Category Archives: Creativity

Nov 29 2012
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Appreciation, Conscientious, Creativity, reflection

The Fight: Thankful Hearts and Minds


Lets be honest about thankfulness–the human heart is trampled constantly by unthankfulness. 

It comes on slowly, like the tide coming in.

Littls bits of it surface, and we see them, and we’re just like, “Oh, I see that over there.  It’s no threat right now…  I can keep on just the way I was, because it’s such a small amount anyhow.  I can easily keep out of its path.”  So we truck on, walking or trudging towards wherever we’re off to.

Woosh.  Wham.  Then it hits hard and steady, surges of it coming on there and here.  It’s easy for me to envision our society as tiny hermitcrabs on the crest of a wave, swiftly being pulled outward into the open, wide mouth of the sea.  Being whisked along willingly by a beckoning wash of discontent–willingly until we feel the tight grasp the tide has upon our hearts and ourselves as a whole.  The icy grip of something that is so far from human, so far from the warmth of relationship–so controlling and crushing.  We don’t like that scary feeling once it has sunk its claws deep into ourselves: When our social media and commercialism claw at our rhythms of life, grasping toward our very purposes.  When we center ourselves around the latest conversation about some idea off in the distance with people who we hardly even know.  When we’re obsessed by the latest thing coming out that we have yet to afford.  It sucks you in.  It sucks me in.

When we realize this metaphoric occurrance has taken place, it’s something we have to dig ourselves out of, if we’re even able to be conscious of it.  It seems to me that most people are unwilling to admit what a hold it’s got on them.  Like they don’t want to be accused of having such an obsession as the lives of others.  But I think it’s there for most people, deep down.  We want to feel known, and we try to replace feeling known by God with feeling known by others.  Whether or not they are “real” and intimate friends–or if they’re just numbers on a facebook account.  I think I have to prune myself with sharp shears of intentionality often if I am to keep myself from going asunder into the ravaged lands of discontent.  It’s really hard.  Our commercial world has this way of creeping into every facet of what we do.  I just undid myself with social media in one aspect by removing myself from facebook a few weeks ago.  Nearly every day I wonder what’s going on in that little chasm which has become so deeply ingrained in most of us these days.  But the longer I stay away, the more I try to presently be in my own life, presently do my tasks with concentration, the easier it is to stay away from it.  I think back to the feelings it gave me of inadequacy, of being incomplete… probably partially because I was stuck between two worlds: the cyber-world of things and people I am not currently around, and the one I’m actually in but sometimes only half-way a part of.  I also felt inadequate because I wanted to really connect with others, not just facebook them to see what’s up in their lives.

This sucks the life out of life.  It simply drains conversations, ideas, thoughts.  We become these passive observers of our lives instead of active participants vibrantly attuned to what we are doing and where we’re at.  We stop being able to discern why we’re doing things or if we’re effective.  In essence, we start living in an alternate universe.

Think I’m being extreme?  Maybe.  But I don’t think I’m far off.  If you look, I don’t think you’ll have to dig too deeply to find something like this near to you.

So what can I do to fight for thankfulness in my own heart, and to fill my thoughts with joyful and thankful ones, thoughts for God’s purposes for my life?  When I’m really struggling, I have to pause and ask God to really grip me.  Take me captive.  Show me who he is.  Because I know I cannot do this alone.  Spending time with my family also reminds me to be thankful.  Reflecting on my life and all of those blessings that I take for granted lately.

I feel like God gives us all opportunities to see the world through another’s eyes.  I try to take those chances, and to actively realize where I should be thankful for what I have.  I’m sure sometimes others see my life and think the same thing.  We can show reflections to one another.

Fighting for my heart and mind to be capable of thankfulness and to embrace and rejoice in what God’s given me also means that I must remove myself from things, people, and places I know will tempt me towards unthankfulness, jealousy, and self-seeking pleasures that are really not helpful.  I try to focus on those things that I know will be edifying, that I know will be eternal, and I know will leave me with a deep contentment. Some of these are simple, like just sitting down in my dining room and having a cup of hot tea, and breathing deeply.  Actively speaking the truth of thankfulness to myself, reminding myself of what God did for our family that day.  Others things are more outwardly serving, like as bringing a meal for a friend or listening to someone when I really feel like telling them I’m too busy right now.

How do you fight for your thankfulness?

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Colossians 3:15-17.

