MIND THE GAP PLEASE

MIND THE GAP PLEASE

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018 (A CONTEMPT-LESS ONE?)

Dear friends, 
I  hope that  2018 began well for you. In this irregular “out of my bubble” newsletter, you will find a new year challenge, an invitation and a quote. 
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1. New challenge – 2018 as a „contempt-less“ year 
​A year ago, I challenged you to have an „out of my bubble conversation“ and thanks to many of you who did and talked to me about it. This year, obviously, a new challenge: what about making 2018 a „contempt-less year?“ 

Why? In the discussions we lead in „our bubbles“ I often catch others and myself expressing contempt for supporters of other parties and candidates. But contempt is a very toxic emotion – for example, in a marriage, it is the biggest predictor of divorce. In a recent article about cashiers in Czechia, feeling contempt from customers is one of their biggest complaints. Who would you vote for if you felt treated like „vermin“ (in their own words) on a daily basis? This is not rocket science – if I feel contempt for the voter of an extreme party (and express it to her – in person, on Facebook, in the media), I am increasing the probability that she will vote for the extreme party again. 

Please let me know how you are doing with this challenge. There is lots of talk in Czechia, in the UK and in the US about divided societies. So maybe our „contempt-less 2018“ could be a small contribution towards depolarization. 

2. Invitation
I would love to invite you to our village carnival on February 10th in Prague – Suchdol. After our first ever street party last autumn (great occasion to get out of my bubble – tables on the street, lots of wiener schnitzel and nearly 100% attendance), this is an occasion to celebrate with everybody, locals and visitors. And to dress up – as per photo below! 

As many of you live far away, maybe a different invitation for my US friends  – why not join Better Angels on their drive to depolarize America? You can get trained as a moderator and organize workshops to bridge the blue-red divide. 

3. An aspirational quote, from the very cool new Openmind platform ran by the Heterodox Academy: “Look to your own faults. / What you have done or left undone. / Overlook the faults of others.” Buddha, The Dhammapada
Thanks for reading! Wishing you a great year! 

Eva

P.S. Two of my favorite books on this topic from 2017: Timothy Snyder’s essay  On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century is slightly scary. And David Goodhart’s provocative analysis about the split between the „somewheres“ and the „anywheres“ will make you think!

HUMAN LIBRARY AND TALKING TO YOUR MOTHER IN LAW

Dear friends, 
I  hope that you had a nice summer. In this irregular “out of my bubble” newsletter, you will find an invitation to a fun event, an idea and a quote.

1. Invitation

On Sunday the 10th of September together with the Czech branch of Amnesty International, I coordinated an event called the “living” or “human” library. It is a fun format – readers come into a “library” (we were in the beautiful medieval convent of St Agnes) and borrow a “book” for 20 minutes. Except that the book is a person, so the readers listen and ask questions. It is a great format, originally from Denmark, and very relevant to “out of my bubble” conversations. I cannot invite you to our event in Prague (at least a photo below), but you might find Human Library events near to where you are. 

2. Idea! You might be talking about Charlotesville, the German elections, Brexit or the upcoming elections in Czechia. And you are still surprised that your mother in law/friend/neighbor does not understand your logical arguments supported by hard data. In that case, maybe you should watch this 3-minute video. It explains why your excellent data might not be welcome and that you are better off first reminding each other of what you have in common. Or even better, you can first go and build something, for example a bar, as in this advertising (for beer and dialogue).

3. A quote, courtesy of the twitter feed of Urban Confessional. From Desmond Tutu. “If you want peace, do not talk to your friends. Talk to your enemies”.

Thanks for reading! Wishing you a great beginning of the school year and lots of intriguing “out of my bubble” conversations!

Eva
P.S. On a recent trip to Boston I spoke to my friend Belle who is involved with a cool initiative bringing together Jewish and Muslim women, the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom. Another way of meeting real people in a real setting! 

HUMAN LIBRARY AND TALKING TO YOUR MOTHER IN LAW


After a slight winter dip, back in full spring swing:

  • Bubbles on the airwaves! On the 15th of April, with Brit Jensen and Jirka Slavičinský, we have invited the young and hip listeners of Czech Public Radio DokuVlna program to have an „out of the bubble“ conversation. It also included few excerpts from interviews with some of you. It was the first time I made this truly „public“, i.e. beyond the circle of my friends. Exciting and slightly scary :-).  


 If you only have 3 minutes, maybe this video from the Atlantic on A Better Way How to Argue About Politics could both amuse you and give you some food for thought for the next conversation with your aunt/neighbor/yourself!

BUBBLES ON THE RADIO AND BETTER WAY TO ARGUE

In late December 2016 and early January 2017, I sent out New Year’s wishes with an “out of my bubble” invitation to many of my friend (yes, I know, cheeky, wishes with a “task” to do). Lots of things happened in between  – 2017 began, Donald Trump became president, Roger Federer won the Australian Open, a pine marten who stopped the CERN particle accelerator was included in a museum, a baby donkey has been born at my neighbor’s and a few other things. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the topic of “bubbles” is even more topical now than in 2016.  

