When we set aside the quality time and claim the psychic space for ceremony, when we assume the authority to do so, we are able to transform our perceptions, our perspectives, our experiences, and in the process, our reality.
"Because nature is calming to the mind and uplifting to the mood, it can shift both the caregiver and care recipient into a place where simply being present together feels rewarding."
Tom Torlakson, Superintendent of the California Department of Education, together with Malissa Shriver, the Chair of the California Arts Council (CAC)...
Many colleges and universities are looking to put more arts at the center of campus life and in the process, foster creativity.
The Creative Campus ...
To make creativity work for you it's important to nurture your creativity, learn how to discern great ideas from ephemeral ones, consciously create a container for your thoughts, keep focused until you see the idea through and take responsibility and value your ideas.
Increasingly, many colleges and universities are looking to put more arts at the center of campus life and in the process, foster creativity.
The Cr...
Having all this unexpected time waiting at the airport, ironically while preparing for a talk on innovation, I decided to think about potential strategies to transform the too-often below-par experience of domestic travel in the US.
Twenty years ago a dream was planted in my heart. I wanted to create a picture book. Over time, it was put on the back burner as "real life" took over. Finally, finally my longing is being realized.
Don't fight, don't condemn, use the hot fire of anger and transform it into the joy of creativity. This is how you gain mastery of yourself, rather than being a victim or a bully.
Whatever you want to find an answer to, or inspiration for, will emerge from here. A new idea for a painting series -- a way to complete a task you are stuck on -- need lyrics for a song? It's in the "Grey Zone" where creative solutions bubble just beneath the surface waiting to pop.
Psychologists agree that human beings are most creative at the age of five. After that, it's a slow and steady decline -- especially in the workplace. But wait! It doesn't have to be that way .
In his wildly popular 2006 TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson defined creativity as "the process of having original ideas that have value." Aside from being wonderfully succinct, this definition implies that any creative enterprise requires two key phases.
The pristine serenity of his studio space, encompassing the rough, splintery imagery in his paintings, is like a platinum setting of a Tiffany's solitaire engagement ring where the diamond has been discarded and replaced with a jagged collection of shards of glass eyeballs.
Do poets peak early? Apparent evidence that they do is provided by the striking list of poets who made major contributions in spite of dying young. But they are only part of the discipline.
My daughters are grown up now -- both of them in their mid-twenties, both well-adjusted and successful -- but I remember receiving a lot of unsolicited (and mostly misguided) advice and criticism from childless people regarding the way my wife and I were raising them.
Think of how physically taxing painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel must have been; think of how many assistants and workmen must have been needed to complete it. Someone, surely, had to get the ceiling there to be painted on in the first place.
Has terrorism finally reached a tipping point? When a terrorist act goes against all of us, every country on Earth has a stake in stopping this type of insane violence against humanity.
I am a fan of creativity. I stand by a theology that believes: if we are made in the image of our Creator, we are inherently creative ourselves. But even with that said, I've never seen myself as much of a creative type.
When an organization (or an individual) makes a big, expensive and embarrassing mistake, it attracts loads of attention. But do you know what almost never attracts the attention it deserves? When things go the way they are supposed to.
I like to joke that I am on the cutting edge of corporate speaking in more ways than one. I didn't get here because I'm particularly tech-savvy, jargon-heavy or industry-driven either, it's because I'm a professional sword swallower.
They hold the keys to the creative kingdom, can make even crappy ideas sound like poetry in a pitch, and always have cool shoes. But with digital taking increasingly larger portions of client budgets, has the creative director's time as the exalted leader of creativity island come to a close?
How many of us during the '70s and '80s grew up wanting to be the next member of the Space Shuttle program? And what is it that today's youth aspire to?
Over the past two decades, I've been studying the intersection of science and spirituality. I've also been a percussionist for about 40 years. One clear conclusion from this combination of experience: Life is best lived with the right rhythm, what drummers call being "in the groove."
Many questions still remain and more research needs to be done, but it's misleading at best and intellectually lazy at worst to suggest there is no good scientific evidence about the nature of dream content. What, then, does science actually know about dreams?