All my love,

-M

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Oct 12 2012
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Appreciation, Creativity, Nature

Fall Refresh


Does this weather make you giddy?  It makes me absolutely inspired.  Some days I can envision myself as a tree or a plant–connected deeply to the earth, the soil beneath my leafy feet, the sun or rain coming down overhead.  My actual body intertwined with the things that are hilly and rocky and vine-covered.  I am a creature of natural leanings, I feel most alive and most well when I am able to be a true participant in God’s creation.  Walking along, touching leaves and rocks as I do, and breathing it all into my soul.  Earth mama would describe me well if I were to have my way most days.  But at the heart of it, I think we all connect in some sense with the things which are naturally derived.  Have you ever met anyone who considers nature to be repulsive?  I have a few friends who do not appreciate the act of being in nature, who don’t want to be out and about with the bugs and poison ivy and numerous foes of the forest (if I think too much about all of that… I don’t want to be, either!) but I think we all see it as visually spectacular.  When we consider it, we are stunned at the creativity and light, the beauty that flows from all aspects of it.

Fall is a time of renewal for me.  The scorching sun and the desert heat have taken leave from the area, and we all breathe a sigh of relief at that.  I am able to enjoy the outdoors once again, because when it’s so humid and your skin feels like it’s slithery and slimy the moment you walk outside… Well, I don’t like to chance it.  I stay comfortable inside.  But when the Fall has arrived, the windows can be open and the cool season can take hold of me and gently nudge me towards creativity and productive projects.  I feel a kind of new fascination with myself and with the possibilities out there in the big, big world.  Fall just does that to me.  I remember in college, at the first school I attended, Fall welcomed the joy and respite offered in the holiday breaks.  Profs seemed easier on you and encouraging of out-of-school activities.  We all walked down the cobblestone streets towards our cafe of choice, just to hang out and sip pumpkin lattes, and generally take it in.  Fall has so many good memories associated!

This season also seems to hold some kind of mystery in it’s hands.  I could write about it a thousand times, but each time try to describe the colors and shapes, the call of the fresh air and the sunshine more accurately than the last.  I can never quite capture what it all means and where it comes from.  And maybe that’s one of the things that really inspires and excites me about the season change from Summer to Fall–I don’t know how it happens every time, I don’t understand it down to a science, but I am like the painter, or photographer, or sculptor–trying to depict an enchanting piece of life, to create a version that rivals its qualities.  This season, with its sensuous pumpkin forms and frolicking leaves in the breeze–this season represents who I am when I feel free.

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May 20 2012
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Creativity, Education, Family, Value

Education Can Nurture Creativity


As a storm decided to roll into view through my dining room windows, I decided to cuddled up on the couch and watch this fascinating TED talk:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

It is so encouraging.  I watched eagerly, and my heart filled with the joy that is new learning, fascinating angles to see the world from, and new possibilities for the future.  One of the things I love to think about when it comes to God is His creative nature.  How that is seen everywhere, in nearly everything if you allow it to be.  I see it most often in kids that I interact with.  Children are meant to be educated in a way that is kind to their natural inclinations.  Our education system, so sadly, often pushes children into a big wooden crate, filled with only a few subjects available for study, and nails the lid on to trap them.  The children must then pick and choose from a meager offering of “acceptable” interests and courses, which in turn smoosh out their minds’ curiosities.  Thankfully, my parents helped to expose me to a lot of things during my life: music, culture, and we were blessed to travel–these opportunities nurtured many of the interests I still hold dear as an adult.  But I can’t say that my education in the U.S. did the same.  Boring worksheets… homework assignments for the sake of homework… and tests that didn’t truly measure any kind of development bombarded my schooldays.  I remember thinking at an early age (9, maybe?) “This seems so pointless…” 

This video shows there is so much more.  It’s hilarious, it’s inspirational, it’s true.  Our educational system needs to get up to speed with the way the world is now, not how it was 50 years ago. Artists, thinkers, creators, the active minds–these are the people who will solve our looming real world problems.  Take a minute to watch it–I promise you won’t be disappointed.

-M

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Feb 27 2012
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Cat, Creativity, Photography

Cat’s Out of The Bag


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Feb 27 2012
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Creativity, Dogs, Photography, reflection

Dog days


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Sep 02 2011
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Creativity, Environment, Self-Image, Womanhood

Conscious Teen Fall Edition


I bring you, with much excitement, the second edition of Conscious Teen Magazine!!! We have worked long, hard hours, and it’s been worthwhile. I can see subtle yet important improvements from the last issue, and the look seems to flow more. My favorite piece to write was definitely about [RE]FRESH… a wonderful new classy thrift store that is using its fashion sense in order to support the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition. It is so inspiring to know that things like this actually exist, and that young people can make a difference in them.

