Learning Along The Way

Few Facts & Fantastic Fun on Fridays

By

Few Facts & Fantastic Fun on Fridays

How’s that for an alliteration?

Few Facts:

I love Fridays.

I was born on a Friday; that 14th century poem says Friday’s Child is Loving and Giving, which makes me happy.

I’m an Enneagram 7, which is called the Enthusiast, which means I am a party waiting to happen and of course,

TGIF

Don’t you love to have fun? I’ve been told Girls just want to have Fun. Makes me glad I’m not a boy (sorry guys)

But seriously, I want to add to my Summer Fun Challenge by using Fridays as the focus of ways to have Fantastic Fun. We can do this without breaking the bank and by learning to show up in little and big ways.

I’ve recognized something you probably know too; creativity wasn’t given much value in public education. It’s hard to assess creativity on a standardized test. I have a soapbox of education topics but I’m not climbing up there right now.

I want to confess my struggle with seeing myself as a Creative.

I can see in the rear view mirror how I’ve been creative my entire life but also was not encouraged in my creative pursuits.

Too much time. Too messy. Too much money for supplies. Too much.

I translated those repeated messages as being creative is not worth it. The story I told myself was creativity is frivolous, expensive, a waste. I’m so thankful for the work of Brene Brown. Her research has given me courage to tell myself a different story.

Here's the thing: logic tells me that if I'm created in the image of God, and God is creative, since I bear the imago dei, I am creative with creativity to share. Click To Tweet

I’ve started a new practice: doing something intentionally creative every day.

Often it’s taking pictures with my wonderful camera on my phone.

I’m showing up as a Creative. When someone comes to our latest place we call home for the first time I’m noticing the comments about color and peacefulness. I realize I am more of a Bohemian creative than I gave myself permission to be.

It’s time for a change.

How about some Fantastic Fun challenges on Fridays?

What about taking 10 minutes to make a card with scrapbook paper? Or coloring for a few moments in a coloring book? Or dancing to your favorite music? Or planting some flowers? Or?

I have a new friend who is a Creative, too. She does amazing fun, easy, creative projects. She also is in the process of developing a way to help the rest of us who don’t slip into creative spaces as easily. I’m looking forward to sharing what she’s up to in a post later this month.

In the meantime, how do you share your creativity? If you don’t consider yourself a creative, what story are you telling yourself about creativity?

I shared my story that I’m re-writing. Join me this month. Share your ideas, your stories. We need each other!

 

Lessons Learned

By

I am really enjoying reading other writers’ work.  Blogs, books, ebooks, even tweets! I have had a steady diet of dead people’s writing for many years and they continue to influence my thoughts but lately I am really energized by current work.

For example, Jeff Goins.  I first learned of Jeff’s work through Michael Hyatt (another writer I am influenced by).  I read a couple of Jeff’s posts and subscribed to his blog via email.  That’s a great way to stay connected with writers you enjoy (you can subscribe to my blog that way too! hint, hint)

Since I just wrote about Journeys, I was excited to read Jeff’s email; he posted about journeys that day as well.  And I wasn’t disappointed!

He does this so well I want you to benefit from his work.  The following is excerpted from Jeff Goins’ email to his subscribers on Monday, Sept.30

10 lessons we learn from journeys

Journeys are important — both physical ones as well as figurative ones. They help remind us that we are not done yet, that life itself is a trip that we can make the most of or completely miss the point.

So here are 10 brief lessons I learned from my trip. Maybe they’ll help you on whatever journey you’re taking:

  1. No journey is perfect. Take one, anyway. You will grow regardless.
  2. The destination is never quite what we expect. But without one, we wander aimlessly. So having a final arrival point is important if for no other reason than it gets you started.
  3. Only when we let go of what we think we deserve can we really enjoy what we have.
  4. Inspiration is everywhere. You just need eyes to see it. Yes, even in cornfields.
  5. The hard part isn’t getting from point A to B. It’s paying attention to what’s around you before you miss it.
  6. A journey is less meaningful when traveled alone. We need community to make the most of all experiences, even if that means finding it along the way.
  7. Art helps us process. A good book or great record not only helps pass the time; it gives language to an experience you might otherwise not be able to describe.
  8. Gratitude makes any experience better. It’s easy to want to be home or some place else but we have no control over that. Turns out all we can control is our attitude. So why not be thankful?
  9. The best journeys have a purpose. But expect to be surprised and even see that purpose change.
  10. If you accomplish nothing, see nothing, even feel nothing, take heart. Whether you realize it or not, you’ve changed. And this is reason enough to continue traveling.  Also you can click over to his site and subscribe to his blog.

I am doing my own reflecting on our journeys of this summer and fall (as the season has now changed).

What about you?  How are Jeff’s lessons similar to your experiences?  How are they different?

Follow Me…

Categories