A PERSONAL EXPLORATION OF THE CREATIVE EXPERIENCE - HTTP://GIOVANNIANDFRANCO.INFO -
We consider ideas that people often think about but seldom explore - ideas on how to remain authentic and be your real self. We define success as the realization of what you need to be and having the courage to become that person - this is what creativity is about.
Getting things done in a steady and correct matter is no easy task.If it were, we would all easily reach our life's goals.Planning is easy; execution is hard.That is why we have so many discarded plans that never amounted to anything.
There is hope in the planning process. As you write or think the plan it implies a new beginning.While the plan may be new - the person thinking the plan isn’t. And that is why new plans seldom work. To have a new beginning, the person planning must first make themselves new.And that is no easy task.
To begin new and fresh is to allow the process of change to take place. Change means giving up many things that are near and dear to us. To change is to seriously disrupt your comfort zone.
When I first engaged this process several years ago, I presumed that serious introspection needed to take place. To discover the motivation for behavior seemed important to me.
It was almost too easy when I began to understand how wedded we are to our comfort zones, no matter how insignificant or destructive they may be. But like all revelations, they are easy in the thinking part and difficult in the doing part.
Revelations often reveal serious character flaws. These flaws are embedded deep in our consciousness, and these flaws often mask themselves as virtues.And virtue, no matter how misdirected, gives one the excuse that is needed to keep the status quo alive. All of this is a significant barrier to break down.
Break troughs do not come easy, but they do come.At the point when you realize that only change will keep you alive mentally and physically - you have a choice to make.
You are faced with the choice of new life or a permanent type of stagnation.And if that does not get your attention nothing will.
A funny thing happened on the road to self-discovery
I am perplexed. Like many, I am on the road to self-discovery. It is becoming more obvious as time goes by that the road may never end. Maybe, this is why we always hear the journey is more important than the destination - for many there may not be a destination, only the journey.
It’s probably best not to know this in the beginning. How many of us would embark on an expedition that we knew might never end?
In retrospect, it is clear we all travel this road, whether we choose to or not. We can fully participate, or like so many of us, it can be a wandering without purpose or inclination. Sound harsh? I think so too, unfortunately, this does not make it any less true.
When George Bernard Shaw was reputed to say, “What a shame to waste youth on the young” he was not just referring to physical vitality. I prefer to believe he was also considering the experience and knowledge we gain as we grow older, but no longer have the vitality or time to complete the journey.
So much of our path to self-discovery is determined by how much we really want to know. For reasons uniquely our own, we all have limits on how much self-discovery we emotionally can absorb as we try to find our way. It is strange how elusive the “truth” can be. It is very easy for us to hide in the shadow of our consciousness.
Our individual journey becomes more difficult when realize we are not just one person. There is the person we want to be, the person we are, and the person we were meant to be. While they are not all present at the same time, they all are very much part of who we are.
Adding to the confusion is that we may not know them equally as well. Some, in fact, can remain hidden for years. Obviously, they are all part of who we are, but each shows a different face to the outside world. It is the journey of a lifetime to have all three personalities become one. When they do we are complete.
When this happens, questions of identity and purpose cease to be relevant.. We no longer need an explanation or reason to define our lives.
Why then is this acceptance of our reality so difficult for many of us? For one, our ego does a very good job of protecting us from what we choose to hide from ourselves. I doubt if the ego considers right or wrong. Like any good servant, it stands ready to give us what it thinks we want. Perhaps, the truth about ourselves, like so many effective medicines, is best handled in small doses – at least in the beginning.
I look forward to meeting you as we travel the road together.
Thought for the day: Why do we work so hard to avoid becoming the person we were meant to be?
Brothers Giovanni and Franco, for “Musings” and exploration of the creative experience
Introspection or action – are the two in conflict, or are they inseparable parts of any successful personality?
It seems that most of us fall into one of these two areas: we are either introspective by nature or doers by nature. The person capable of both qualities in equal amounts, in my experience, is rare.
The ideal situation would be to work with teams that have introspective thinkers and doers equally divided among their community. We should also add the caveat that they need to be aware of the distinction between their different personalities and mutually respect each other’s perspective. Without this distinction, we end up with conflict and arguments, with each side seeing the other as not capable. This of course is a disaster because nothing of significance gets accomplished.
The most important thing for each of us is to recognize which one of these two groups we fall into. Like everything else's balance is critical. However, in this case balance does not necessarily mean equal amounts of time. The doers may spend 60 to 70% of their time doing and 30 to 40% thinking about what they need to do. The same proportion in reverse, I suspect, is true for those of us who tend to be more introspective.