Also, more than 40 people, from Seattle, through Calgary and Normandy and London, Berlin, Prague and other places and all the way to Sydney responded to my invitation. I also got lots of encouragement. Thanks very much for that (some of your encouraging comments are in the wordcloud). 

Many people are curious to hear how it went.  This blog is a summary, followed by four more detailed blogs on the different points. The intent is to share with all of you how it is going and to ask you for ideas and advice on how to go forward. It is also a “report” to the “shareholders” of this project, people who have invested energy and time into this. (And on the more material side, as promised, the bottles of wine go to Pavel, Melodie and Shana, and a bubble maker for everyone who participated or will participate.). 

So, here we go: “first conclusions“ from the “out of my bubble” challenge: 

 1. When it happens, it is eye-opening. When people do undertake “out of the bubble” conversations, they find it very interesting. Jean in Seattle talking to a Trump supporter, my Prague friend Marie talking to her uncle about Romas or me reading what another friend shares with me about Muslims and Europe – we find these conversations eye-opening, empowering, exciting. You can read more details in blog 1.

2. It is really hard to do ! Remember the ice bucket challenge in 2014, in which people poured a bucket of iced water over their heads to solicit donations for ALS? It was hard to do, but it took 30 seconds. It turns out that the “out of the bubble” challenge might be even harder than a bucket of cold water. 

Why is it so hard? 1) First reason is that many of us find it difficult to find anybody  from a different “bubble”. “I do not find a single person I know and can call a friend or a relative who is of the opposite view than mine. Talk about bubbles!!!” says my German friend Maja.  2) Second reason is that we just do not want to talk to the “other side”. One of my Czech friends wrote in capitals “I just DO NOT WANT to talk to them.” Many of you shared that your overall feeling about the “other side“ runs pretty deep. 3) Third reason is that these conversations are highly emotional. My friend Malgosia in London drew my attention to the “frustration and despair” we might feel, as these conversations touch our identity, values and beliefs. You can read more stories why it is hard in blog 2. 

3. The best motivation is … love! One of the most moving stories  was shared by my Czech friend Pavel. Five years ago he met Vera, a wonderful woman in all respects, except her and her family’s views on Romas. Any discussion on that topic with them was a source of conflict – from Pavel’s side, their arguments were totally unacceptable and “reminded him of the Holocaust”. He even though about terminating the relationship because of that. 

Pavel writes: “For me is is mainly about working on myself, to be aware of one’s own personal story, the unconscious sources that lead me to action. Once you see that, you see that the same happens for everybody – my partner, my family, friends, nations, Asad, Putin, Trump … It was all a trial and error process. “
You can read Pavel’s story in blog 3.

So what’s next?   

What’s next? The promised “bubble” party will take place in Prague – Suchdol on Friday February 24th.  I encourage you to continue sharing your experiences with me.

I have got a few ideas how to take this forward AND I would love to hear from you about your ideas. Mine range from just continuing the conversations (if you can), privately cultivating respect and intellectual humility, maybe transforming the project into “how to convince” or into a more collective meeting rather than one to one, why not digital, online or maybe just writing poems? And what are some of your ideas? More about all this in blog 4.
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On a personal note, of course this initiative is  taking time and energy. There are days when I think this whole project is useless and I should rather be doing something else. And then I get some nice email or phone call from one of you or read about organizations with similar goals and I get encouraged again. So we shall see where this will take us. 
Thanks for reading a have a lovely day (my neighbor’s baby donkey photo as a bonus for reading all the way to here).
Eva

EVA BLECHOVÁ

EVA BLECHOVÁ

Tvořivě sebevědomý

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PROČ RADĚJI NESEDÍ DOMA? (KDYŽ ZA TO STEJNĚ NEJSOU PENÍZE)

11/19/2017

Celý včerejší sobotní den jsem strávila na workshopu o psaní a tvoření. 15 lidí, příjemná místnost, koláčky a čaj. Zkušený editor Andrew Wille nás prováděl čtyřmi živly, které je dobré vybalancovat, aby beletrie či literatura faktu byly srozumitelné, čtivé, zajímavé. Trochu vody, trochu ohně, trochu země a trochu vzduchu. Voila.

Možná o tom napíšu víc do detailu někdy jindy. Dnes mě více zajímá otázka: proč je ochotno 15 lidí (včetně mě) zaplatit peníze a strávit den na workshopu (dobře, bylo opravdu ošklivo, ale stejně)? Většina účastníků (tedy spíš účastnic) píše román nebo hru nebo poezii nebo knihu o astrologii. Chtějí být slavné? