“It’s hard for many to imagine, but having fun, feeding your passions, and engaging your talents are simple steps that will take you to the bigger answers you seek.”
Jonathan H. Ellerby
It’s time to turn your old ideas around passion and playfulness upside down! Exploring your creative passions leads you straight to your purpose. Finding what Sir Ken Robinson calls ‘the element’ is also the quickest path to joy in life. If you didn’t get the memo – pay attention to this message: Life is NOT something to be taken seriously. We were put on this earth to make a positive difference while doing what we love. Happiness is not frivolous – it is a path to peace. One caution: passion is not indulgence. It is harmless (to ourselves and others). Play with it. What you create will positively change the world!
Who are you? What makes you curious? What do you find fun? How would you most like to play all day? If you were free to do anything, what would you do? The answers to these questions will provide you with ‘passion clues.’ They are parts of the million-piece-puzzle known as YOU. My personal passion profile includes: traveling, teaching, coaching, inspiring, sharing and caring, making a difference, reading, researching, learning, and activating creative potential with joy. My favorite ways to play range from playing classic solitaire on-line, Scrabble in real life, Latin dancing or doing Zumba, and, of course, creating collages, books and doing my thing on Twitter. A big part of my joy comes from just walking in nature. If there is a beach, park or nature trail around – you’ll find me there! Why is it important to know these things about myself – because they all offer clues to my most meaningful work. My passion for inspiring and sharing positive quotes led to creating www.JoyofQuotes.com website. This website shares my voice with the world. The feedback I get and the growing numbers of visitors to the site offer dramatic testimony to the power of passion. It thrills me to know people are being encouraged and inspired by the words I’ve gathered. My life feels meaningful because of it – and I am also empowered to extend my love of sharing and caring in other ways – such as this blog. Living your passion does not have to be complicated. It does not mean you must quit your ‘day job’ or give up your family responsibilites, it simply means you make room for it in your life. Right now you have everything you need to start taking baby steps in the direction of what you love. In your heart you probably have an idea of what this is for you. Give yourself that gift. The world is waiting for you!
Ok. We started this post with snow, but Spring has sprung and here’s the evidence – my friend Ann invites us all to come gratitude dancing at Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota, Florida. She is doing what she loves and all the world benefits! Watch the video and feel the joy, passion, creativity, and playfulness of putting up a sign and bringing colorful silk scarves to the beach. It’s magic! Let’s all start dancing with our passions in new ways. Ann is the dancing goddess in the straw hat. If you’re interested in participating in a Creative Playshop in Sarasota (complete with a gratitude dancing experience) let me know and I’ll set it up!
Lucky you! It’s Spring Break & you’re just one click away from dancing on the beach!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frRvJ-1Hc-k
Now anytime you need a dance break, just come back to this blog!
“ When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible. ”
Nancy Coey
I’ve mentioned this book before, but there really is no better book on the market about the power of passion for good than The Element by Sir Ken Robinson. If you missed my book review, click this link: http://tiny.ly/yGs8 Now it’s time to play with possibilities. Keven Carroll http://kevincarrollkatalyst.com Has written many books, but the one I’m calling your attention to today is titled: The Red Rubber Ball at Work. Jenna Smith, one of my super passionate peers in the Buffalo State Creative Studies department http://www.buffalostate.edu/creativity/ wrote a great book review. Please check it out at http://tiny.ly/xlmp . All through the book, Keven shares stories about children’s preferred ways of playing led them to amazing careers expressing their unique passions.
“The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which; he simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.
To him he is always doing both.”
Buddha
Creativity Prompt #1: Think back to your childhood and jot down your favorite ways to play. What did you enjoy doing most? Did you prefer inside or outside play? Did you like building things? Or taking things apart? Or creating imaginary worlds? Make a list as long as you can of your happiest memories. Write them out longhand. The act of writing will trigger more information to come up for you. When you feel you have it all on paper, look for patterns. Are you doing similar work? Do those activities still stimulate interest? Are there some playful actions from list you’ll like to experience again. Pencil ‘play time’ into your schedule and do it. Take toys to the office if that makes it easier. Playing promises to stimulate both your brain and your creativity. Have fun with it!
“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes in the world come about. So be that person.”
Buckminster Fuller
We are all brilliant in different ways. Learning your strengths will help identify areas of potential passion for you, too. Which of these intelligences fit you? Musical (music smart), Bodily-Kinesthetic (body smart),
Logical-Mathematical (number smart), Linguistic (word smart), Spatial (picture smart), Interpersonal (people smart), Intrapersonal (smart about myself), Naturalist (nature smart), Existential (‘big questions’ smart). Visit http://tiny.ly/YW7T to complete a fun questionnaire and generate your own colorful intelligence/preference chart. Howard Gardner www.howardgardner.com developed the theory of multiple intelligences and his books and web site are well worth exploring. You can also Google multiple intelligences and find good information.
Creativity Prompt #2: Consider recording your intelligence preferences to your journal and writing about their potential, or create a whole collage around your intelligence chart (print it out at www.bgfl.org) and surround it with images showing the ways you’d most like to explore your preferences.
“If God came in and said, I want you to be happy for the rest of your life, what would you do?”
Bernie Siegel
Creativity Prompt#3: Scrabble story challenge. These are all the words I pulled together on my Scrabble board. Your task is to write a short story, song or poem using all 26 words (and a few extra if needed). Please keep it to 100 words or less…total! Here’s the word list: passion, potential, preference, freedom, fun, play, create, gain, see, be, serve, give, idea, yes, ball, jigsaws, prison, what, why, how, too, brain, tao, odd, how, mind.
“ There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.”
Martha Graham
Set yourself free! I read an interesting blog this morning which starts with a powerful quote about the role of passion in creative leadership. It’s also full of insights into the importance of having a mission, and making a commitment to creativity. Powerful stuff! http://t.co/lAPZ6jS Read the article and ask yourself: Have I put myself in a cage? In what ways do I consider myself ‘not free’ to create?
“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
Rumi
I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog about creativity and passion and playfulness. It certainly feels more fun than last week’s topic of failure. I must admit to you I experienced some failure feedback from the Universe after that posting! It all worked out in magical ways, but it reminded me to remind you – failure does NOT feel good when it’s happening. Sure – there will be learnings down the road – but in the moment they are pretty difficult to appreciate. So my wish for you this week is for heaps of happy consequences from digging into the topic of passion and play. Thanks for visiting!
Marta Davidovich Ockuly
Passionate Creativity Catalyst
P.S. Don’t just take my word for it. Click the golden link below to hear Tom Kelley of IDEO sharing the importance of doing what you love!
Tom Kelley, IDEO Do What You Love » Wisepreneur: Creativity & Innovation for Entrepreneurs