CORDON BLEU

IMAGINE

Details: Created on Friday, 20 April 2012 10:04; Written by Marian Moore

Marian @ Krysan

THE WELLBEING CONSULTANCY

Planting golden seeds in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, and Durham

________________________

Cordon bleu thinking —

take the best and leave the rest.

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on.”

- Albert Einstein

A Governess Carriage.

Reading Time: 3¼ mins.

Edita - my friend - this is for you.

I M A G I N E ...

___________________

Once upon a time ...

I was a day dreamer with too much imagination √
I was a workaholic who tired herself out √
I was a free spirit guided by an inner wisdom √
I was a perfectionist whose standards were impossibly high √
I was a complex mixture of all of the above (and more) √
Yes, I am truly as complicated as that √
And, Dear Reader, so are you √
Ask Dr. Rufus May, he'll tell you √

Time to talk. At a recent lecture in Newcastle upon Tyne, a psychologist by the name of Rufus May intimated that a person's mind houses an eclectic mix of different 'sub-personalities', each surfacing as and when the occasion demands. I am quite comfortable with this interpretation of reality.

Connectedness. I am equally happy with a quantum leap of my own - or have I read it somewhere?  Whatever the source, I truly believe we are at our most productive and creative when 'everything connects with everything'. This is a delightful - but absolutely exhausting - place to be! And, I also know I have to be careful ... of what, I'm not at all sure ...

Never, Never Land. Today I have awarded myself (and you - the curious) the exotic, but time-consuming pleasure of investigating imagination, creativity and the epiphany moment. It won't take long to read this weblog, although it might take me a tad longer to write! These are powerful concepts worthy of careful scrutiny and thought.

Cordon bleu thinking. I know for certain that imagination, creativity, and epiphanies can (and do) transform lives. Cordon bleu thinking is required here and remember, no shirking. Stay alert; be aware. We are indeed entering the Never, Never Land of unchartered territory and I really do want all of us to return to real life unscathed, but not unchanged.  Everything you can imagine is real.

Hang on tight.

... imagination.

I present evidence now of a life (mine) fuelled by imagination, creativity and epiphany moments. The integration of these three aspects of mind can result in megga shifts in awareness which reveal - in a moment of clarity - the solution to a difficult problem or life situation.

Right time. When in employment as a senior teacher twenty-five years ago, I became fixated on introducing 'education for enterprise' into the classroom. This was when 'chalk and talk' was the norm and 'experiential learning' was an unknown quantity.

A new and more forgiving philosophy welcomed in the modular curriculum and coursework, this together with personalised learning and enterprise education. Open-minded teachers everywhere experimented with new technology and learned fast, this alongside a generation of young people who loved every minute of it.

My lasting memories are of co-operation, enthusiasm and energy. Learning should be fun - and it was. And so, we witnessed a revolution in educational thought, birthed from grass-roots thinking at chalk-face level. Transformation in schools occurred in tandem with unprecedented economic and technological change and - as an insider - I'm still unsure which came first.

Was it the chicken or the egg?

And, the world didn't collapse. Advances were incorporated into teacher training; everything and everybody shifted; and education became everybody's business. Could it happen today? Of course it could. People haven't changed, but the economy and technology certainly have.

Right place. When I became self-employed as an emotional wellbeing consultant four years ago, I became fixated on how best to spread the notion of happiness and wellbeing in a demoralised world ravaged by materialism. I considered all the angles, including:

How to turn my idea into a business not simply for profit.

How to go through a business start-up on a shoestring?

How to find a value-for-money web designer within my budget?

How to acquire skills good enough to administer the site myself?

Every challenge has been met with imagination and creativity. As always, courage and willpower and (this time round) Dell computers are in evidence. As in days of yore, there is much burning of midnight oil and I have found working from home an absolute joy. The result is that I have a successful business and a significant presence on the web. Everything is as it should be; everything 'good enough' - for me.

Right idea. When I became a governor of a mental health trust a little over a year ago, I became fixated on the notion of recovery - why some people do and some people don't. This has meant training to be a service user researcher at a northern university, learning new skills and refining old ones. I also help in the spreading of good news about positive psychology, seeing this as having much to offer to those dealing with emotional difficulties - patients, carers, and staff.

