Empowerment

Let it Go: an End of the Year Exercise

Lynette M Burrows

It’s the end of an excruciating year. Are you looking back and seeing only the awful things? I’d like to challenge you to let go of the awful. Try to let it go: an end of the year exercise. Embrace the positive. If You Made Mistakes I’m certain I wasn’t the only one who made mistakes in the past twelve months. Did you make mistakes? Though he’s talking about the year to come, look at what Neil Gaiman says below. I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes…you’re Doing Something. Neil Gaiman I challenge you to look at any mistakes you made with a new attitude. You were doing something. So what did you want to achieve? What did you learn from your mistake? Can you take that lesson forward into the new year? Don’t Look for Flaws We humans have a quirk. We focus on the negative. According to research reported by Psychology Today, the human brain is hard-wired to look for danger. Once it was a necessary survival skill. But today, we have a choice. The past year has been one challenge after another. We made it a meme […]

You are Creative

Lynette M Burrows

Do you struggle with the idea that you are creative? Creativity isn’t about a single, brilliant, completely original idea. You are a human being, therefore you have the capacity to be creative. What is Creativity? Creative folk have a lot to say about that. What is Creativity If you doubt whether you are creative, you may need to be reminded what creativity is. These folks, from many walks of life, share their thoughts. Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. Steve Jobs Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas. Austin Kleon Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected. William Plomer Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas. Donatella Versace Creativity is intelligence having fun. Albert Einstein Creativity is a continual surprise. Ray Bradbury Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence. Osho Creativity is bound up in our ability to find new ways around old problems. Martin Seligman Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work. Rita Mae Brown Creativity is not talent but […]

Will You Make It Fun?

Lynette M Burrows

Recently, I read a post about how constructive criticism can be destructive. In my experience, I know this to be true. I’m sure you’ve had the same experience. So why do you (I’m including me in this) continue to be your own worst enemies? Why are you your harshest judge? To fight your way free of the mental blocks (writer’s block for those doing nanowrimo). You know the ones that say housework is drudgery or the day job is soul sucking. Or something many of us are saying, 2020 is the worst year ever. It is, but… By telling yourselves over and over and over how bad things are, you reinforce the feelings that only bad things happen. For your sanity, you have to get past that. How? By having fun? What’s that you say? How can you make it fun when things are so bad?  If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun. Katharine Hepburn Unstructured Play Ms. Hepburn may have been talking about rules of acting or laws or life. But here, we’re talking about having fun, unstructured play. A playful attitude and a little bending of the rules that allows all sides to have […]