Dust Off Creativity

The youth in this film understand how to harness and listen to their creative voices. http://youtu.be/GKhu-LUg4E0

The Unspoken Word Film (HD) The Unspoken Word shines light on Atlanta Word Works in this short film to show the true meaning and nature of youth poetry. From "Slam", open mic, and spoke...

I am working through this post, still trying to revise and understand better, but here goes.

I read a chapter from Blake Mycoskie's book Start Something That Matters today with my students. Blake is the founder of TOMS shoes. We read a selection about fear and as we were discussing it, we came to realize that we fear being our best selves because it is unknown. I am very familiar with who I am now, as I've chosen to be who and how I am. It's my normal. While I don't like all of who I am, maybe I am comfortable.

I am more attuned to the tough parts of myself. I am more familiar with my anger than my patience. Conflict over calm. Ego and selfishness over humility and selflessness. I know how low I can go, but have yet to see how high I can fly. So the low is familiar and more normal than the me I want to be.

Who I want to be is a person I've never seen, so it is unfamiliar and scary. I fear the unknown and prefer the known. Me now is known. Me at my best is unknown.

What I have to do is slowly familiarize myself with me at my best and make it my new normal. Again, a work in progress, but I had to start spelling it out for myself.

More at dustoffsessions.blogspot.com

It's difficult, maybe impossible, to be creative when you are told what to think or how to respond.

When our favorite sitcom doesn't trust us to know what to find funny and laugh tracks are added to cue us, how can we be expected to understand the subtle and intricate humor the shows writers worked so hard for us to get?

Creativity is personal, risky and associative. Trust your audience to think for themselves and create new associations. Trust yourself to risk being the only one laughing in the room. Or not laughing when they tell you to.

“When we realize that our mind is a creative platform—a vast network of networks—we experience a revolutionary and profound transformation. New possibilities emerge. The process of realization and transformation is the essence of life. It means that everything in this world has an inherent purpose—and that is to find its optimal form. This is why we are constantly trying to improve ourselves, why we venture out into the unknown, why we have children, and why we want to be the best in the world at what we do.

The more creative we become, the more resourceful we will be. We can transform ourselves and everyone around us. These connections, and this archetype of innovation, uncovers the building blocks of life itself, revealing our origins. Innovation is intrinsic to essence, and essence is intrinsic to the act of creation.”
-Nicos Acuna

Dust Off Sessions was created to help us find our creativity, use it and connect with those that can help us strengthen it. Get out that old sketch book, poem, notebook, novel, paintbrush, whittling knife, instrument or whatever else is truly you. Dust it off and remember what it means to you.