bike, and that was that.
So I asked myself, “If I was to walk onto the road and get hit by a bus tomorrow, would I regret not having a scooter today?” YES.
“How about if you get your scooter and have an accident and become a paraplegic, won’t you regret that even more?” Well… maybe.
So which might I regret more?
A fear of getting hurt still remains. I will probably feel it every time I hop on the bike. But the fun that I am having on the bike, makes it worth it.
Life is short – I want to live it to the full. I would rather live a shorter life, living each and every day to it’s max, then live a long life dominated by fear.
The thing to remember is that what we fear most are usually the things we least need to worry about.
“The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.”
Baz Luhrmann Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen).
You never know what tomorrow holds – stockmarkets and currencies and even civilizations eventually fall. I could die driving in my car or walking on the street or even laying in my sleep. If we live in fear, we are not truly living.
All of us will one day be old, and will one day die.
“Do one thing everyday that scares you.”
Life’s too short to let fear play a dominant role in it: feel that fear, and do it anyway, and (unlike me in this pic) don’t look back.
Picture:
Since I’m still at work filling in time waiting to go to dinner friends I grabbed this pic from my facebook. Sometimes it’s annoying that this is a photo blog. Anyway it’s from an old editorial for the German magazine Shape that I shot in Sydney a few years ago. Don’t worry, I won’t be scooting around town in heels
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New Year, New Food Pyramid: eating for health, longeivity and a better future
Before I begin my rant about food, I would like to say a big HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all! I hope it has kicked off to a better start than mine (7am New Years Day I was at the hospital having barnacles taken out of my feet) and that you had a great night celebrating (my night of swimming in the harbour and watching the fireworks was worth this pain the next day).
I thought this post better wait till after Christmas and New Years celebrations. Now is the time that, if you indulged in the delicious foods (as I did), you are probably sitting there (like me) considering how you are going to put some of those “get fit and healthy” new years resolutions into place.
I’m not one for diets. They are good in theory – lose weight fast – but in practice they mess up your metabolism and cause more long term damage than the short term gain.
I am also not one for rules. Tell me to do something, and I will probably do the opposite.
I like to have reasons to motivate my daily decisions.
The anti-aging pyramid above captures my general food habits (minus the vitamins/supplements – this pyramid must have been put out by a vitamin company lol).
But seeing this pyramid wouldn’t motivate me to follow it. The fact that free-range eggs are relatively cheap, keep in the fridge for a long time, and very quick and easy to cook up, with a few vegetables, rice, and either some tofu or fish, it works for me, my taste buds, and my lifestyle.
I think it’s important to find a pyramid that suits you, your lifestyle and taste buds. If you can evolve it to be one that it also good for your mind, body, and has a more positive impact on the global system, then all the better for everyone.
When animals wake up they walk to the waterhole and fill up with water for the day. This image motivates me to do the same. Before breakfast go for a brief walk, even if it’s just around the block, then drink half your water intake for the day. I find this a very uplifting way to start the day.
Another motivating factor for food choices comes from thinking about what exactly it is I am putting into my mouth…
What is a cheeseburger? The traces of actual “food” in this processed pound of sugar is so little that it hardly draws an insect or microbe near it. Get it away from my digestive system!
What are jelly lollies? Pigs hoof. I recently learned this. Gelatin is pigs hoof. Ewww! No more lollies or jelly for me 
What is chocolate made using unethical beans? The blood of chocolate slaves.
Having recently seen Food Inc I’m now choosing Lamb over Beef, free-range chickens only, and, well, I never liked pork anyway. If you haven’t seen it yet, then check it out on YouTube. This is the first part:
The documentary points out the disconnect between government regulation of the agriculture and health industries.
A few multinational corporations control most of our food production lines. In the CEO’s defined mission to maximise profit for shareholders, they are neglecting many elements of the system including the quality of what we eat.
I enjoy a juicy tender steak. I realise it sucks that we kill an animal to enjoy it, but such is the chain of life.
However, I cannot bring myself to eat a cow who has been fed so much corn (something they aren’t meant to eat), concrete (something they are definitely not supposed to eat), and growth hormones (to make them grow five times as fast) which put them in a state that they can’t even walk for their short miserable lives.
Now ever time I look at beef I think of images from Food Inc – of cows on a massive machine like fish in a net – their faces looking up as the moo toward their impending death. It’s so sad. If a cow lives its life on a farm eating grass and walking around the field in the sun, then in its final moment faces a quick slaughter – that’s one thing. I can handle it. But imposing a living hell on the animal – that’s too horrible for me to be a part of. At the very least I have to try to avoid being a part of it as much as I can.
Does anyone else see the irony in the new “shock factor” government campaigns against obesity:
I think it’s good to address obesity, but shouldn’t this be done from both ends of the spectrum?
As obesity numbers continue to rise, our food production system is on steroids, causing harm to more than just our bodies. From agriculture to animals, to government regulations, over-fishing and obesity… we are part of a food chain in which our consumption decisions directly impact on our quality of life, and the quality of the lives of many others in our ecosystem.
Questions to ponder:
- What is the relationship between our food pyramid and our economic/societal capitalist pyramid?
- Do our system’s rules that define CEO’s missions to gain “profit for shareholders” deprive us and even the shareholders themselves of good quality food?
- What is the supply and food chain behind our supermarket purchases? How do our established systems impact on our lives and the lives of future generations?
What we eat directly affects more than just our body shape, our mental and physical health, and the speed at which we age…
Eating ethically helps you eat healthier and live longer. Everything is connected.
Choosing for nutritional value means avoiding foods produced by corporations who cheapen the quality of your food in order to make profit for shareholders.
Choose locally helps local farmers, and saves your planet from the pollution of transport mechanisms, and moves the power from the multinationals back into the hands of the people.
It’s not easy – I used to go to a farmers market but since I moved to the city I haven’t. It will take effort for me to source locally produced goods, but it will be worth it. And it won’t be easy to do it all the time. Step by step, I’ll try to make better choices. That’s where it starts.
The food we eat affects lives of many other people whose income is dependent on it, the lives of many animals who are produced for it, and the entire ecosystem which we are a part of. These are pretty good sources of motivation to help me make better choices and, as a by product, rid this year’s Christmas bulge.
Links
Some helpful tips from the Australian government
http://www.measureup.gov.au/internet/abhi/publishing.nsf/Content/Helpful+tips+2-lp
“Swap it don’t stop it” – big for small, often to sometimes, sitting for moving, watching for playing…
http://swapit.gov.au/ways-to-swap
Picture
I got this picture from here http://www.drlam.com/pyramid.asp – this website explains the anti-aging pyramid in detail.
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Humanity: are we an empathic civilisation???
Something many of us probably do not know is that connected to our drive to survive, is an empathic disposition driving the evolution of “civilisation”. Humans have a long history of empathy that unfortunately our history books tend to forget about. The book The Empathic Civilisation – The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, by Jeremy Rifkin, tells another story.
As a commenter on Peace: How Do We Find It? said, “so now all we need to change, is the minds of the entire human population.” That sounds darn right impossible, doesn’t it. It doesn’t sound very promising, nor ethical, BUT if humans are empathic at their core then maybe we don’t have to change people minds – maybe we just have to REMEMBER a part of ourselves we often forget.
Rifkin writes about the change in people’s minds that led to the spread of Christianity around 1500 years ago.
“Cast adrift from their tribal bonds and thrown together with people of different cultures form around the empire, large numbers of individuals suddenly found themselves alone in dense urban environments and without a sense of identity… what was missing was a powerful new narrative that could put every single individual at the center of a compelling cosmic story of creation, tribulation, judgement, and redemption, and, by doing so, recast the very meaning of human existence… it would be a young sect calling itself Christians that would take Rome and the empire by storm with their story.” [1]
This video is not a replacement but it is a brilliant summary of the book:
Oh and this interview with the Rifkin is pretty cool too:
It seems to me that while conflict and competition play important (and positive) roles in life processes, if we have an empathic disposition then conflicts don’t need to have violent and destructive consequences.
Could small shift in the way we frame our story? Could books and clips such as this one contain the butterfly effect strong enough to realise our empathy and better the world for each other and future generations?
Or will it be a new cosmic narrative that addresses our own distorted sense of identity?
Rifkin describes three Industrial Revolutions, each based on a developments in energy/communications technologies:
1. coal/print
2. oil/radio-television
3. (maybe) the Internet/alternative energy
In order to avoid “planetary collapse” in the face of “a rapidly accelerating juggernaut” of climate change and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, (or, if you’re a climate change skeptic, then just exchange those two words for human population which is undeniably ridiculous and out of control) a revolution is necessary.
