Your Creativity Is In Your Hands

Are you in charge of your creativity?

Do you play with new ideas, new textures, new techniques? Your creativity is yours to manage and it's also in your hands, literally. From another angle: your hands create.

Think about a sculptor at work, her hands carefully forming her art. Her mind is completely engaged, maybe even in a flow, and her hands instinctively, creatively, know what to do. That only comes after hours of practice.

Think about a concert pianist: the mind is involved, the heart is involved, and the hands are doing far more than running thru the paces of mechanical memory. The hands are creating tone, inflection, articulation, emphasis, texture, stylization, and yes even emotion. The hands add what the brain hasn't even imagined until it hears it coming straight from the hands. That level of synthesis only comes after many hours of practice.

Name the format and the hands are there -- not just as a set of useful tools but also as generators of inspired creativity: painting, sketching, sewing, quilting, crafting - the hands are at the heart of creativity. Hands design, they deliver, and when necessary they destroy -- all in the spirit of creativity.

Yes, you are in charge of your creativity. And if you are blessed with two strong hands you are truly blessed indeed because within your hands are entire worlds of creativity.

-- doug smith

Creative Actions

Fold a piece of paper into a shape you haven't considered or tried before. Let your hands guide the action and make the changes. Leave it up to your hands.
Feel hands-full of beach sand. Hold it, fold it, let it touch your hands back. Do that for a few minutes. What ideas do you have for something to create?
Put your hands in your shoes for a moment. How does that feel? Consider walking somewhere without your shoes - barefoot if possible. Let your feet enjoy the creative freedom of touching the earth.

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Appreciation Builds Confidence

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Gratitude

What we are grateful for stays, what we take for granted goes away. What are you grateful for today? If the list is long, there's something also to be grateful for. If the list is short, consider it more. Gratitude blesses our blessings and keeps them flowing. -- doug smith

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Adjustable Expectations

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Practice!

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Smile

It's easier to face the future if you embrace the present with a smile. "Is that your answer to everything? Smile?" "Nah -- but it serves me better than frowning." "What if you don't know whether to smile or cry?" "Even a curious smile is better than no smile at all...smile? Yes!" The more you make yourself smile, the more you will need to because there will be more to smile about -- smiles will start coming more often on their own. People will smile back. The smiles will multiply. It's harder to be mad at someone who likes you enough to smile for you, to smile toward you, to smile with you. Smile! -- doug smith

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