The article titled, "7 Ways to Cultivate Your Creativity" immediately sparked my interest. I opened up the link but did I read the article, No. Do I really need an article to tell me how to be creative? Or give me guidelines on cultivating it? No. I limit my creativity. I blocked it. I undermine it.
What is creativity? To me creativity is using bedsheets to make a hideout or my secret place. It is cutting up the mismatched socks left over from my mom's laundry to create clothes for my barbies or whatever I wanted. Creativity is daring to imagine, explore and attempt the things my heart desires or longs for. Creativity is listening to yourself and trying out the things in your head not giving thought to fears or self consciousness.
How do you spark creativity? For me it's letting go. It's allowing my inner child to be free. Whether it's running in the rain or jumping in a puddle of mud. It's dropping mustard and ketchup on my white button down shirt and looking at it as artwork and not the end of the world.
There is no real way to define creativity. In this world of rules and regulations to which everything must conform, the definitions given for creativity are simply guidelines to try and capture and explain a limitless force of nature that derives in all of us. If you tell yourself you are not creative then you are not because you have put a block and refrained yourself from being creative. You want to find creativity? Go take a walk in the park, close your eyes, inhale a breath of fresh air and just be. Find YOU, the you before all of the responsibilities, stress, worries, anger and restrictions. Find the careless you, the daring you, the challenging you. Rediscover yourself and rediscover the creativity in you.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Transliteracy & Metaliteracy
Keeping up with the ever evolving technology; blogging, tweeting, e-mails, web casts, face time, video chats, etc. Not so many years ago it was interesting for me to see the struggles of some adults to adapt to e-mails and some of the new technology introduced back in that time. Yet here i am, thinking I am hip to all this new age stuff, having had my first Google group just some days ago. It seems like some new technological advancement is occurring everyday.
I am not into the blogging or tweeting. instant messaging/texting, gotta love it. I do. Yet this course has made me think of my resilience to try out new things. I don't have to be an addicted blogger or tweeter but I should not limit my experiences or what i expose myself to. Take a chance, jump right in and find ways to use these forms of communication to my advantage my interests as should everyone else. Even if you only blog or tweet once have that experience on your resume of life.
I am still young and having had kids at a young age gives me somewhat of an advantage. I can adapt and since the age gap between my kids and I isn't that big i can learn from my kids or the teens that i service at my job to stay up to date with the current trends of technology and new age communication.
I think the most important thing is to keep an open mind. Not to conform and shut down. People are not really into change. Change bothers, it gives off a feeling of uneasiness because it is unfamiliar in our routine lives, more so for older adults. We mustn't forget to live, experiment and have fun.Life should not be about routine it should be about change & different experiences.
Metaliteracy has open up tremendous amount of doors giving us the ability to create and share content with unlimited amounts of people all around the world. we have come a long way from post and mailman days. We don't have to take a plane to visit relatives halfway around the world with video chat capabilities or web cams.
Technology is great but we must remember it is not about the impact that technology makes on us, it is about the impact that we make through technology.
I am not into the blogging or tweeting. instant messaging/texting, gotta love it. I do. Yet this course has made me think of my resilience to try out new things. I don't have to be an addicted blogger or tweeter but I should not limit my experiences or what i expose myself to. Take a chance, jump right in and find ways to use these forms of communication to my advantage my interests as should everyone else. Even if you only blog or tweet once have that experience on your resume of life.
I am still young and having had kids at a young age gives me somewhat of an advantage. I can adapt and since the age gap between my kids and I isn't that big i can learn from my kids or the teens that i service at my job to stay up to date with the current trends of technology and new age communication.
I think the most important thing is to keep an open mind. Not to conform and shut down. People are not really into change. Change bothers, it gives off a feeling of uneasiness because it is unfamiliar in our routine lives, more so for older adults. We mustn't forget to live, experiment and have fun.Life should not be about routine it should be about change & different experiences.
Metaliteracy has open up tremendous amount of doors giving us the ability to create and share content with unlimited amounts of people all around the world. we have come a long way from post and mailman days. We don't have to take a plane to visit relatives halfway around the world with video chat capabilities or web cams.