If this third revolution happens, Ruskin writes that it ‘will be marked by a “distributed” model of energy production (and use) that will rely on the new assumption that human nature is not inherently selfish, but rather that people ‘want to collaborate with others, often freely, for the sheer joy of contributing to the common good.‘[2]
How’s your empathic disposition as we come up to Christmas?
Do you think such a revolution is possible?
I do, but that might be summer and the fact that I just got my first scooter, bringing back my pre-India incurable optimism…
References
[1] The Empathic Civilization - The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis, by Jeremy Rifkin.
[2] As summed in a review in ONE COUNTRY, Bahai Internationa Community New York, Ed. Brad Pokorny.
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Ikigai – a reason to wake up in the morning
Why do you get up in the morning? Does an answer come into your mind straight away? It does for the people in Okinawa, and it thought to be one of the key factors in their longevity – estimated to lengthen the lives of the people by 7 years! Ikigai is kind of like the French raison d’etre - ’a reason for being’. It could be a creative passion, your relationships, your job… Everyone has a ikigai, even if you don’t know it yet.
In Okinawa they do that thing they love until they die. Why do we focus so much on retirement? If we were doing jobs that we enjoyed, if we were living our life for a purpose other than money, one would think that we would never want to finish. According to the TED Talks that inspired this entry, the most dangerous years of your life are the year you are born (because of infant mortality) and the year you retire. People die after all those years of working something they hate, because after all that they don’t know what they love! That’s how important a sense of purpose is…
Does anyone else think it’s strange that there is no simple English word for ikigai? Do you think this is intentional… assisting the transition from people into “human capital”/money-making machines?
Another couple of good tips for a long life as enjoyed by the people of Okinawa included:
- hara hachi bu – eating until your stomach is 80% full
- eating lots of plant products
- your choice in friends (friends who lead healthier lifestyles will see you lead a healthier lifestyle)
- NO exercise – well at least no gyms (walking and activities for enjoyment are much better than segmenting and separating the different needs of our body)
I recommend checking out the full TED Talks with Dan Buettner “How to live to be 100+” – he also goes to Sardinia http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_buettner_how_to_live_to_be_100.html and this article too http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-good-life/200809/ikigai-and-mortality
Personal side note – I’ve come down with a head cold so if this things I write don’t flow very well that is why. Maybe expect a couple more short entries like this while I can’t think straight enough to finish up that October Peace & Conflict Studies blog series, or to start the philosophy series I promised. I’m good at starting things and not finishing them (I think I started a “Big History” series quite a while back too). Anyway, I guess mixing it up keeps things interesting.
Hearing about Okinawa got me reminiscing so I thought I’d post a few photos of foods from Japan. Seeing as some of the other photos had me falling off my chair I might have to put them up soon too. Unfortunately I wasn’t into photography back then – so they are just point & shoot or keitei (mobile phone) shots. Man this feels like a life time ago…
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Potentialism: a new system based on humanity’s collective creative potential
I posed this question to Q&A, a political TV show in Australia, sometime last year. They didn’t air it but it’s had a lot of views on their website, and a comment or two…
“We need a new system”
There is something fundamentally wrong with a system that puts profit before people and our planet. Billions suffer so that few of us can accumulate more “stuff”, leading to poverty, depression, and pollution If we continue our current trajectory, our own consumption will cause our own extinction. Big problems require big solutions. We don’t need another meaningless tax – we need to change the system.
As embarrassing as it is to watch, and as blonde, simplistic, idealist and immature as I sound (“capitalism equals extinction” lol… I’m the first to laugh at myself, so you’re welcome to join me), I think the ideas behind the question are important to address.
As I see it, we are at the precipice… http://www.julietbennett.com/2009/10/20/at-the-precipice/ … and we have to do something.
These are questions I have posed many times on this blog, and doing a full circle post-India’s hit of realism I revisit them and some of my old answers today.
How can we shift our system to one that doesn’t dictate a worship of capital?
What kind of system would not be based on an infinite growth in consumption?
How about a “stationary” economy that John Stuart Mill suggested in 1848?
How about a system that focuses on IMPROVEMENT rather than GROWTH – one that values the quality of our lives, not the quantity of stuff we accumulate?
How about valuing creativity over capital?
Creativity is the most joyous part of life, it’s where solutions to our problems come from, it’s how we evolve. And creativity is infinite!
Could “Creativism” be the answer to our political, economic and religious dilemmas?
The Urban Dictionary defines:
Creativism = ‘The theory or practice of creation as a way to live and understand life.’
Creativist = ‘someone who is attuned creatively to their surroundings; a person who understands and expresses their life through creative works or motifs.’
http://www.julietbennett.com/2009/09/10/creativism-a-philosophy-for-life/
A seemingly similar philosophy has been called “potentialism”.
Potentialism is a fast-spreading trend. Already since the GFC, one in five Australians are downsizing their wealth in order to dedicate their lives to the things they most enjoy.[1]
As the flight magazine I read on Virgin Blue summed, “We got greedy in the 1980s, grungy in the ’90s and geeky in the noughties. This decade, we’re eager to explore our potential.” [2] Read more here: http://www.julietbennett.com/2010/04/26/potentialism/
I couldn’t find an official definition of “potentialist” so from what i have read on the topic, I made up my own: A “potentialist” is an alchemist of potential – someone who strives to achieve their mental, physical and spiritual potential.
… I wonder what a society with a stable economy, focused quality not quantity, valuing creativity not capital, and with it’s sight set on the manifestation of our collective potential, would look like?
References:
[1] Deborah Robinson, Australians leading the way in a return to Global Financial Optimism (November 2009) URL: http://www.australianwomenonline.com/australians-leading-the-way-in-a-return-to-global-financial-optimism/
[2] “The Potentialists”, Virgin Blue Magazine (April 2010) pp. 34-38.
Photo: I snapped this on my phone on the weekend: kites, colour, sunshine, nature, friends – Bondi was alive as Sydneyites enjoyed the simple pleasures life has to offer.
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If you don’t wanna be doing that in ten year’s time… then
“If you don’t wanna be doing it in ten years time… THEN STOP DOING IT NOW!!!!” a wise chick said to the sister of a hen.
Among the haywire of my sister’s hens party, Nadine McKenzie shared what has now become one of my new mottos. In a crazy taxi ride, in a not-so-sober state, I typed it into my phone, and managed to type it into my computer before my phone lost all my notes (side note: if you have an iPhone, I recommend regular backups). Yesterday’s entry about changing something if you are not happy reminded me of Nadine’s motto, so I thought I would share.
I don’t know you can apply this motto to everything all-the-time, because I suppose sometimes you have to temporarily do something you don’t like in order to get to where you want to go.
However, if you find yourself stuck in a rut doing something over and over again that you don’t enjoy, it’s not a bad idea to stop and ask yourself: do I want to be doing this in five or ten years time? And, if the answer is no, then STOP!
In my opinion there are always alternatives do whatever it is that is making you unhappy. Even there appears to be no way out – you just have to think creatively. And to be sure, if you keep doing it without at least securing a plan to get out, you surely will still be doing it in ten years and maybe even twenty years time too.
On a similar note, a mentor once told me that the books and people you are spending your time with today are the best indicator of where you will be in five years time.
So… what are you reading? Who are you talking with? What are you dedicating your time to NOW? Where does this indicate you will be in five year’s time? Is this a place you want to be? If no, then what should you do differently now to put yourself on the path toward your preferred trajectory?
Pictures: cute chicks and my sexy sister hen.
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Are you happy?
“Are you happy?” A friend asked me a couple of months ago.
“Yes, of course.” I answered without a second thought. Things were up-in-the-air at the time, and I was struggling with this and that, but I was enjoying all of that. For sure I was happy.
I returned the question, “Are you happy?” and was shocked to hear her answer: ”NO.” She went on to explain that she will be happy “one day” but right now, because of this reason and that reason, overall she wasn’t really very happy.
I guess it’s all that “live in the ‘now’, because the ‘now’ is all we ever have” – the ‘present’ is a present, a gift, so we should enjoy it – type of Eckhart Tolle / Deepak Choprah books I’ve read or audio books I’ve listened to, this is so engrained in my head that my daily decisions, big and small, are guided by it.
While I have my moments of frustration and the occasional days I think of as mini episodes of depression, I can’t imagine being in an state of unhappiness for a long period of time. If I’m not happy, I blame only myself for letting myself get to wherever I have gotten. Then I figure out what I need to change, and I change it, true to the flowchart above.
Is this selfish? I don’t think so. The happier I am, the happier the people around me will be. No one likes a wet rag, or a person full of regret and gloom. It’s that over-flowing wine glass analogy again – keep filling up your own and it will flow into others glasses too. I struggle to imagine another way of life.