Eventually, it comes down to maturity and experience. This requires a certain amount of wisdom that only comes with experience. In addition, as we grow older the need to accomplish something becomes more important since we are aware that time is going by.
As a result, we are more amiable to solutions that we previously may not have agreed to. This makes it easier for us to have mutual respect for all members in the team regardless of their personalities and how they bring their talents to the task at hand. When this happens, you have community with empathy, and a team that might actually get something done.
This is why an experienced leader can make the difference. An example of this would be that of the musical director of an orchestra. How important a role they play depends on how much they understand the capabilities of the musicians they are working with and how their differences can be blended into an orchestration worthy of the audience’s attention. This is a significant talent in itself and may be the most important part of what a leader brings to any team or organization.
So how about you - where are you in this scenario? Whether you’re ready to tackle this can be answered in a simple question. Do you have respect for your opposite counterparts? Conversely, do you see them as simply nonproductive, or not productive enough?
In the history of achievement, while it may start with an individual idea, inevitably, noteworthy projects are brought into existence because a team that performs efficiently was allowed to exist.
Are you ready for this? Can you assume this type of leadership? If not, then you best work independently because that’s where you’ll end up, independent but alone. So get used to it.
In life, we all travel different roads with various destinations. That is life, pure and simple. Why then are these choices so difficult? For one, to make the point, we have choices. And, if you have choices, you have to be able to afford them financially. This point seems lost on so many people.
If you are struggling with alternatives, consider yourself fortunate. You are already better off than thousands of other people who are simple struggling to stay alive. How many souls on this mortal coil must do whatever is attainable just to survive? For them, there is no choice – do what is obtainable or die.
So the next time you are unhappy with who and what you are – and you have real choices as to what you may become – count your blessings. You are truly one of the fortunate human beings.
Some additional thoughts on creativity from Brother Franco
Late at night it occurs to me that within each of us sits a silent demon who prevents us from fulfilling our true talent. For many of us, this demon sits in blissful silence without our being conscious of its presence. For others, who may be more introspective, we are sensitive to its presence. Either way it sits there in the deepest recesses of our consciousness, lurking in the shadows doing its damage.
And what is this demon about? For each of us it is exclusively our own creation. Somewhere in our lives, some event or experience, created a latent destructive tendency that feeds our demon's existence. What do we do about it? The answer to this question will define the amount of success we achieve in our lives.
The real issue here is not whether you will be successful, but will you reach the success you were uniquely created for. My assumption here, based on years of experience and observation has led me to believe we each have a unique talent meant to be and in that realization, we make our contribution to life and to the time in which we live.
In some lives, the demon is obvious and clearly destructive. However, this is not the case for most. For many, their demon hides in the darkness, never being completely destructive, but still doing its damage.
One unerring sign that your demon still remains in control is the nagging feeling that something is not right, even though by most standards, you and others believe your life to be successful. The feeling, however, may not always be there. For many, it lurks in stillness, its presences keeping you locked in place, a silent and effective brake to complete fulfillment.
Your particular demon may seem to have a life of its own - its existence independent of yours, as if it were a different being or presence. However, nothing is further from the truth. Your demon exists because you allow it to exist. For each of us, we are the ones who give it its power; we feed its existence by our lack of courage to embrace completely our unique talent and allowing it to exist.
Why is a lack of courage always the culprit? More than likely because when we allow our unique talent to exist openly with in full bloom it, exposes who we are. For many, this will seem and sound strange.
However, when we are willing to be fully introspective and be honest with ourselves, we come to understand that when we live to the fullest, we reveal to the world who we are. The masks drop away, and the real self stands alone.
What awaits those who have the courage to fully live? I would like to say obvious success. Unfortunately, that is not guaranteed. To live fully and openly has its risks, and some are very real and not always easy to face.
However, we do know this: The sole chance to be complete is to allow your unique talent to prosper. This is the only road to true contentment. Please note the word contentment rather than happiness - happiness is for the immature. For those who have experienced life and know its perils, we are quite willing to seek contentment as our goal.
Today I would like to explore more ideas on how each of us can become more creative. I need to remind everyone that this is an exploration only. I make no pretensions that I have all the answers, or that we are going to solve every problem as take this journey.
I am proceeding from the assumption that we are all naturally creative and that somewhere in the process of our daily living; we lose this natural ability. And that does not mean we are automatons, simply going through our regular routine. Most of us still act as intelligent people and perform the necessary functions for a reasonably successful life.