Hope you’ll enjoy, check it out!

http://www.yudu.com/item/details/397454/Fall-2011–Issue-2

-Miranda

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Mar 23 2011
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Appreciation, Creativity, Priorities, reflection

What The Piano Taught Me


As I sit there, my fingers tenderly and carefully caress the keys…. I let them begin lingering over each one as though they were all precious to me.  And they are.  I gaze at them as though I have fallen in love with them anew.  As I begin to appreciate my days gone by, my years now far away, I see that each stage of life is precious like that.  There may be so many keys and each is different, but each is also precious with its specific, singular note.  Each note gives a different perspective, filling the room with a different mood, a different piece of musical life.  Coming together to create something that is capable of touching deeply, arousing feeling–emotion.  As the melody strings together under my fingers, racing quickly, I see that I am no longer in control of the tune.  It sweeps away as my fingers take themselves there.  I am merely a bystander in this entire act.

Life feels like this too, some days.  As though I am swept away with the tune.  Those weeks when your body is so tired… not from physical exertion, but from work!  It’s good, but tiresome nevertheless.  My piano sits in my office, usually untouched save the occasional moments, late at night, when I have a bit of time and I start to feel capable.  At the age of four, I began to play.  I played all through my school years, my parents valuing my lessons highly, and up through college as well.  My piano is something private usually, and I wasn’t a performer–I experienced nervousness from recitals.  I loved to play for myself, or for a friend who would jam with me.  At any rate, my years have become more jam packed with life, less available to the piano.  It sits there, beckoning me, but I am not as certain as I once was.  It’s like an old friend– you know that they’re there, but you may avoid them for the sake of distance and time between you.  You wonder if you still have all that much in common.  That’s how I feel about the piano.

The piano shows me that though we value a thing, we can distance ourselves from it and sometimes forget it altogether.  We may discuss it, we may remember it somewhat, but we haven’t made the time in our lives to give it priority.  Though I love it, I do not make time for it.  I have been working to create an atmosphere in my heart where I can put music and the love that dwells in it as a priority, but it’s difficult when papers need to be written and dishes cleaned… when errands must be run and I want to spend some quality time with my husband.  But deep down, I have to make this time, because it’s important to connect with the soul of it.  To embrace the feelings that only music can bring me as it flows through me.  To remember it for the next generations.

Something else it has shown me is a bit harder to deal with–though I love it, and I still consider myself a pianist, if I want to go back to it I must go through a painful fire of procedure.  Earning my way back to my intimacy with it.  My fingers have lost quite a lot of their former dexterity, and I must risk sounding like a novice without any experience as I gain that back.  I must fumble over the keys as a new musician would–trying to navigate, trying to learn how to play in the dark, only the shapes of the keys guiding.  This is the price of forgetting my love, the piano never leaves, it just keeps asking me to remember it again.

As I think of my devotion to this lovely instrument, I remember my dedication and commitment in previous times.  I must fight the business of life, the errands, the frivolity, and return to a first love of mine.  We must declare our loves or we will forget them!  We must genuinely show them our affection, or they may be gone and leave us wishing we’d been more intentional.  When I first fell in love, with the keys, when I was finally eye to eye with how amazing it was… it was in high school.  I’d taken lessons for years, but then a moment occurred when it struck me: what a privilege, what a passion.  There are so many things in life like this–we don’t make the time, and we trust that they will always be there for us, eventually.  Why should we waste our lives without them?  There’s no reason to.

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Jan 27 2011
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Creativity, Education, Motivation, Relationships, Value

The Teacher


Socrates was an interesting guy, one of the early contributors to philosophy and psychology.  He was one who questioned everything, which eventually was the end of him… but I admire his deep belief that “Truth cannot be defined by an absolute authority, but rather lies hidden in every mind.”  His life philosophy, as a teacher, was that his role was to help his students to unveil this truth inside themselves–the truth was already there it just had to be uncovered.  I especially like this view when looking at creation: God created the world and it holds truth.  We hold the truth within ourselves even when we have no idea of its existence.  When teachers hold this view of their students, that each and every individual holds an important morsel of truth, a grain of undeniable humanity, I see that they teach quite differently.
With some teachers, I have experienced a sense of camaraderie, a shared love of learning, a fellowship of nurturing guidance along my path of study.  These kinds of people usually exhibit humility, a good sense of humor, compassion, and genuine transparency.  Among their qualities I also find two other impressive elements: The ability to admit when they are incorrect, and their attitude of a shared teaching/learning situation with their students.  They are not above reproach, and they are not too proud to learn something from the ones they teach: in fact, they readily hope to gain insights from their pupils!  By teaching in this way, they have encouraged me, fought my academic battles beside me, and instilled hope in my soul that anticipates the future.