I guess I knew that not everyone lives this way. The thing is, when you are always inside your own head, it’s easy to forget that not everyone approaches life in the same way you do.
My friend’s answer snapped me back into the wider reality: not everyone is happy.
I have to wonder: if you are not happy, why don’t you change?
Picture:
I came across this picture on a friend’s facebook feed. It has the name of the creator on it although I can’t make out what it says.
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Potential: innate or situational?
Does the value of life reside in a life form’s innate potential – the potential that their DNA allows one to have, or to the potential that a life’s situation provides the opportunity to achieve?
There is quite a difference and the implications are quite significant. You see, if innate potential is the dictator of life’s value, then I feel bad for cattle we breed to eat, for chickens that lay my eggs, and even for the horses whose sides I kick and neck I pull on to stop and go when I please. These animals have an innate potential that can only be discovered if they are FREE TO DISCOVER IT - something that, in these days of human dominion, such an opportunity is not really allowed.
But, how can the true potential of life be evaluated in our modern times?
In the last six thousand years or so, many animals have evolved into a state of dependency. Dogs, in the process of human’s domestication, have replaced the fierceness of their days as wolves with floppy ears and wagging tails. While they appear to like their new roles as man’s best friend and while they receive much love from humans in return… were they ever asked if they wanted to give up their freedom to roam the woods and instead spend their days lazing around our homes?
I guess this process of “co-evolution” wasn’t exactly a conscious decision of our ancestors – it just happened as a result of changing environments and changing levels of awareness – as a result of decisions made by ALL the species involved.
So… who is to judge what is right and what is wrong, what is the creative potential of these animals, and how this fits with the creative potential of other species, including our own?
Applying such ideas to human situations I consider those sitting behind sewing machines for 12 hour days 7 days a week, getting paid a pittance, and I try to think about the limitations their situation puts on their potential. But then I reflect – if I hadn’t made some pretty radical decisions about my own life, I may have been slaving away my life behind a computer pumping out 12 hour days 7 days a week working on spreadsheets (in a past life – around 8 years ago when I first left uni – I was an Accountant)…
And I ask myself: what allowed me the opportunity to pursue my own creative potential?
A few key people in my life who provided me the encouragement, and maybe even more so the people who provided me the dis-encouragement (which makes one even more determined to prove them wrong), spurred me to quit Accounting and travel to Japan where a new process of self-discovery first began.
It’s slightly controversial to say, and I know many will disagree with this statement, but in my opinion ALL humans have the innate potential to be academics, artists, accountants or actors – it’s just a matter of the opportunities they receive through their education and the cultivation of a vision of how they perceive their own capabilities in life.
This idea seems to make the ethical dilemmas of our unjust world even more difficult to deal with…
If I truly believe that anyone can achieve ANYTHING that they set their mind to – if they truly believe it to be possible – then where is the limit to anyone’s potential? Maybe there is no limit. So if you think of violence as being anything that prevents someone from reaching their true potential, then does that make everything in the world violent? Ok, now I’m really tying myself in knots.
Of course seeing the most unlikely dreams come true in my own life doesn’t this ask and recieve concept a universal law… yet when I combine these ideas with the concepts of innate and situational potential, I return to situation: if anyone else were born into my shoes, would be typing these exact words in this exact minute? I’m no psycho-analytical genetic expert, but my hunch is that they would… I’m not so sure how much of us is innate – might everything be situational?
What is it that prevents some dreams from becoming reality? In my observation it seems that it is fear and lack of confidence and faith in oneself, and a lack of ability to imagine the possibilities, that prevents ones ability to dream or prevents the dreams one has from manifesting in their reality.
Is it possible that we are limited only by our own minds?
Or, as Henry Ford put it: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, either way you are right.”
But then, there’s something to be said for innate factors – like the genetics of our parents, the skills our ancestors have learned and passed on… but are these innate, or situational to the choices or our ancestors?
Maybe in the end it is a combination of both the innate and the situational potential we are each presented that dictates the creative achievements of our lives? Maybe this whole idea of one or the other is just a play with words and concepts and all dependent on my own culturally cultivated perceptions…
It’s nice to think we are all “worth the same”, but when you see in other cultures the lack of value placed on human lives, and the extra value placed on, for example, a cow’s life.. you remember that grand cultural influence that shapes our perspectives and values. Are our creative achievements something we can use to evaluate the value of one life or life form over another?
Ok, I hope this entry isn’t too randomly haphazardly put together – I did warn you about my grasshopper mental state I blame on my PISD – my Post India Stress Disorder…
Anyway, in conclusion, let me just share that I’m starting to think that when it comes solutions to poverty and environment and conflicts and all the other stuff I rant on about, maybe the greatest gift we can give is the ability to imagine the possibilities – the ability to dream… And to share a little secret: the only person who can empower you to achieve your dreams, is yourself.
Photo:
Set up by mwah and snapped by Lucinda Amon on the morning after my sister’s wedding in Bowral. Another one for my ongoing series – which I think I’m going to name “The Bridge” rather than “The Crab” so I can write up in artist blurbs as “symbolising the bridging of present to future” … opinions???
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And now, I relax
6am “knock knock” my revolting tasting medicine (of who knows what) arrives at my door… 630 yoga; 730 walk and feed monkeys; 830 breakfast (fruit and random-looking-but-delicious Indian vegetarian goop); 10am reflexology; 1030 continue reading “Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure” (awesome book btw); 1230pm massage (naked – completely naked); 130 vegetarian lunch and more gross medicine; 230 massage (thumped with hot pounds of herbs); 3pm intermediate yoga (soooo hard); 4pm ginger tea; 5pm medicine then walk (and twist my ankle… f***); 530 ice ankle and read; 7pm vegetarian dinner; 830 my allocated turn on internet; and very soon (around 9pm) take bedtime tablets (what the HECK are they giving me?) and go to bed. This AYURVEDA retreat high up in the Indian mountains in Coonoor is HARD CORE!!!
After ten days of it I am feeling GREAT!!!
I’ve been exfoliated, oiled, pounded, massaged, steamed and scrubbed – each simultaneously carried out by two sets of from hands, from head to toe. I’ve stretched, balanced and put my body into postures I never thought possible. I’ve swallowed tablets and liquids bitter, sweet and ambiguous. I’ve managed to do without chocolate (besides a Sunday-is-our-day-off binge) and coffee and alcohol, and even gone without meat (by no choice of my own). I’ve had points on my fingers pressed while I clench my teeth in pain. My ankle (still swollen from February and no thanks to my little slip on my first day here) has never has so much attention with it’s own oil press treatments, herbal mud-masks and Reiki.
I leave feeling smoother, skinnier, healthier, and stetchier, than I have in a long time.
Here is a quick glimpse of my time here: my new friends (monkeys and more monkeys), my treatments (I’m not actually about to have my head chopped off), and the lovely mountains and people of Coonoor. Click on a photo to see bigger, and then click through slide show…
I am as ready as I’ll ever be to hit the busy city of Delhi, and (try to) enjoy a three day manic tour around the golden triangle: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Wish me luck.
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India’s default detox
Next Thursday I am going to India and I have a feeling I will be making up for the failure of my February detox.
My sister tells me coffee in India sucks, so that’s a start. I wonder if they have chocolate? … Suppose I’ll need a little mayhem after presenting my paper at a Peace and Education conference in Mumbai, but I’ll for sure make up for that at a 7-days Ayurvedayoga retreat. Following yoga, hot baths, massages and healthy foods, I’ll be doing it rough and tough with 10-days on trains and little towns in Rajasthan, and my trip ends with 2-weeks of trekking in Nepal…
Well that’s the plan – how much I stick to it I don’t know, I’ve never been so organised before boarding the plane. It feels strange. The last week felt like painful wild goose chase, but now that I have the flights booked, accommodation (at least for the first few nights) confirmed, and rough schedule planned, I’m starting to relax. I just can’t wait to be on the plane…
Whatever happens I’m sure it will be five weeks of mind-expanding, spiritually enlightening, and physically challenging stuff, however the universe throws it to me.
If I manage to get a 3G sim card my plan is to TWEET my adventures – it’s about time I get into the whole twitter thing…
And so long as internet cafes are scattered here and there I’ll share the journey on this blog too – with photos and stories.
Either way stay tuned, follow me on twitter if you use it, and if there isn’t much on here for a month then keep your fingers crossed that I am still alive.
Photo:
This photo doesn’t make much sense considering it is of tai chi, and in Sydney, but seeing that my blog doesn’t work without pictures, I had to choose something… this was from a Sydney newspaper a couple of years ago when I was learning tai chi. Tai chi makes you feel very centered but is one of those things that slips away from life unnoticed. I would like to learn more but I guess my trip would best be to China if I were to do that… next time.
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POTENTIALISM
“We got greedy in the 1980s, grungy in the ’90s and geeky in the noughties. This decade, we’re eager to explore our potential.” [1]
On my flight home from Melbourne I read an article that excited me. It was called “Meet the Potentialists”. A movement I suppose we could label “Potentialism” is very much in line with what the approach to life I labeled “Creativism” – a life based on discovering and fulfilling one’s creative potential. I think potentialist and potentialism is probably better terminology than creativist and creativism – it’s broader and less close to “creationism”, bit less confusing. What do you think?
(To see entry “Creativism: a Philosophy of Life”, click here)
According to social researcher Mark McCrindle, “The ’90s were about buying bigger, better and more, and then it all ended with a crash… as a result, one in five Australians have decided to use the downturn as a catalyst to reorient their lives.” ONE IN FIVE! That’s a pretty good start!!! “Working from home is one of the key drivers of what we call the ‘hobby-preneurs,” said Mark McCrindle. “Turning a hobby into a business is a way of having it all – of fulfilling your potential and turning something you really enjoy doing into an income earner.” Potentialists are men and women, of all ages and incomes (although I must note Sydney ranked fourth after Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane – come on guys, pick up your act!) still that’s pretty incredible! [2]
Australia isn’t alone in this trend. A quick google searched identified Canadians as movers and shakers too. A survey showed that more than a third of Canadians (38%) actively have a Potential List, and nearly everyone in this group (94%) predicts they will accomplish all or some of the goals they have set out for themselves.’ (A “Potential List” is like a dream board.) “Topping the items included in Canadians’ Potential Lists are travel (77%), philanthropy (41%), learn a new language (32%) and living in a different country (32%) – all activities that align with priorities previously identified by Potentialists to actively live an enriching life.” [3]
I couldn’t find a definition so I thought I’d make up my own:
A “potentialist” is an alchemist of potential – someone who strives to achieve their mental, physical and spiritual potential.
And I’m going start a little Potentialism Blog Series based on some writings I did a couple of years ago when I started the search of my own potential (a search which is obviously still under way). I don’t know, but maybe it will help all you potentialists or potential-potentialists out there as you look for ways to realize your own potential.
Picture:
My mum and my friend looking at my artworks that I am both inside and (sort-of) behind the lens of (I framed the shot but obviously I couldn’t hit the button) that are on display in the Manning Building at Sydney Uni. I still get quite a buzz out of the fact that at school I was the non-creative pimple-faced mathematical/business-minded nerd and now I am on the path to discovering my true potential.
References:
[1] Virgin Blue (April 2010) pp. 34-38.
[2] Deborah Robinson, Australians leading the way in a return to Global Financial Optimism (November 2009) URL: http://www.australianwomenonline.com/australians-leading-the-way-in-a-return-to-global-financial-optimism/
[3] ‘Potentialist’ Group On The Rise As Canadian Optimism Improves’ URL:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2010/02/c5872.html
Based on online survey by Angus Reid Public Opinion on behalf of American Express January 21-25 2010.
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“There’s no such thing as balance.”
The fourteenth day = detox half-way mark…….
It’s after midnight. I’m a little tipsy. What happened to my detox?
As I’ve mentioned in my last post, I “fell off the horse” by no fault of my own – the 3rd ankle sprain in three weeks justified a decafe coffee, a small cheat which turned to complete failure when they brought me a real one. Since this day it has become easy to fall off the horse – again, and again.
Oh well.
A new goal for February… To find BALANCE. Balanced habits that last. The occasional drink without getting drunk. The occasional espresso without getting addicted. A piece of chocolate without demolishing the block. These new goals combined with my “stand on one foot with eyes closed” ankle exercises, led me to think that peace comes from balance – balance within ourselves, and within our environment. So when my friend said to me that “balance doesn’t exist”, some interesting conversations and deep contemplations were the result.
“Not anywhere in the universe. Or in nature. It’s through adversity and hardship that everything becomes stronger. You will find balance – only when you are dead…”
I suppose in some ways he is right. The evolution of plants and animals and us comes down to survival of the fittest. Being the fittest means pushing oneself to the limits, adapting to adversities – moments that are not exactly examples of balance.
Balance. Harmony. Peace.
Find it first within yourself, then you fill find it in the world.
Heaven, enlightenment, rejoining the oneness, becoming one with “God”.
… Reality or fantasy? Neither or both?
“What about the sun and the moon and the tides?” I ask. “The balance exists. In nature.”
I disagree with my friend. I think balance is more than possible. In the big scheme of things balance is inevitable.
We all know that what goes up must come down. BUT… What goes up is not balanced out until it comes down. Neither the moment of ascension nor the moment of descension are moments of balance. Balance isn’t found in the moment. It’s found when viewed as a whole.
When the universe is out of balance life finds a new balance, or it finds itself extinct. My friend is right in saying that it is the hard times and moments of disharmony that make us (or plants or animals) grow stronger, but in the end this will bring us to a new equilibrium. A new harmony.
In the end balance will prevail – to the loss or advantage of humankind. The universal expansion will eventually lead to a universal compression. Creativity is eventually met with destruction. If we destroy our planet it will eventually destroy us. Obviously this isn’t very encouraging. But it is reality. The forces of “good” versus the forces of “evil” represent the duality of everything we know. No moment is balanced until viewed within it’s whole.
And so, at 130am on a Saturday night, as I plan to work on the last chapter of my book until my eyes can no longer stay open, or until my first full draft is complete – I have decided that while balance is good, creativity is better. The maximisation of the creative potential of this moment is temporal. Once potential is achieved, new potentials are created. But even if just for the moment, it’s worth it. The balance will arrive eventually so you have to enjoy the process.
Maybe it was the few drinks I had before writing this but it seems like this rant is has gone full-circle. What does this mean for my detox? And my new goals of balanced diet and lifestyle?
Balance is like truth – you might never reach it but it’s still a worthwhile pursuit.
To balance out my December and January habits I think it’s a good idea to avoid alcohol and coffee and chocolate at least for a little bit longer. And I do hope some lasting balanced habits result. But, as I write my book’s last chapter about Rio’s Carnaval, should I desire a cachaca and pineapple – in the name of creativity I will have one. BALANCE. Hmmm…
So in sum, I’ve failed on three of the first fourteen days of February. See if I do better in the fourteen to come…
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On the tenth day of detox
So, all was going well, the swelling on my ankle was very slowly starting to disappear when… OUCH!!! I DID AGAIN… On my first morning walk in two weeks, as I enter Trumper Park, it goes on me. I fall to the ground and hit hard. F**K.
I stand up and hobble toward my apartment. I feel faint. The world is spinning. My vision is closing in. I have to stop. I sit on the curb. Then try again. A few steps later I sit. Finally, somehow, I make it home.
My friend takes me to a physio. It’s not broken, thank God, but I have done some pretty serious ligament damage. I get a nice boot to walk around in for the next few days. At least finally I’m getting it cared for I guess.
I want something to cheer me up. I deserve something to cheer me up. Decafe coffee doesn’t count does it?
‘Mmmm mmmm!’ I say as I take a sip. ‘Decafe is actually really good, after not having any coffee for ten days.’
‘Argh.. hmm…’ my friend says as she sips hers. ‘I’m not sure yours is decafe,’ she says, having ordered a regular. She is right – hers tastes watery. Mine tastes good. But she has added sugar to hers… ‘What do you want, sugar or caffeine?’ she laughs.
‘I’ve already had a few sips… and… I’m really enjoying this,’ I say, feeling like a drug addict getting his first hit in years.
And that was my tenth day of detox.
And I had been going so well…
Day six I woke up again at 620am. What’s with that? Full of energy. I’m not complaining. I get up and started writing. I have cravings for anything. I have temptations, especially when people talk about coffee and when I get a good whiff of it. God it smells good. But no desire to cave in.
I believe the only sugar I’ve really eaten these last ten days is honey, a lot of honey. The only drug that might also have taken in is the pott that sometimes whifts into my room from somewhere in my neighbourhood… particularly effective when breathed in while practicing yoga. Yes, feeling a bit spacey. Strange.
I go to bed around 1am, and wake on the seventh day at 8am, full of energy, excited to start the day. It’s raining. I do 20 minutes of yoga and eat breakfast and get into some writing. I am feeling lighter. Much lighter.
And so on… and so on…
So. I lasted ten days, but it wasn’t my fault. Now I am an invalid in a ski boot. That’s not where I was supposed to be by now.
I haven’t given up altogether. I’m going to keep going besides today’s slip up. When you fall of the horse…
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On the fifth day of detox….
It is interesting to see you operate with no drugs in your system. No using coffee and chocolate to wake me up and stimulate my mind. No using alcohol to relax and escape.
