The Wild Garden of our Childhood

Take a moment before reading on and draw a picture of a person you love as best you can in 60 seconds. Then continue reading this blog.

 

“Everything is ceremony in the wild garden of childhood.”

–      Pablo Neruda

We get comfortable in our mediocrity when we grow old. We lose that wide-eyed wonder that molded us. We internalize life. We grow older and learn how to be afraid. We replace our wonder and curiosity with a need to imitate and emulate. A child, on the other hand, lives in life. Children are an open nerve, feeling life. The way they perceive the world is powerful and deep.  But they're rarely taught how rewarding it would be to keep that sense of wonder because adults encourage them to leave it behind as they did. Our want for clear, tangible results took precedence over the more critical process required to get better results, and we became content with choosing from the diversity of ideas from those around us. We lost our patience for discovery. We neglected the child within that is patiently waiting for us to empower let it guide us. There is power in that simplicity. We mistake childish perception as naïve or simplistic. On the contrary, there is a deep purity to childish perception. We must begin to identify that perception as qualified creative courage.

Have you ever looked at how a child draws a person? Many drawings I’ve seen were rudimentary, consisting of a circle with two dots for eyes, a big smile for a mouth, and arms and legs coming off the circle.  They look a bit like this:

Many might find this drawing charming or cute, but I’m more curious of our opinion of the process. Consider how we tend to judge artwork and apply that consideration to this drawing. We may believe that this drawing is not a good representation of what a person looks like, and we might conclude that its lack of sophistication is due to the fact that a child drew it. But if you consider that the child's intent was not to impress your notions of what a person should look like, you may begin to see this drawing differently.

Take a moment to consider what a child sees when interacting with people. They look into eyes, which are on the face. They speak from a mouth and hear from ears that are also on the face. Everything they know and see of people is on the face. Arms are there to bring food to the face and legs are there to get the face from place to place. Satisfying the needs of others does not motivate them. They are depicting their perception of what is important in the illustration of a person. The torso does not define a person; what does are the moments of engagement and tools used in those engagements. This is what is missing from our perception, as we grow older. We begin to have a need to impress others with the result of our search to communicate ideas in an accepted format, but that limits us. We edit ourselves out of reaching our creative need to find the wonderful. The richness of things we feel we can’t express in an exceptional way. How many of us have had something wonderful to share and not had the words to express them. Is it a lack of words or a preserved notion that others may not understand our idea? 

Now compare your drawing with this one. Did you express your love for the person you drew freely? Or were you focusing on creating a factual illustration of that person? There is no right or wrong way to illustrate. My goal is to make you see your creative process in action. If you see ways to expand your perception from this illustration and feel you may have stifled yourself, give it another shot. Open yourself up fully in the illustration and express what you feel. Nobody will see the drawing but you. Try your best to deprogram your fears for a moment.

We need to strive to see the world through younger eyes. We need to live with the fearless sense of expression of a child. Stripping away the binding fear of judgment will clear the path to innovative ways of seeing our creative potential.

ZEITGEIST

I remember playing in the dirt as a child and suddenly having a deep moment of clarity. Something triggered it — maybe the warmth of the sun on the back of my neck as it peaked behind a cloud — and it woke me up. I suddenly could hear the silence. I took pause for a moment and began to take inventory of the time. To this day I can remember that feeling. I can see and smell the moist black earth on my hands, hear the birds in the trees, and feel the slight sting on my scratched up knees in the damp grass. I took notice of the fact that I was young and loved by my parents and little sister. I allowed myself to be curious of my future and wondered if I would still want to dig in the dirt when I grew up. I was alone but not lonely. I was in tune in some strange way with my awareness.

You can do this right now, no matter where you are. Take a moment now to put this book down and make yourself aware of what is happening around you. Use all you senses to capture this moment and encapsulate it in your memory. Stop reading, put the book down and take in the moment. Make a mental note of what is happening, right now. Consider what you are hearing, smelling or feeling on your skin. Take it all in and let that take you to the next level of perception. Follow you intuition. It doesn’t need to be a revelation. The act itself becomes a simple revelation that will prove to be valuable at some point in your life. So, again, take a moment now and... 

Be still.

We tend to ignore intimacy with our own lives. There is real value in just paying attention. The act of pausing our distractions and considering the moments creates opportunities to see things that you may have missed that can lead you into new discoveries. We often ignore moments that are filled with learning opportunities, but when you pause, you cast a net into your life that has the potential of capturing a new idea or realization; you create a chance to learn something. Teaching and learning doesn’t only happen in a classroom or even between people. Sometimes, just being aware is enough. We miss countless learning opportunities in our everyday lives from just not paying attention.

Here is an uncomfortable question for some. How many times have you taken the time to revel in your own genius? Very often when we have just used a lifetime of deductive reasoning to solve a major problem we don’t give ourselves the credit we deserve. We forget to give ourselves credit for those times we perform at our best when reasoning and problem solving. Think back on a time when you evaluated your options and came up with a solution that surprised you and those around you. At that moment, you had an opportunity to learn something through an active awareness of your action. If you begin to realize that your process of discovery and development isn’t an accident and that you can actively participate in its development by just acknowledging it’s existence, you might begin to come up with these surprising solutions more often and more quickly.

