Friday Reflection: Guest Artist Ann Bell

Very recently, someone named Ann Bell left a comment for me here on one of my posts, and, as I always do with new names, I went to 'visit'.  What I discovered, just from reading a few posts on her blog, was a kindred spirit but also a woman who feels like she is a mentor, ahead of me, leading me, pushing branches out of my way, laughing and saying, 'Come on!  Come on!  You can do it!' 

One of my cherished goals for this blog is to have guest posts on the subject of creativity.  Ms. Bell's blog lit a fire under my nervous heinie and I asked if she would consider just such a post.  AND SHE SAID YES!!!   She asked if she could direct attention to the very post I most responded to, if that could be the subject of her guest post, and I wholeheartedly accepted!

Without further ado, and with my deepest excitement and appreciation, please welcome:

Ms. Ann Bell

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Encouraging Your Creativity is Easy!
January 8th, 2010


Each human being is creative. Young or old, rich or poor, educated or not! Each of us has hidden within us the capacity to be creative, whether or not we realize that it is there. Some people think that only artists, musicians and writers are creative. Others are willing to include people who do handwork or crafts.

You are creative, even if you don’t realize it! If you don’t consider yourself creative, it might be that you do not recognize your creativity and give yourself credit for it. Creativity displays itself when you find new ways of doing routine tasks or when you find a way to do something you haven’t done before.

All progress is the result of human creativity. Each technological, scientific and medical breakthrough happened because highly trained professionals creatively applied their knowledge in a new way. Creativity is responsible for every new product, however simple or complex.

I don’t want to oversimplify here. For progress, much more than an idea is necessary. But the idea is the seed from which it all grows. Without the ideas, there could be no progress.

Most people are so busy doing routine tasks that they don’t allow themselves the luxury of quiet time. Stress builds until they become ill. I suggest that taking some quiet time in your day to renew yourself and nourish your creativity might actually save you time in the long run. Two immediate ways this could happen occur to me: you might discover better, quicker and/or more effective ways to do your tasks and you might save the downtime caused by illness through preventing the illness.

Creativity flourishes when the mind is able to enjoy unstructured time—or play time.

If you would like to be more creative, the first step is simply deciding that you want to become more creative. Your intention becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when you simply take the second step of allowing a small amount of “unbusy” time into your life. Your intention alerts your creative right brain that you want to be creative. So, as you make space in your time, your right brain notices whenever an idea crosses your conscious, and it alerts you to the idea.

Unfortunately, if you continue your super-busy schedule and don’t provide some quiet time for your brain, nothing will happen.

Creativity flourishes when the mind is able to enjoy unstructured time—or play time. I suggest these 3 easy ways for you to open the doors to your creativity.

Sit quietly for a few minutes and breathe deeply. If you can play relaxing instrumental music or arrange silence, you will get the best results. Voices distract from the relaxing ambience. Quiet is the key word.

Take a walk. The act of walking combined with observation of nature seems to attract ideas and promote the peaceful state necessary for those ideas to show themselves.

Take a leisurely shower. The rhythm of the falling water seems to lure ideas to the surface.

Pick one of these suggestions and follow it. When you are finished, write down the ideas that come to you in the next hour. Then make your own list of things you “don’t have time for” that might actually save you more time than they take with the ideas they generate.

For more creativity tips, consider.

Ann Bell
Houston Mixed Media Artist & Teacher

http://www.annbell.net/

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Would you like to be a guest artist here at Who Said Mermaids Can't Tango?  TALK TO ME!!   I'm interested in any topic whatsoever, so long as it's grounded in/related to the subject of creativity. 
antoniafufu@yahoo.com