Following a big night to farewell to the month of binges, the first day of detox I slept in quite late. I did a short 20 minute pilates DVD. I had a decent amount of energy. My ankle was sore and I was resting it. No real cravings.
The second day of detox I had less energy. I did a 40 minute pilates DVD and spend the day at home writing, and the afternoon and evening catching up with friends. I was distracted. I had a steak for dinner. Second day was fairly easy.
The third day was the was the worst. I got stuck in traffic and spent the day working reception for my Dad’s business. I still work for my Dad’s business about one day a week but I haven’t done reception in years. I have a new appreciation for what receptionists do. It’s tiring work answering phones. Seriously tiring. And we had live programs being aired so it there were frantic times. At 1pm the coffee man arrived. Beep beep bebeep beep… beep beep! Oh how I wanted one. Nope. Don’t give in. Green tea. Green tea. I was strong. I got through it.
On the fourth day of detox I woke up at 620am, full of energy. What is this? I wasn’t sure where that came from. I forced myself to get another hour’s sleep and then got up and had a fairly morning. But by afternoon I was exhausted. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. I was at my Dads for dinner and in the fridge was a block. A half-eaten block of dark Lindt chocolate. My favourite. Sitting there, begging me. Eat me! Eat me! And I knew that one piece wouldn’t do any harm. It would give me energy and fulfil the craving, satisfy the urge. Give me. Give me. But I resisted.
On the fifth day of detox (today) I woke at 747am, and I’m feeling pretty good. I google videoed a good friend in Brazil and ate a little tub of frozen acai pulp (Brazilian berry from the Amazon) which has a little guarana in it (I bought a big box of them yesterday!!) so I’m feeling inspired and getting lots of writing done. (Yes I know there’s caffeine in guarana…)
Today I am not craving coffee. I don’t feel at all like drinking alcohol. And although there are two blocks of Ecuadorian dark chocolate (you can get them in Aldi) in my fridge, I’m not tempted to open them.
What I am noticing most about not having toxins in your system is a calmness, a sense of being in a natural state of mind, which actually feels a little weird. Like the world has slowed down a little bit. And like my thinking processes and my actions are a little slower too. The worst thing is not having that drug-induced excuse. I’m used to having a coffee or a block of chocolate and using it to keep myself up very late night writing. But now it gets to 11pm and I’m tired and I go to sleep. I’m getting a lot of sleep. It’s kind of weird.
Five days down, twenty-three days to go.
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No walking, no blogging.
I walk, ideas come, I write.
I don’t walk, my mind slows, and good blog entries become few and far between.
Just over a week ago I twisted my ankle and ignored it. I think I inherited my Opa’s high pain tolerance. But now it hurts. Not physically, it’s more a mental pain. The ankle is as swollen as ever, and although it’s a frustrating pain, I have to rest.
Walking is my meditation, information-processing, keeping-me-sane time. It is after a long walk I sit down and feel like I write my best. It is on long walks that the best ideas pop into my head. It is on my walks that I make sense of my world, of the conversations, the people, the books, my thoughts. Walking keeps me sane. And fit.
And now it is February. I made it through my last week of “holidays-zone” and now it is time to get serious:
Detox.
Write lots.
Teach Pilates.
Get into shape.
The most annoying thing is that the getting my ankle better doesn’t really fit so well with the writing lots, the teaching pilates or the getting into shape.
Patience, patience, patience. Baby steps. Stay off the ankle now and the rest will fall into place.
I did manage to start the detox. No alcohol, coffee, chocolate or greasy foods. None. At least for the month of February, and I’m hoping to get into good habits that last longer. The last couple of months, or maybe even the last couple of years, have been progressively more destructive in terms of such habits, varying with life’s ups and downs, challenges and celebrations. Now that I’ve signed a one year apartment lease – the longest commitment I’ve made to anything in a while – it’s time for a change. And I’m considering committing to a 3 year PhD so I had better get some good habits under my belt or else I can throw my body goodbye.
Which brings me to the detox…
Today was the third day. I believe the third day is the worst, right??? It was tougher than the first and second combined.
So, if you please, keep your fingers crossed for my ankle and the detox… the quality, or lack of it, of entries on this blog depends on it.
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The Christmas Pudge… and a Love of Beer
So I borrowed my mum’s scales to check the Christmas damage. 64 kilos. What the f??? I don’t step on scales so often, judging by measurement more than kilos. But, well, “in the day” I weighed 55kgs. And on average I think I’m around 58-60kgs. I’ve seen myself at 62kgs, and I know I’ve complained about feeling fat on this website before. But 64???
Ok, time to get back into routine: a walk in the morning before breakfast to reconnect my mind and body; a yoga or pilates session a few times a week, teaching it if possible so I can get paid for it rather than pay; and no more beer. At least for a little while. The poggy beer belly has to go. Or chocolate. And no more cheese. Well that’s was my resolution this morning.
I got home today from working a good three and a half hours at the office (being a casual has it’s pluses, and its minuses – depending on how you look at it) and had the choice: beer or pilates. I surprised myself and put on some ultra relaxing yoga music, pulled out the beautiful yoga mat I got for Christmas and did, well, at least I did thirty minutes of it. The stretching felt insanely incredible, as it always does but particularly when it’s been a while. The repetitions of butt exercises killed more than usual, again as it does when it’s been a while.
And then, the gorgeous funky little bar stool I bought today (when there wasn’t enough work to justify my being there) was calling my bottom, singing out: “come on, sit, try me out, do some writing, check your email, write something for your blog…” So here I am, drinking a beer and writing this entry. Hey, my friend left me coronas after NY, along with far too much chocolate and cheese, what am I supposed to do?
But it’s ok, I’m back on the upward spiral. I did half an hour of pilates and literally looking in the mirror I can see the difference: in my fresher-looking skin, brighter-looking eyes, and straightened up poster. “Half-an-hour did that?!” Yep – that’s what proper breathing does – it pumps oxygen through your system. That’s what mind-body connection and good posture does – encourages a central nervous system that works efficiently. My mind felt relaxed, centred, alert. That’s right – now I remember why I like pilates.
I’m not in a huge hurry to loose my Christmas pudge; I might even enjoy it for a (hopefully brief) moment. In good time I’ll be teaching pilates again and seeing as out the window the blue sky seems to have pushed away the clouds, I guess my “it’s raining” excuse is pushed out of existence too. These two little tricks seem to speed the metabolism enough to carry me through my little vices… so metabolic rate you had better bucker up – cause I’m not ready to stop enjoying the beer, or the chocie or the cheese – at least not while they’re lurking in my fridge.
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De ja vu? Hair
“What do you think?” She asked me.
“Ah… It’s ok.” I said
id, frowning at my reflection. “I’m not quite sure how you got that,” I looked to the mirror, “from this” observing the photo in my hands. The cut is not so bad. Nor is the colour. But it does NOT in the slightest look like the picture I had diligently printed out in hope of clearly communicating the colour and cut I was after.
I’ll survive. I’ve definitely had worse. After giving me green hair (from a henna mask) a hairdresser (in Japan) turned it purple (very strong toner).
If it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger. Hair grows fast enough and in a few weeks it will be the length I was after. Maybe I’ll pull out some Sun-In left over from high-school days, and take matters into my own hands – desperate times call for desperate measures. Or maybe I should simply accept that these things happen for a reason and hope this haircut brings with it its own.
Yet the question still persists: why don’t hairdressers listen? This is not the first time it has happened to me, and I don’t think I’m alone in this question. How, when given a picture of a haircut and colour (that is totally compatible with the hair on your head) do a colourist and stylist create their own interpretation and leave you to sport something completely different???
Don’t get me wrong. I love my hairdresser and will surely go back there, probably with the same picture and probably expecting to leave with something completely different again. Why will I go back? Because every hairdresser seems to be the same: you NEVER get what you want. And it’s always a heck lot better than I can do with my own scissors or homemade dyes – been there done that – which always looks better in one’s mind than its manifestation in reality. Urgh. HAIR. Now I remember why I shaved it off.
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Potentialism: a philosophy for life
Potentialism: a philosophy for life
Discovering your ultimate creative potential: you as your individual conscious, you as your society and you as the universe – playing your role in the creation of a future reality you desire.
Syncretic paradigms:
1. The purpose of life is to discover and fulfill your creative potential in a way that brings the most benefit to others.
This is the purpose of all life
This is “living God’s will”
This is expressing Who You Truly Are and Who You Want To Be
This is discovering your inner being, your intuition, and listening to it
As Shakespeare said, “Above all things, to thyself be true”
2. We are defined not only by our separate identity, but are in fact a collective identity of humanity, of living organisms and of the universe.