Technology is great but we must remember it is not about the impact that technology makes on us, it is about the impact that we make through technology.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
PLE
Reflecting on George Siemens video and this being my first experience with an open course I can definitely relate to what he was saying. I felt very lost and worried at the start of the course not knowing what, where, and how. We are now about six weeks into the course and I am just starting to feel like I am getting the hang of this. I am not into blogging and twitter so I was not very thrilled about that but in keeping an open mind i thought why not? It is an opportunity to try something new and I am of course a person who is willing to try most things at least once. I am very excited about this new learning experience. It is an opportunity to expand my knowledge in a new and different way for me. An opportunity to connect with many different people from many different places. So I have fears and anxiety's as well as excitement and inspiration. I am proud that I took the step and dared to take this course and I aim to take all that I can from this course to expand my horizon.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Connectivism
The author states at the end of his article: I want to influence those people who don't have the privilege and access that I, and many of my peers, have. But, in declaring that "I want to help or influence", I find that unpalatable sense of over-reaching and attempting to inject ideas into areas and regions that should be developing and exporting *their* ideas, not simply importing those from well-meaning, but largely clueless, people from other regions and contexts.
This statement made me question the whole MOOC process and mission. Is it not to connect people from all over the world to learn from and share ideas? When I think about under devloped countries I think of the limitations they endure and the lack of things available to them. Countries held way behind in so many elements. Is it really that we are simply importing ideas or are we helping a country whose ideas have already been surpassed to futher develop themselves and the progression of their countries. Furthermore just because we share or import our ideas with others does not neccessarily mean that those ideas will be implemented or follwed to the T. Sharing our ideas can inspire new ideas or different views of the same ideas. Yet if these ideas are not shared there is no advancement at all. Noone has learned anything, inspired anything and some people who are held at a standstill will continue to stay put.
Most times we a re unable to see that impact we have made through our actions no matter how small we may deem them to be. The important thing is that we made a difference and theat we continue to attempt to make a difference. As they say, "One man's garbage is another man's treasure."
This statement made me question the whole MOOC process and mission. Is it not to connect people from all over the world to learn from and share ideas? When I think about under devloped countries I think of the limitations they endure and the lack of things available to them. Countries held way behind in so many elements. Is it really that we are simply importing ideas or are we helping a country whose ideas have already been surpassed to futher develop themselves and the progression of their countries. Furthermore just because we share or import our ideas with others does not neccessarily mean that those ideas will be implemented or follwed to the T. Sharing our ideas can inspire new ideas or different views of the same ideas. Yet if these ideas are not shared there is no advancement at all. Noone has learned anything, inspired anything and some people who are held at a standstill will continue to stay put.
Most times we a re unable to see that impact we have made through our actions no matter how small we may deem them to be. The important thing is that we made a difference and theat we continue to attempt to make a difference. As they say, "One man's garbage is another man's treasure."
Creativity and ME
I began reading Multicultural Experience Enhances Creativity and got as far as the second page and my head was full of questions, thoughts and reactions. Creativity is defined as the process of bringing into being something that is both novel and useful. Is something that is creative alwasy useful? I think i would just define creativity as the process of bringing something into being. Sure there may be more but can we really explain, define or limit creativity?
How and where is creativity found? Jumping into a bath, from love, in a dream, in a quiet place, in total chaos. Creativity stems from individuality, I would say. The article states that creative people tend to be nonconforming, independent, intrisnsically motivated, open to new experiences, and risk seeking. That intelligence, tolerance of ambiguity, self-confidence, and cognitive flexibility also tend to be found in creative people. How many people do you know have such creative minds but do not show their work because they are withdrawn, or shy or simply not confident enough.
I think the need to be able to deifne everything, research and disect the process for everything limits more than it explains or understands the subject or topic at hand.
The biggest thought I have is do we find creativity or does creativity find us.
How and where is creativity found? Jumping into a bath, from love, in a dream, in a quiet place, in total chaos. Creativity stems from individuality, I would say. The article states that creative people tend to be nonconforming, independent, intrisnsically motivated, open to new experiences, and risk seeking. That intelligence, tolerance of ambiguity, self-confidence, and cognitive flexibility also tend to be found in creative people. How many people do you know have such creative minds but do not show their work because they are withdrawn, or shy or simply not confident enough.
I think the need to be able to deifne everything, research and disect the process for everything limits more than it explains or understands the subject or topic at hand.
The biggest thought I have is do we find creativity or does creativity find us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)