We overlook the fact that we are always our own best teacher. We only learn what we want to learn at any given time. Knowledge is a suggestion. We decide its value. Living within our moments is very important and it’s easy to take our own greatness for granted. It’s natural to be humble, but the truth is we are all amazing. Even the simplest example of deductive reasoning has the potential of growing into a breakthrough that can change your life.

One way to create a moment is to strike up a conversation with a stranger. If I’m waiting in line or sitting in a place within talking distance, I’ll try to find a reason to interact with another person. When was the last time someone you didn’t know showed true interest in you and your ideas without an agenda? People tend to dig deep when this happens. It’s a gift of chance for them, and if you’re lucky, many times this gift leads to a fascinating discussion filled with life lessons and interesting revelations. In a world filled with narcissistic distractions, it’s sometimes difficult to make time for other perceptions influence and inspired by a life foreign to your own. Every question you have acts as bait for potentially powerful data that could be used to decode a life mystery.

Gathering qualified data is important to the quality of our creative resolutions. We create opportunities to be inspired when we pay attention to our own actions. The feeling of inspiration we get is not given to us. We make a choice. We decide what is inspiring. Learning to inspire yourself can become addicting. You begin to seek out possibilities and exploring new ideas that at one time may have discouraged you. Anything you can do to stimulate your natural need of inspiration is valuable. Take every opportunity that comes your way, but more importantly, create those opportunities and always remember to experience yourself in that moment.

It may not seem like it at times, but all of us have managed to figure out how to use the most complicated technology in the known universe. The human mind is the only tool we have that truly matters. It controls our perception, memory, abstract thought, complex behavior, and consciousness. We still don’t understand it. But understanding it isn’t as important as learning how to use it, just as you don’t need to know everything about how a violin works to master it.

According to neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Our mindis capable of amazing things…

“On average, each of the 100 billion neurons in your head has about 1000 connections with other neurons, creating a huge network of about 100 trillion synapses. Like a computer network built from one hundred trillion transistors, each representing a “bit” of information depending on whether it is “on” or “off.”

Adding up all possible combinations of 100 billion neurons firing or not, the number of potential states of that neuronal network is approximately 10 to the millionth power: one followed by a million zeros.”

Think of that the next time you allow these “bits” to manifest themselves into the notion that you can’t do something. Ignore it and get back to work. I’m pretty sure your brain can handle it.

The complexity of our intellectual capacity is evident when we dream. While asleep, we experience a story that we perceive as real. It’s as though we are watching a movie played out before us and we are part of that story. We are the actors, directors, set designers, producers, etc. We play every part, yet at the same time, we are the audience, experiencing every moment as if it’s the first time we have ever seen it. We are startled by the sudden turn of events in the very nightmare we authored. How is this possible? How are we capable of creating ideas that inspire us to consider other ideas? We have a dualism in our creative perception that allows us to reach ideas beyond our expectations, yet we treat our creativity as a novelty. It is true that we are influenced and react to idea presented to us, but are we influenced by or reacting to only a selected few of them? Are we auditing potential? If so, why? And are those reasons valid?

During a lifetime, we gather data and discover our own perceptions. When we become aware of our perceptions, it's almost as if we're learning about them from another source. We are, in essence, leading ourselves into other discoveries and opportunities. Our conscious mind has an amazing capacity to realize possibility but we tend to only scratch the surface. We are capable, through sheer will, to create and discover many potential outcomes simultaneously.

The world is your backyard. Take time to realize those moments when you dig into your own intellectual dirt.

A relationSHIP with LIFE

Some days I get hooked on an idea that I can’t shake. I like to dive into metaphoric concepts and see where they take me sometimes. It’s a big part of my creative process.

I began to think of the sea. I think that the ocean is a pretty commonly used metaphor for life. It’s vast and deep, full of danger and beauty; stormy at times, and calm at times.  The ocean looks beautiful from a far but can be terrifying when you find yourself treading water in it all alone. The symbolism is endless. So I began to consider as many correlations between life and the ocean as possible.

I began to go further now and consider how we as people fit into this metaphor. What relationship do we have with the ocean? How do we navigate through it?

Man learned how to build a boat. Boats shelter us from the dangers of the ocean. Boats can be steered and controlled. We are safe in our boat. We fill the boat with everything we need to be comfortable. We can control its course within a system that is uncontrollable. Our boat is our most trusted friend.

Or is it?

I began to feel something different and unexpected in regard to the boat concept, but Instead of ignoring this subconscious glitch in my logical progression into the metaphor. I chose to consider it even further. The boat began to feel stifling. Smothering in a way, keeping us from the ocean we cant escape. It shelters us from the dangers in the ocean but also keeps us from its beauty. I began to see the boat we sit in as a representation of our fears and pain. We sit in it and make our way through life. We are confortable with it because it is familiar. It represents our limitations. We keep it as strong as possible to protect us through the hard storms and unknown dangers within our lives. If life gets too big or too rough, and begins to overtake our boat we begin to panic and try to find way to keep the boat from sinking. We are afraid to tread water. We don’t know if we have the stamina to cope with it. It would require a willingness to move with the flow of the ocean. We are exposed to all of the oceans secrets and must be ready and strong enough to stay afloat.