In the same way that our body is not separate from the living micro atoms that make it up
In the same way that science describes all matter, us included, as made of the same substance: atoms, which at quantum levels flash in and out of physical existence
In the same way the Buddhists imagine God to be everything
In the same way Christians describe God, as three forms: the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, yet one God; simultaneously omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent ie all-knowing, all-powerful and present everywhere.
These ideas do not contradict – they complement. They are each other’s missing link – the way such abstract concepts maybe by physically actualised.
3. Peace is a state of harmony, when the body, mind and spirit are united
Key principles:
4. Listen to “God”/ The Universe / Your Intuition
Thoughts – ideas, images, and words that come into your mind
Intuition – the deep feeling inside that says ‘yes’ or ‘no’
Omens/signs – notice the things in the world around you that you are conscious of at each particular point in time
Words of other people – be it in conversation, a religious, fiction or nonfiction text, or a song on the radio, everything that enters your world is God communicating with you
5. Minimize fear and maximize love
Fear leads to insecurity, hate, and greed
Love leads to security, generosity, and kindness
6. Commit to the process not the result –
Creative potential is infinite and there is no end. An end means a beginning, and the circle of life continues.
Living in the present – it’s a present, a gift from God, pre-sent to you as an accumulation of all your life experiences and thoughts.
7. Realise that all problems can be solved with:
Will – desire to solve the problem
Honesty – about everything
Empathy – understanding where the other is coming from
Creativity – finding solutions
Transform and transcend:
8. Equal care for self and others
When we understand the inseparable connectedness between ourselves and others, we realise our happiness depends on the happiness of everyone else.
Hence our goal: to maximise our collaborative creative potential – expressing our own creativity, and encouraging others to express theirs
9. Consequences of this paradigm:
Selfishness transforms into selflessness – I want the best for me, and since you are me, I want the best for you.
Greed becomes generosity – I want everyone else to have as much as they can, because everyone else is me.
Jealousy and envy becomes pride and happiness for one another – others achievements are achievements of other expressions of myself
The concept of hate disappears – we cannot hate what is you
Self confidence increases, as we feel other’s trying to bring us up, not put us down
We truly put into action Jesus teaching to “do unto others as you’d have them do to yourself” (check wording + add equivilant teaching from other religions)
10. Self-reflection and self-transcendence
Breaking down defensiveness, building up confidence to critically evaluate one’s self and acknowledge our wrongs or harms we have done to others – allow us to repent and allow them to forgive
Rid yourself of your own grievances and any desire for vengeance for injuries inflicted by others – through empathy with the Other, we learn to forgive and move on
11. Create your own happiness
Make the decision to be happy – it is the biggest decision you will ever make in your life.
Begin with gratefulness, for what you have, even if it is little
Study the past, analyse different perspectives, take lessons from it and use it to expand your creative potential
Don’t cultivate feelings of regrets, everything has happened for a reason, figure out what that reason is, and how the past can help you in your quest for creative potential.
Bad decisions do not exist, that is judgement you make yet instead you can realise that this results may have led you to challenging times, from which you can now learn. These consequences were a small sacrifice, part of the process of discovering your creative potential.
Do not cultivate feelings of guilt. Guilt is of no benefit for you nor for those around you. Forgive yourself and let it go. Learn from the past, but keep your mind in the present, and an eye on the future
12. Cultivating wisdom
Facts are never static, but are the closest statement of the truth, at a particular point in time. If the data changes, facts also change. We must remain open to new data, ready to evaluate it in order to constantly progress towards a more truthful truth.
Taoists belief “what is impossible today may become possible tomorrow, and what is good today may become evil tomorrow; what seems right from one point of view may from another view seem completely wrong.”
13. The pleasure of extremes, and joys of balance
Life and death, hot and cold, love and hate, good and bad – you can’t have one without the other. This is the dualistic nature of life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d prefer a passionate love, even if it sometimes slips over to hate, than a mediocre love all the time. The extremes are much more fun. Ups and downs are what make life interesting. It’s the challenges that bring the most satisfaction.
Happiness when pushed to the extreme becomes sickly and dull. Beauty overdone becomes ugly. Even too much chocolate makes feel sick…
14. Rid your life of fear
In the same way that millions of skin cells die every day, and yet our human body continues to live
Our consciousness is already connected, and will continue to be connected even when the separateness of our present memory no longer functions, our consciousness will continue to live on through others – that are ourselves
15. Cultivate faith
Faith is about cultivating a state in your heart and mind whereby you give yourself to God* – not about conforming to a set of “beliefs”
Don’t worry, don’t struggle, allow the will of God/ the Universe to be done
Is not about belief in hocus pocus or confession to any kind of autocratic dogma – faith is about a state of heart and mind
Even things that seem to have no reason whatsoever, in time, you will see how it expanded your, or another’s, creative potential
16. Get in-touch with your creative side
We ALL have one, you just have to give it a go
Try everything, don’t be afraid of anything
Know that time and effort are what give results; if you are prepared to invest yourself in something, you can do whatever you want to do.
In order to maximise happiness in life:
17. Right investment
(a) Of your time
Spend it with people who motivate and encourage
In an occupation that allows you to learn and express your creativity
Feelings of daily happiness are essential to stimulate your creative potential
Expanding other’s creative potential, and the creative potential of other forms of life, including the planet
In ways that will provide maximum benefit to the most people
Spend some time in silence, connecting to your conscious and giving it room to create; meditation, walking, driving, prayer
(b) Of your money
Money should be a reflection of the amount of time and effort that you have expended, and can henceforth use in exchange for others’ time and effort.
In your purchases, buying what is good for yourself and good for others
In your financial investments, in businesses that are helping life move toward it’s creative potential
18. Not no conflict but no violence
No circumstance ever substantiates violence
The ideology of Potentialism must never be fought for – this is against the nature of creative potential. Fighting for an ideology destroys creativity, which may be trying to morph into new forms, in which case, this is it’s achievement of creative potential.
Fighting against nature is fighting against the will of God, that is, fighting against the deepest drive of each of us,
Potentialism seeks organic expansion through love, it is never forced or forged, but is the result of a synergy between selfish and selfless – working together for the good of all-life itself, all which is God.
19. The power of the mind
The universe operates through spontaneous creativity, and through patterned phenomena – your role may be to contribute to either
Thoughts are powerful in ways we don’t yet understand. We do know they are measurable on wavelengths, like radio waves, but have not tapped in to harness them yet. Experiments have shown the incredible impact of positive thoughts on plants, water molecules, and even the nature of atoms.
Harness this power. Dream, make goals, pray, meditate, make them reality.
20. The power for world peace lies with you
Each of us have, together, the power to change the world
All it takes is a vision: what do we want the world to look like?
And then in each of us the will to reconnect with our life’s purpose and play out our roles in this transformation.
It begins with finding the peace within ourselves.
Anything is possible!
Some notes on terminology and origins:
What is a Creativist?
A Creativist is someone who sees Creativity as the expression of the Divine Creator present in all life and the universe. Creativity is humanity’s source of greatest pleasure, satisfaction, and act of generosity. Creativity expresses your individual consciousness and shares it with others, simultaneously expressing the collective conscious and providing avenues for your individual conscious to learn.
Creativism or Creationism?
Just to clarify – this is NOT to be confused with “Creationism” which refers to a belief in a 6-day creation 6000 years ago. NO. Creativism is about CREATIVITY and the role WE play in the ONGOING CREATION PROCESS of our universe. These ideas are a work-in-progress (that I wrote one year ago and haven’t touched since) hence I thought I’d put out there. Everything in life always seems to be a work-in-progress, so carpe diem…
Expressions of Creativity:
Creativity is not only for those left-brainers; creativity is for everyone. Analyse the sources of pleasure in your life, you will probably find they involve some form of creation that you contribute to. For example:
- art of any kind: photography, draw, write,
- in numbers, in science, in business: look for creative solutions to problems
- food and wine: play with life’s little pleasures
- breathe: take pleasure in every breath, it feeds your cells and contributes to the production of new ones
- look for improvement: in every aspect of your life, each little bit of creative expression adds value
- in interior and exterior of your house, fashion, self expression
- make babies: the most amazing creation a human can make
Did I make this up?
I think you’ll find there’s nothing really new about what you’re read above … we are all so connected that I have this feeling when you finish reading this, you’ll feel like I’ve just typed out a transcript of your own mind. I may be wrong – all of the following may make no sense to anyone other than myself…
The writings above are a summation of my beliefs around July 2008. They outpoured form my brain as a stream of consciousness and are most likely inspired by all the books I’ve read and all the experiences I’ve incurred, so I don’t take credit for any of it. That’s how ideas grow and form – a culmination of the past, remoulded/stated a little differently, into something that can be used for the future.