Oh the disappointment I’ve felt, though, when I encountered the antithesis of this aforementioned humble teacher.  I have felt the oppression of a proud, highly intelligent yet hard-knuckled individual dominating the classroom.  In these places, I felt smothered and nearly unable to contribute to discussion or even to force myself to learn.  I felt belittled, small, and incapable of anything that would change our world.  I always wondered how that person–the one in great, unquestioned authority at the time–could ever hope to progress in their life if they have not opened their mind to possibilities.  When we believe we are the ultimate go-to person, the authority, the Bible of knowledge… then we have shut out our possibility to learn from the world around us.  We have all done it at one point or another.  People will shut off.  The lights will, figuratively, go dim.  We will be the only human around.

Though I am not pursuing education as a profession any longer, I hope that I will be a lifelong student.  These two types of teachers that I described have molded and shaped us in very different ways.  I try to go back and remember both: I try to seek out those professors who have truly change my life: The ones who lived what they taught, and taught because they cared about the future.  I tell them how they reassured me and impacted me!  I also try to remember the other teachers who have oppressed me, because I can learn from them too.  I have often analyzed these people, trying to gain some knowledge into what made them tick.  In the end, I think that a part of them died: The part that could laugh at themselves and love the process of teaching and learning in return–a beautiful exchange.

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Jan 04 2011
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Creativity

Growing Creativity


I sat in class one day, pondering this subject (and obviously zoning out entirely on the other subjects at hand):
What does it take to grow more creativity in my life?  If cultivated like a plant, will it blossom and bear fruit once tenderly cared for?
That was a couple of weeks ago, and since then, the concept of growing our creative character, on purpose, has been a recurring visitor to my brain.

Here are a few things I’ve been thinking on– a couple of obvious ways to increase our capacity to generate ideas and new perspective:

Asking Questions This gives way to curiosity, and leads to a chain reaction with thinking.  When we ask “What if..?” and apply it to our lives.. we add reality to the situations at hand.

Getting Your Hands Dirty When you’re in on the action, i.e. the photographer instead of the subject, it makes creativity more fun.  When you can see the paint as it flows from your brush onto a canvas, see the stars outside as you stargaze, put your hands into the clay… you begin to imagine and see what can come from within.

New Things:  New experiences with friends are some of the best ones I’ve had!  If you know someone who does sculpting, makes pottery, or is in on the fashion scene… ask them if you can tag along and try your hand at it.  I am thankful to be somewhat in the loop, since my hubby is a designer & I can watch him at his handiwork.  Seeing someone else’s fascination and creative juices can often trigger your own.  This also goes for trying new foods, new hobbies, and befriending people who don’t necessarily seem to be your type, externally.  You may even realize that you envision yourself doing something you never before imagined.

Dreaming Dreams can often go one of two ways: we go to one extreme, and have our head in the clouds with our lofty wishes, or we squash our dreams soon after they are conceived.  I usually swing towards the lofty end.. dreaming up, up, and away with my head floating off like a balloon!  But it’s important to realize that if we keep track of our dreams (not letting them consume our productivity & not killing them at first glance) they can become powerful tools.  I still have to make myself try, but if you write down your dreams (even those that seem ridiculously impossible) they have so much more of a chance to come true.  You have them recorded, and what’s more, when you revisit that entry you can see the progress and remember them instead of forgetting.

I’ve also noticed a few less obvious obstacles to overcome, in order to nurture oncoming creativity.  Some that I have experience in my life recently:

Environment We all have different preferences and tastes when it comes to our creative niche.  When I want to bring it out of me, I feel that walking on little town streets helps with my idea process, and writing.  Being outdoors may inspire you.  Go to get coffee, or savor some hot tea.  Let it soak into your soul.  If you need a clean space, devote a bit of time to making that for yourself.  If you’re uptight (like I sometimes get from tension & stress) free your mind with music, yoga, or a hot bath.  I think that I get a bit intellectually constipated when I’ve been steeped in my own thoughts all day– so to get that out, I have to loosen up and let my brain be at ease. Whatever it is that inspires your passions to ooze, find it, then do it.

Inner-DialogueThis truly hits home with me!  I can find it nearly impossible to be crafty, creative, or have ingenuity when I am picking at every part of myself.  How could I create something when I’m criticizing my own creation?!  If I feel especially uncertain about how I may do on some new creative endeavour, it is usually obvious.  I will either be saying out loud how I think I am not so good at something, or I will be thinking it.  These things make me more nervous, and completely cramp up my creative style!  When I am left to my own devices, and don’t feel under pressure, I loosen up, have some fun, and my creativity usually produces something good.  So, in the face of my onslaught of negative vibes, I must overcome and speak good things to myself.  Afterall, what is creativity if we don’t enjoy it?

Make sure you make time for the important things… create and play once in awhile.

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