I believe I have a boat. I’d like to think that I leave it behind at times and explore a bit. I will make more of an effort to become a stronger swimmer regardless.

The Wicked Tusk of the Narwhal

“You question me about the wicked tusk of the narwhal, and I reply by describing to you how the sea unicorn with the harpoon in it dies.”
 – Pablo Neruda from the poem the Enigmas

In the poem Neruda speaks of the narwhal, that is an odd looking whale with a tusk that protrudes from its mouth. An animal feared and once thought to be a monster. The creature is used to illustrate how we make snap judgment. The answer is relative to the asker. People live within their own values and morals. We are all slaves to our own experiences. A person who lives a peaceful life is affected by cruelty differently than a person who had never known a life without cruelty. It’s natural to see how difficult it is making judgments on choices or what is right and wrong when the fact that all of us are so tightly wound in our experiences and fears that it makes highly improbable that any of us will ever see things the same. Understanding people instead of vilifying them for believing differently is instrumental in the evolution of humanity and the key to the development of our own understanding of our creative capacity.

Creative Courage Workshop at American Institute of Architects Las Vegas Chapter Design Conferance.

These are photos of a workshop I did on Friday September 20,2013. I had 3 hours so I was able to include a creative exercise. I gave 6 different groups 6 different props and had them come up with Names, What they do, and had them write a commercial spot for them. The result was very fun. You can see the video of one of them here:



A little taste of my workshop. Audience participation.

Nuance

Nuance surprises us. We often don’t seek it out. It just sneaks up on us. It is the unexpected insertion of life into the adequate expression of a thing. We don’t consciously miss it, but definitely know when it happens.

You see this very clearly in music. An amateur cellist for example can take a sheet of music and play every note perfectly. Not one error. Not one missed beat. Yet the same sheet of music in the hands of a seasoned cellist result in something very different. The same notes are also played in the same order and tempo yet there is a life within the melody you don’t get from the amateur. There is fullness to the execution that only comes from complete faith in intuition and skill. This is also true in our creativity. The creative process is a skill to be mastered. We begin to focus less on the acquisition of ideas and innovations and begin to act instinctively and trust our judgment. Trust it so deeply in fact that we are able to just live in the process. In the same way be become familiar with a musical instrument.  Our understanding and implementation of it at its fullest capacity becomes a common practice. We then begin to act instinctively and become less focused on our technique and more focused on the experience of expression. We live it rather than execute it. It becomes equivalent to our expression rather than what we do to express ourselves. It is the moment when you become creatively free.

The Rain

Fall Upward

We take in our days with the familiarity of comfort. We believe in our predictions. We depend on the consistency of our survival while forsaking exposure to a deeper consideration. We tell ourselves that there is little hope in chance even while we take it. But all of us have wandered. All of us have walked into the dark places with wide eyes and have been elevated by the discovery. Those moments are not chance exploration. Those moments define our "why". They are the essence of what makes you believe in your truth. They are manifestations of our creativity and courage. A new belief holds power. A power that like a fire spreads and grows but builds rather than destroys. It inspires and delivers opportunity. We do this and call it luck. We explore and see new things and don't take credit for noticing. Learning and teaching take equal shares of courage. Accepting a new idea at times feels like standing on the edge of a rocky cliff and letting yourself fall forward. But it's important to realize that there is no gravity in the creative process. You are in control. Allow yourself to fall upward. Learning and teaching, listening and sharing is the most important thing we can do for each other.

Nobody Cares about You

Sorry if that seems harsh, but the truth is in the way that statement makes you feel. If you agree, then I am likely right. If you are offended by that statement, you likely don't believe it's true and you've already begun to file through all the reasons why'.

"I have value!"
"I make a difference!"
"I change lives!"

Great! That is the perfect state of mind to be in to get some real work done. If you really believe those things are true, you must ask yourself if others also think that way about you or your brand. Do people seek you out? Do they value associating with you? If not, is it their fault, or yours?

When people ask "What do you do?", are they looking for a list of tasks? Or, are they actually asking "What can you fix?", or "Can you enlighten me on solutions I didn't even realize I need?" If they had the answer to those questions then they wouldn't be talking to you, right? So, it's not about you, it's about the results you can achieve.

But to find out how to answer those questions, you first need to figure out what it is you do, how you do it and why you do it. Be truthful to yourself at this point, as it will lead you on the right path. It will open your eyes to the value and impact of what you do. This makes answering the big questions easier, because you become more qualified to understand what motivates and drives you. Solutions manifest themselves more quickly as a result, and you can answer the "What can you fix?" questions with confidence.

When people ask you, "What do you do?", you should describe the impact of what you do first. Then the tactics on how you get those results, so they can clearly see how what you do impacts what they need.