I’m not sure how the term “creativism” first came into my head, probably on one of my long walks, where all my other ideas come from, and when I googled it I discovered it was a term being used by a few people to describe a similar concept of what I wanted to use it to describe.
There is even a definition in the Urban Dictionary: Creativism = ‘The theory or practice of creation as a way to live and understand life’ and a Creativist = ‘someone who is attuned creatively to their surroundings; a person who understands and expresses their life through creative works or motifs.’
I came across the term “Potentialist” in an article inside a flight magazine. See: http://www.julietbennett.com/2010/04/26/potentialism/
I couldn’t find a definition of “potentialist” so I made up my own: A “potentialist” is an alchemist of potential – someone who strives to achieve their mental, physical and spiritual potential.
The end and the beginning
Anyway if you have got through this essay then I have to say I’m extremely impressed. Six pages worth of babble… anyway I would really really really love to know what you think. And do you like the title Creativism or Potentialism, or can you think of something better???
Thank you!!!
Juliet xxx
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Things aren’t always what they seem
Back at bikram yoga yesterday I looked back into the big horrible mirrors and smiled – my tummy looked thin and flat. This was only my third class and I was already getting great results. Then I stepped to the left and the image changed before my eyes. My tummy was round and tubby again. What the…??? I tested a few more locations on the mirror and confirmed it – THE MIRROR WAS WARPED.
Neither the fat version nor the thin version was me. Yet at the same time both were me. Even if neither reflections were completely true, they were both attempts at displaying the truth. I suppose when you consider light and angles, no mirror ever provides an entirely accurate reflection of reality. A still mirrors are a useful instrument – better something than nothing.
Similarly when it comes to way we interpret the world around us. We all tell ourselves a story of some sort in order to explain our existence and purpose. We define ourselves with stories to give us a sense of identity, help us understand who and what we actually are. Do we know any of these answers? Do any of our stories provide us a absolute understanding of reality? I doubt it. But they are still important. I enjoying having a mirror (no matter how accurate) to judge if I’m looking fat or thin and similarly the stories I am surrounded by provide me an understanding of my consciousness – the accuracy is somewhat beside the point.
“Change the way you see things, and the things you see will change.” My yoga teacher said.
I started thinking about our individual perspectives of what we see around us – none are actually a true reflection of reality either. They are interpretations of reality – everything is an interpretation. Everything is relative – only a reflection of the absolute – never providing a complete understanding of the absolute itself.
Same with all our narratives really. We can tell the same story, with the same facts, in completely different lights. It’s our choice what light or angle we are going to put on it.
Just compare the documentary Zeitgeist to what I’m learning about Political Economics. Both are talking about the same thing – what Zeitgeist describes as a shocking system of social slavery Capitalism promotes as “good economics” and an “efficient distribution of resources.” Both are describing the same facts: a system of value-less paper we call money and a few people at the top owning the world, pulling the strings while the people at the bottom work to pay off mortgages. Two versions of the same facts. Like my thin and fat reflections, both were reflecting me but neither entirely accurate. Things aren’t always what they seem.
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What is Beauty?
“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”
In Japan, people would look at me and gasp “Kirre!” “SagoiI!” “Chiisai!” (translation: “Beautiful! Wow! Small!”) as they motioned a small circle with their hands and touched the skin on their face. This was followed by broken English “Small head.” “Beeeeaaauuutiful.” The Japanese love small heads and are obsessed with pale skin – the mirror opposite of Hollywood’s chocolate lollypops with big heads and tanned bodies. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.
What makes a person ‘beautiful’?
Is it their body shape: Thin? Curvy? Toned? Tall?
Their facial structure: Symmetrical? Angular jaw? High cheekbones?
Their eyes? Their smile? Their skin color and complexion?
Hair-style? Fashion sense? Grooming?
Or is it their personality? Their confidence? Sex appeal?
When you think about it, it’s really a combination of all of the above, and much more. And it changes – all the time!
I find it interesting to think about how our ideals of beauty and where they came from. Greeks and Romans praised and sculptured tall, muscular, long-legged men with a full head of thick hair, and a high wide forehead (a sign of intelligence), wide-set eyes, a strong brow, a perfect shaped nose, good profile, a smaller mouth, and a strong jaw line. The definition of a beautiful man doesn’t seem to have changed much.
Feminine beauty on the other hand seems to constantly change. From premodern times where large was beautiful (a sign of wealth), to the sylph-like early Victorian woman and later the Victorian hourglass, to the table tennis 20th century bouncing from voluptuous Marilyn Monroes to ‘boyish’ Twiggys, Glamazons to Kate Mosses, to the Hollywood over-toned bodies to alien-eyed stick-figure fashion models, and now it seems to depend on the mood of magazine editors when they decide the week’s headlines.
“It’s not what’s on the outside, but what’s the inside that counts.”
I do believe this. However I also think there is an intrinsic connection between what is seen on the outside and what is on the inside. I’m not saying just cause someone is beautiful on the outside means they are beautiful on the inside, however I do think that the connection between our outer appearance and our inner self is inseparable and important. We are happy when we look good and when we look good we feel happy – and a happy person is a desirable lover and a desirable friend.
When we are happy, a light shines from our eyes, our skin glows, we smile naturally, we stand taller, walk with confidence and radiate a positive energy. When we’re not happy, our eyes look downward, our face tenses up, and we slouch, and our mind is distracted and anywhere but the present. It is amazing how much your posture and facial expression reflect your state of happiness, and it’s even more amazing what a difference posture and facial expression make to your appearance. Next time you look at models in a photo or on the catwalk, look at the posture and the eyes. These two things models learn to control, and it is these that are the key to a good walk and a good photo.
Apparently there is a new form of discrimination called “lookism” – the better looking you are, the easier it is to get a job, get a raise, etc. It’s probably true – we are judged on our looks right from job interviews or sometimes even job applications (in Japan you send your photo with your resume). I read somewhere that more attractive criminals even get let off with lighter sentences than less attractive ones – it wouldn’t surprise me – no one, not even a judge, can resist a pretty face.
I truly believe everyone is beautiful, and actually I think anyone could be a model if they wanted to. Heck, if I could do it, anyone can… You may not think you are beautiful, but let me tell you something – you are. That’s my little bit of encouragement for those that have the self esteem I once had. I realize now that it’s up to each of us to find our inner and outer beauty – then to bring it out and let it shine.
I think the key to beauty is to feel good. If you don’t feel good, then figure out what will make you feel good, and do it. Take time to figure out who you are and who you want to be. Look at your appearance – does it reflect who you are? Is the person in the mirror who you want to be? If not, then it’s time to change. The major deterrent to becoming beautiful is the poor self-images we have of ourselves.
Grooming, lifestyle, food habits, sleeping habits, fashion, hair, and makeup – are all an indirect reflection of how someone feels inside. People that love themselves love their bodies and look after them: from eating right to exercising, to the little details of hair, nails and skin care. Sure, some things we are born with and can’t change, like our height and cheekbones – although even these things we can improve on with posture improvement and some facial exercises (a model once assured me chewing gum builds up facial muscles in the right places!)
Ok, that’s enough of my rant on beauty. I have so many pieces of writing laying about on my computer that I’m trying to pick one and edit it and post it… this website is a good way to reflect, and get my files organized. And if it is interesting to other people to read, then it’s a bonus. J
Photo: self-portrait
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Creativism – a philosophy for life
Creativism… the beginnings of a new philosophy, with positive implications on social, political and economic theories.
Ok – with that amazing very creative photograph that won “Portrait of the Year 2009” by Sydney photographer Pippin Schembri – I now divert your attention to something close to my heart – for now I’m calling it “Creativism”, but it seems that “Potentialism” also fills the bill. (Click here to see Potentialist version of below)
I think you’ll find there’s nothing really new about what you’re about to read … we are all so connected that I have this feeling when you finish reading this, you’ll feel like I’ve just typed out a transcript of your own mind. I may be wrong – all of the following may make no sense to anyone other than myself… Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and please post your thoughts!
Just to clarify – this is NOT to be confused with “Creationism” which refers to a belief in a 6-day creation 6000 years ago. NO. Creativism is about CREATIVITY and the role WE play in the ONGOING CREATION PROCESS of our universe. These ideas are a work-in-progress (that I wrote one year ago and haven’t touched since) hence I thought I’d put out there. Everything in life always seems to be a work-in-progress, so carpe diem…
Creativism: a philosophy for life
Discovering your ultimate creative potential: you as your individual conscious, you as your society and you as the universe – playing your role in the creation of a future reality you desire.
What is a Creativist?
A Creativist is someone who sees Creativity as the expression of the Divine Creator present in all life and the universe. Creativity is humanity’s source of greatest pleasure, satisfaction, and act of generosity. Creativity expresses your individual consciousness and shares it with others, simultaneously expressing the collective conscious and providing avenues for your individual conscious to learn.