However, as we mature, the creative static that is always in our consciousness grows louder, and demands to be heard. The status quo is no longer good enough, and we know we need to make changes if we are to become the person we were meant to be.
We also know that the changes we need to make will only come about if we become more creative in our approach to every aspect of our lives. For those who have experienced this, little explanation is necessary. We know this nagging sensation that something is not right.
Before we can continue we need to define what being creative is and if there is actually a process that can be standardized for all of us. I’m not sure there is. So we need to proceed cautiously from this point and make sure we understand everything that is discussed can only be applied individually and by no means presumes there is some magic formula at work here. There is not.
First, we must realize that being truly creative is rare. There are only so many Michelangelo’s, Leonardo da Vinci’s and Einstein’s. This type of creativity belongs to the rarefied few. So where does that leave you and me? For most of us, creativity will be defined as what is new to us if not necessarily to the world.
Each hour of everyday we discover something new. This may apply only to us and no one else. However, this does not diminish in any way these events. Newness for us may be simply rediscovering the old in a different way. That is often enough to give us a creative insight into a more imaginative world. So as we said in our previous episodes, creativity begins by being observant and habitually conscious of what you are experiencing. It has been said quite simply: “We must always focus on the present to be fully appreciative of the world we know.”
While this statement is easily understood, we also know that it is often impossible to do. However, what we all can do is increase our conscious effort to see the subtlety in the obvious. As we come to appreciate what is in front of us rather than constantly being distracted by other thoughts and events, we begin to recapture our innate creativity.
So begin this very minute to be more observant of the moment and appreciate the significance of the wonders that surround you. No matter what your situation, you can start by being aware of your gift of consciousness.
Next: How do we define creativity within the context our personal experience?
When you talk about creativity you have to deal with the notion that while the word seems easily understood, it often means different things for each of us. In the truest sense creativity usually means to make something that is brand-new, something never seen before. Does this mean that in order to be creative we must have an idea, concept or product that is completely new? For some, the response is yes. And for some this actually happens, they do conceive of something new.
However, what about the rest of us? For the average person the concept of being creative gets lost somewhere between adolescence and adulthood. As we have mentioned before, the need to conform, the need for affirmation from our peers and in our work, all create a type of conformity in our behavior that while not necessarily bad, does not necessarily lead to a creative lifestyle.
So can those of us in this group expect to be artistic? Let’s start with the question is creativity the province of the artist, or can any activity regardless of what it is have a creative aspect? For me, I believe all activity can be imaginative. Creativity is often a state of mind, a willingness to experiment, a willingness to be open to new ideas and new events.
Obviously this is easier said than done. We certainly can understand this idea intellectually, but to grasp its full significance emotionally is very difficult for some of us. A person can be inventive in virtually every endeavor they undertake. As an example, cleaning a house can be a creative experience. Let me give you an example.
I had a recent experience where I was able to watch a professional housecleaner at work. I could not help but notice the vigor and passion with which she approached her work. Not only was she very good at it, she seemed to get great satisfaction from doing it well. Everything she did had a creative aspect to it.
One thing you observed after she was finished; the room she worked on seemed to shine. That shine she left behind was as definitive as the signature of the artist on the completed painting. The same area had been cleaned many times before by others, and even though they did their job well, the result did not have the shine, that something special that was there after she finished. I could not help but consider the question: What was the difference?
The lesson here for me is clear. Virtually everything we do can be artistic. Creativity is not limited to the so-called artist, a person who is skilled in one of the fine arts. Everything that we do in our life, no matter how trivial it may seem to us, can be done with a creative spirit. For reasons stated before, this is a very difficult concept for those who have lost their way to accept.
Why don’t we try this? I would like each of us to consider how resourceful we actually are on a daily basis. What’s spirit do we bring to each of our daily chores? Have we become so habitual in our everyday functions that we are simply going through life as a robot, habitually doing what is necessary?
If so how do we rekindle our natural facility to be creative?
To be continued………..
Brother Giovanni
Next: Creativity for many of us is often about rediscovering the old in a new way.
As the years go by many things come to mind on how you view your supposed area of expertise.
I have spent 40 years plus in photography and related image making. I have sixty-four years of being involved with the photographic process. Enough years have gone by for me to have experienced many technical changes on how a photograph is produced. At least until today, none of these changes challenged the nature or the definition of what photography is.
That is no longer true. We stand at a technical crossroads, an evolutionary transformation that forces us to rethink the very nature of what is considered photography.
