Colour for every creative is so important. Whether you be a fashion designer, artist, writer, poet, sculptor or any other creative dreamer, colour plays a tremendous part.
A neuroscientist in the US, Beville Conway, has studied the relationship between neuroscience and colours. Imagine studying colour for a living!
His studies have value for artists and designers alike as he unpacks the neural properties of emotion. The article can be read here.
Maybe your dream will include science and art?
I have seen Frozen a number of times. It is one of the most progressive Disney productions I have ever seen.
Elsa has the most incredible creative talent; that can also be her curse. She can turn things to snow and ice. In the movie she banishes herself to the mountains so that she won’t hurt anyone. In this isolation she explores her gift and learns to master it.
Creativity is just the same; it can be a double edged sword. But do you want to go through life without knowing what you are capable of?
It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free
Dick Bolles has just written an article on how to find your dream job/career in 2 minutes!
He says ask yourself these 10 questions and you will know what makes you come alive!
What career or job have you dreamt up by answering these questions?
Share your responses!
Fantasisers: Dream-builders:
Rely on luck Rely on discipline
Focus on the destination Focus on the journey
Cultivate unhealthy expectations Cultivate healthy discontent
Minimise the value of work Maximise the work they do
Look for excuses Lead to action
Create inertia Generate momentum
Breed isolation Promote teamwork
Wait Initiate
Avoid personal risks Embrace risk as necessary
Make others responsible Make themselves responsible
I caught up with a friend this week that I hadn’t seen for a number of years. We had one of those gorgeous friendships where we would just sit and talk; in the garden, in the car, in the house, anywhere, anytime. After arriving home at the wee hours of the morning, it was reassuring to realise that we still do!
One of the things my friend said to me, as I was catching up on weddings, babies, house buying and general life events, was that she wasn’t happy where she was but didn’t know what to do about it.
I got excited as I began to tell her about this blog and the reading and writing that I have been doing. I do hope that she gets a lot of enjoyment and useful tips from here.
What stood out to me though was the immense challenge it was for her to stop and say the path she is taking is not the one for her. I guess I have taken for granted how easy it is for me to change my journey. Over the years I have made many changes and taken on various challenges to get where I am today. But for my friend she saw it as failure, or even worse, invested time and effort that is now wasted as she begins again.
It reminded me of an episode of Once Upon A Time. Regina, Emma and Snow are tied up to a tree with ropes that tighten their hold as each of them regrets something they have done.
Regina breaks free from the tree because she has no regrets! She is the Evil Queen, she has done many evil things. But she loves her son, Henry and she recognises that everything she has done in her past has brought her to the point she is at now with her son.
I think that is how I feel with my journey. I have had many ups and downs and taken many winding roads to get where I am. But if it wasn’t for all of those decisions I wouldn’t be who I am today. I wouldn’t be equipped with the skills and experiences for this, my new dream and adventure.
What experiences have you had that you can tap into and use the skills and experience from to realise your dream?
If you are old school, like me, and love to physically write and sketch, then you will love this new idea from Mod Notebooks.
It’s a beautifully crafted notebook that can then be scanned and synced to the cloud or stored in Dropbox, Evernote or OneNote.
It comes in plain, lined or dotgrid paper. As an Instructional Designer, I personally love dotgrid for my sketches.
At only $25 it is comparable with Moleskine.
A sneak peak at my new online folio…
Use your creativity to start a revolution!
15 ways to start a revolution:
1. Take ownership of yourself – see your life as something you have the opportunity and responsibility to create.
2. Become an independent and freethinker – question and deconstruct the prevailing views, mentalities, and ideologies that shape and govern our lives
3. Address the root cause of your own personal suffering, captivity, disharmony, and dissatisfaction – this allows you to truly be the change you wish to see in the world.
4. Stop dividing the world up into “us” and “them” or any label – see only one human family and every person as your sister or brother, mother or father, or son or daughter.
5. Approach humankind with compassion, realizing that every person is a manifestation of their conditioning until they become conscious of it.
6. Don’t settle for being against something – be an expression of what you are for.
7. Educate…
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I want to be an astronaut.
I want to be ballerina.
I want to be an actor.
Every child has big dreams. But are they achievable?
Does that mean we shouldn’t dream?
John Maxwell states ‘ dreams by definition, are not supposed to start with reality. They are supposed to be fantastic, incredible, and out of the box. After all, they are birthed from hopes, desires and possibilities’.
We are told from a young age that we can become whatever we want, the sky is the limit and the higher you aim the higher you will achieve.
These thoughts are damaging. Guess what? We don’t have unlimited potential, resources and opportunities. There are some things that are just not possible.
I remember as a child wishing I could fly. It was a hard reality to learn that that was never going to happen!
So where does that leave us?
You need to decide if your dream is achievable. Look at where you are and what you need to do to reach your dream. Are the things you need to do in your control?
What are you strengths and weaknesses? Do they align with your dream? There is no point dreaming of being a international concert pianist if you don’t have the flexibility and dexterity to play!
If your dream intersects with what makes you come alive and your strengths, your dream may in fact be possible.
Reality…is the enemy of fantasies but not of dreams. – Rudy Ruettiger
So you are getting excited about your dream, you get that little flutter in your belly, but you can’t begin. You cannot discipline yourself to do anything about it.
What is stopping you?
Is it one of these key dream-stoppers?
1. Lack of Drive
If this is the case, then you are not passionate enough about your dream. Or more importantly, your dream doesn’t excite you, it doesn’t reflect what is important to you or makes you come alive. If this is the case, maybe you need to identify a new dream. Begin by exploring what makes you come alive!
For me, teaching makes me come alive! The look on someone’s face when they finally understand something for me makes me come alive, and the confidence they exude once they understand gives me an enormous buzz!
2. It’s too big
Sometimes if you have big, broad, long term goals, you can be overwhelmed and terrified before you even begin. Baby steps is the way to begin. Children crawl before they walk, and walk before they run. You too, need to give yourself space to grow into your dream.
3. Perfection
Sometimes the fear of getting something wrong, can get in the way of actually beginning the journey towards your dream. There is nothing to recommend for this but to stop testing the water, and jump right in! There is no perfect idea, time or method. In fact, our dreams are shaped and refined as we grow and develop.
4. Fear of letting go
I think this is one of the biggest blockers to pursuing your dream. If you have invested a lot of time, effort and training to get where you are, and you realise you are not passionate about it, it can be incredibly difficult to walk away. It takes courage to realise you are not where you need to be and even more bravery to start again, but it is worth. There is nothing sadder than someone who denies themselves their true passion.
Red Cordial 