Expressions of Creativity:
Creativity is not only for those left-brainers; creativity is for everyone. Analyse the sources of pleasure in your life, you will probably find they involve some form of creation that you contribute to. For example:
- art of any kind: photography, draw, write,
- in numbers, in science, in business: look for creative solutions to problems
- food and wine: play with life’s little pleasures
- breathe: take pleasure in every breath, it feeds your cells and contributes to the production of new ones
- look for improvement: in every aspect of your life, each little bit of creative expression adds value
- in interior and exterior of your house, fashion, self expression
- make babies: the most amazing creation a human can make
Syncretic paradigms:
1. The purpose of life is to discover and fulfil your creative potential in a way that brings the most benefit to others.
- This is the purpose of all life
- This is “living God’s will”
- This is expressing Who You Truly Are and Who You Want To Be
- This is discovering your inner being, your intuition, and listening to it
- As Shakespeare said, “Above all things, to thyself be true”
2. We are defined not only by our separate identity, but are in fact a collective identity of humanity, of living organisms and of the universe.
- In the same way that our body is not separate from the living micro atoms that make it up
- In the same way that science describes all matter, us included, as made of the same substance: atoms, which at quantum levels flash in and out of physical existence
- In the same way the Buddhists imagine God to be everything
- In the same way Christians describe God, as three forms: the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, yet one God; simultaneously omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent ie all-knowing, all-powerful and present everywhere.
- These ideas do not contradict – they complement. They are each other’s missing link – the way such abstract concepts maybe by physically actualised.
3. Peace is a state of harmony, when the body, mind and spirit are united
Key principles:
4. Listen to “God”
- Thoughts – ideas, images, and words that come into your mind
- Intuition – the deep feeling inside that says ‘yes’ or ‘no’
- Omens/signs – notice the things in the world around you that you are conscious of at each particular point in time
- Words of other people – be it in conversation, a religious, fiction or nonfiction text, or a song on the radio, everything that enters your world is God communicating with you
5. Minimize fear and maximize love
- Fear leads to insecurity, hate, and greed
- Love leads to security, generosity, and kindness
6. Commit to the process not the result –
- Creative potential is infinite and there is no end. An end means a beginning, and the circle of life continues.
- Living in the present – it’s a present, a gift from God, pre-sent to you as an accumulation of all your life experiences and thoughts.
7. Realise that all problems can be solved with:
- Will – desire to solve the problem
- Honesty – about everything
- Empathy – understanding where the other is coming from
- Creativity – finding solutions
Transform and transcend:
8. Equal care for self and others
- When we understand the inseparable connectedness between ourselves and others, we realise our happiness depends on the happiness of everyone else.
- Hence our goal: to maximise our collaborative creative potential – expressing our own creativity, and encouraging others to express theirs
9. Consequences of this paradigm:
- Selfishness transforms into selflessness – I want the best for me, and since you are me, I want the best for you.
- Greed becomes generosity – I want everyone else to have as much as they can, because everyone else is me.
- Jealousy and envy becomes pride and happiness for one another – others achievements are achievements of other expressions of myself
- The concept of hate disappears – we cannot hate what is you
- Self confidence increases, as we feel other’s trying to bring us up, not put us down
- We truly put into action Jesus teaching to “do unto others as you’d have them do to yourself” (check wording + add equivilant teaching from other religions)
10. Self-reflection and self-transcendence
- Breaking down defensiveness, building up confidence to critically evaluate one’s self and acknowledge our wrongs or harms we have done to others – allow us to repent and allow them to forgive
- Rid yourself of your own grievances and any desire for vengeance for injuries inflicted by others – through empathy with the Other, we learn to forgive and move on
11. Create your own happiness
- Make the decision to be happy – it is the biggest decision you will ever make in your life.
- Begin with gratefulness, for what you have, even if it is little
- Study the past, analyse different perspectives, take lessons from it and use it to expand your creative potential
- Don’t cultivate feelings of regrets, everything has happened for a reason, figure out what that reason is, and how the past can help you in your quest for creative potential.
- Bad decisions do not exist, that is judgement you make yet instead you can realise that this results may have led you to challenging times, from which you can now learn. These consequences were a small sacrifice, part of the process of discovering your creative potential.
- Do not cultivate feelings of guilt. Guilt is of no benefit for you nor for those around you. Forgive yourself and let it go. Learn from the past, but keep your mind in the present, and an eye on the future
12. Cultivating wisdom
- Facts are never static, but are the closest statement of the truth, at a particular point in time. If the data changes, facts also change. We must remain open to new data, ready to evaluate it in order to constantly progress towards a more truthful truth.
- Taoists belief “what is impossible today may become possible tomorrow, and what is good today may become evil tomorrow; what seems right from one point of view may from another view seem completely wrong.”
13. The pleasure of extremes, and joys of balance
- Life and death, hot and cold, love and hate, good and bad – you can’t have one without the other. This is the dualistic nature of life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d prefer a passionate love, even if it sometimes slips over to hate, than a mediocre love all the time. The extremes are much more fun. Ups and downs are what make life interesting. It’s the challenges that bring the most satisfaction.
- Happiness when pushed to the extreme becomes sickly and dull. Beauty overdone becomes ugly. Even too much chocolate makes feel sick…
14. Rid your life of fear
- In the same way that millions of skin cells die every day, and yet our human body continues to live
- Our consciousness is already connected, and will continue to be connected even when the separateness of our present memory no longer functions, our consciousness will continue to live on through others – that are ourselves
15. Cultivate faith
- Faith is about cultivating a state in your heart and mind whereby you give yourself to God* – not about conforming to a set of “beliefs”
- Don’t worry, don’t struggle, allow the will of God/ the Universe to be done
- Is not about belief in hocus pocus or confession to any kind of autocratic dogma – faith is about a state of heart and mind
- Even things that seem to have no reason whatsoever, in time, you will see how it expanded your, or another’s, creative potential
16. Get in-touch with your creative side
- We ALL have one, you just have to give it a go
- Try everything, don’t be afraid of anything
- Know that time and effort are what give results; if you are prepared to invest yourself in something, you can do whatever you want to do.
In order to maximise happiness in life:
17. Right investment
(a) Of your time
- Spend it with people who motivate and encourage
- In an occupation that allows you to learn and express your creativity
- Feelings of daily happiness are essential to stimulate your creative potential
- Expanding other’s creative potential, and the creative potential of other forms of life, including the planet
- In ways that will provide maximum benefit to the most people
- Spend some time in silence, connecting to your conscious and giving it room to create; meditation, walking, driving, prayer
(b) Of your money
- Money is in fact, a cumulation of time and effort, that you have expended, and can henceforth use in exchange for others’ time and effort
- In your purchases, buying what is good for yourself and good for others
- In your financial investments, in businesses that are helping life move toward it’s creative potential
18. Not no conflict but no violence
- No circumstance ever substantiates violence
- The ideology of Creativism must never be fought for – this is against the nature of creative potential. Fighting for an ideology destroys creativity, which may be trying to morph into new forms, in which case, this is it’s achievement of creative potential.
- Fighting against nature is fighting against the will of God, that is, fighting against the deepest drive of each of us,
- Creativism seeks organic expansion through love, it is never forced or forged, but is the result of a synergy between selfish and selfless – working together for the good of all-life itself, all which is God.
19. The power of the mind
- The universe operates through spontaneous creativity, and through patterned phenomena – your role may be to contribute to either
- Thoughts are powerful in ways we don’t yet understand. We do know they are measurable on wavelengths, like radio waves, but have not tapped in to harness them yet. Experiments have shown the incredible impact of positive thoughts on plants, water molecules, and even the nature of atoms.
- Harness this power. Dream, make goals, pray, meditate, make them reality.
20. The power for world peace lies with you
- Each of us have, together, the power to change the world
- All it takes is a vision: what do we want the world to look like?
- And then in each of us the will to reconnect with our life’s purpose and play out our roles in this transformation.
- It begins with finding the peace within ourselves.
- Anything is possible!
A brief note about the word “Creativism”:
I’m not sure how this term first came into my head but when I googled it I discovered it was a term being used by a few people to describe a similar concept of what I wanted to use it to describe. There is even a definition in the Urban Dictionary: Creativism = ‘The theory or practice of creation as a way to live and understand life’ and a Creativist = ‘someone who is attuned creatively to their surroundings; a person who understands and expresses their life through creative works or motifs.’
Anyway if you have got through this essay then I have to say I’m extremely impressed. Six pages of babbling… anyway I would really really really love to know what you think. So please make a comment or send me an email.
Thank you!!!
Juliet xxx