You can find endless articles about the change technology is bringing to our medium. This is particularly true of how image making will be presented in the future. Not enough is said, however, about the change in the distinguishing nature or character of what has for years defined the photograph.
The power of the photograph has been the notion that it represents a captured moment in time that allowed you to preserve history. We are fascinated by photos that are a portal to the past, to an event, a place - or that simply allow us to relive the shared experience of someone or someplace special to us. The power of the photograph is the fact that we believed it to be true, an authentic representation of what no longer is.
We could always manipulate the photograph. However, these manipulations were acceptable because of the serious limitations the camera and the film process imposed upon us. We recognized photography as a limited medium that occasionally needed tweaking to better represent the scene being photographed.
For the most part, we were still stuck with what was there and whatever enhancements we applied strengthened that position. We were always aware the photograph was a representation and not a literal image. Nevertheless, all of this was acceptable within the boundaries that created an authentic photo. This is no longer the case.
For the doubters, simply show a magnificent landscape with all of it natural radiance to a younger person and the question will arise: has that been photoshoped? The immediate response from the viewer that the image may not be an authentic representation changes the perception of what a photograph is or was. The question is does this make any difference? For us I think it does since this change will redefine what a photographer is.
The nature of the changes that the digital process has given us changes the perspective of photography as a limited medium. The interpretive photograph has a new meaning and the new meaning requires fresh and better-honed creative skills.
For years, we confused craft and technique with artistic talent. Since the craft, for the most part is now done for us, that perspective no longer prevails. The required skills will be the ability to tell a visual story, a keen sense of visual language that will include a fine sense of editing, use of symbols, color and design.
A sense of the whole that brings universal and holistic meaning to each image will be essential to the new photography. These will be the arenas that the professionals will use to separate themselves from the amateur.
From a professional perspective, this becomes a matter of survival. If we do not define who we are then the public and/or the technology will. If so, it is the end of our profession as we know it.
Is this good or bad? I am not going to profess judgments here. What I am professing is the change is upon us and is evolutionary in its significance. Are we going to be ahead of the change and help define it, or will the change wash over us like a giant tsunami?
And what will we call the new photography? That is still evolving. I am sure the term photography will be preserved by the film process, but the new photo imaging that is now with us brings an exciting new dimension that is different and will be identified as such.
Brother Giovanni, commenting for "Musings" a publication of the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network, Diverti Mento, editor
"Reaching for the light" Courtesy of the Pizzaonian Art Institute, Abe Straction, curator (C)2010)
MAY 2014
In both our business and personal lives, we seek successful relationships. Much has been said and written on the subject. And yet, for many of us, successful relationships seem to elude us. The question is always, why?
At the heart of every human dilemma is the need to connect to other people. When we are in touch with each other, we find ourselves fulfilled, life seems worth living – experiencing and sharing with others completes us as human beings.
Many of us, other than the most cynical, would agree with this. Then, why is it difficult for us to find this kind of fulfillment? I suspect our problems all revolve around the concept of trust. To reach out to other people, you are going to have to trust them to accept you.
And many times, the people we reach out to seldom respond in the way we want them to act. We can be offended and hurt by their response.
Some things to think about the next time you reach out to another person, and they do not respond to you as you expected.
1. When you believe yourself to be an open-minded person, think about it – you are probably not as open-minded as you think. This is an area of great, personal self-delusion - the notion that we are open-minded and right is an insidious state of mind that can destroy most relationships.
2. We can be patronizing and condescending without realizing it. Make sure, when you're reaching out to someone it is not done with a sense of your superiority. This is easy to do. Be aware of this glaring fault most of us have from time to time.
3. Make sure you are reaching out for the right reasons. Often we reach out to satisfy a need we have rather than trying to help someone else with a need they have. Often we refuse to accept another person as the person they are; we expect them to be the person we need them to be. When we do this we are both narrow-minded and selfish.
Most of these problems are caused by a lack of trust in others. However, just maybe, the lack of trust we fear is in not trusting ourselves rather than the lack of trust we anticipate from others.
To have faith in yourself is to be a complete human being. This means we embrace our wisdom and practicality along with our foolishness and inconsistencies.
To see the absurdity in life and in ourselves is a gift from heaven - to be able to do this is to embrace yourself as fully human. By accepting our inconsistencies, we become compassionate and more open to those around us.
Then and only then do we become valuable to other people for we can accept them as the rich fabric of life they really are - not as we want them to be.
Vera V. Veronica, commenting for "MUSINGS" a divison of the Pizzaonian Newsertainment Network, Diverti Mento, editor