People at many levels and of many political persuasions are orientated towards the transformation of health care and this is ongoing. Challenges to the status quo come from all directions - new ones every day. To my way of thinking a 'good enough solution' may be something we will have to accept - for now. Thereafter, I foresee imagination and creativity as holding the key to the future wellbeing of our beloved NHS and of the country.

Epiphanies welcome ... apply within ...

... creativity.

Outsider v. Insider. In his book, Imagine, Jonah Lehrer suggests that, without a natural naivete, life would have been very different for creatives - such as me. Lehrer opens a new chapter by outlining the story of a creative's journey that began with a broken heart. He eventually introduces the creative as 'an outsider' - a loner. I'm afraid I don't think too much of these so-called insights into the personality of the creative person - they certainly skim over the complexities of the mind. But, I do agree with Lehrer when he says that creativity is not a phase of life - like youth or old age - creativity being more a state of mind. Some interesting conclusions here.

We live in a world that worships the insider, better known as the 'company man', the 'specialist', or 'the old retainer'. And, I have no argument with that. But, as it turns out, gaining insider knowledge and experience takes a toll on creativity. The problem seems to be that insider knowledge is internalised and this can lead to an inability to see outside the box. My mother would have summed this up in a sentence: You can't see the wood for the trees!

Writer as specialist. This internalisation of knowledge is also seen as one of the challenges of writing. A writer has to read her sentences again and again - as well I know - as very quickly you lose the ability to see your prose as 'a reader' rather than as 'the writer'. The writer (the specialist) must become an outsider to her own work and give her words time to be forgotten. The secret is then to revisit and start to read as an outsider, not as the author. We see the most when we are outsiders looking in, and - of course - this applies not only to writing.

"The only way to remain creative over time - to not be undone by our expertise - is to experiment with ignorance, to stare at things we don't understand." LEHRER, 2012

... the epiphany.

Many people experience epiphany moments. Such shifts are often referred to as quantum leaps and are a natural part of being human.

Recovery. It was 'an epiphany' that propelled me forward onto the recovery journey and this came in the nick of time - I weighed just over five stone. Like other people who have recovered from a fixation on fear (mental illness), I encountered a moment of pure insight and fear was transformed into love. When I changed, everything changed: I got my life back; my husband got his wife back; two children got their mother back, and a small child discovered her grandmother.

As above, so below. As within, so without.

I admit to finding words totally inadequate to describe that moment of insight and joy we call an epiphany. I can say now (with confidence) that this is a rich concept joined at the hip to imagination, creativity, and transformation. It may even result in spiritual transcendence. And so, I take my leave at the point where even angels fear to tread.

_____

O, WHAT A WORLD
of unseen visions and heard silences, this insubstantial country of the mind? What ineffable essences, these touchless rememberings and unshowable reveries? And the privacy of it all!

JULIAN JAYNES, 1976

______________________

The journey begins with

the fluttering of neurons

in the pre-frontal cortex

______________________

Really?
Are you sure?
And, the privacy of it all!

Marian Moore

April, 2012

REFERENCES

Aide-Mémoire.

Imagine: How creativity works.

Jonah Lehrer, 2012 - NY Times best selling author.

Published by Canongate: Edinburgh - London.

Dr. Rufus May.com

http://rufusmay.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

HEALING WORDS

Friends come and go, loved ones die, jobs shift, children leave home everything in the outside world changes. The only person you can count on to go the distance is you. So, we all must develop immense soul power and self-love, so that when our worlds come unraveled, our selves will remain intact and strong. Because when all else fails, we still have ourselves, and selves that are grounded in truth and self-acceptance are spiritually indestructible.

MUSIC TO PLAY YOU OUT ...

"If You're Happy and You Know It" with The GiggleBellies

For friends near and far.

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door. MB

Marian ♥

GENRE: MARY-ANN

No Greater Power

Somebody gave me a rose today

It had no thorns.

Somebody offered me solace today.

There was no malice.

Somebody gave me a smile today.

There was no judgement.

Somebody gave me their time today.

There was no grudging.

These people gave me the chance today

To write a poem about the power of compassion,

The greatest power we have ...

© Lorraine Nicholson

Read about my friend Lorraine Nicholson's Journey Home in ABOUT A BOOK. Marian

ENDS

4,761 reads @ 2015-06-21

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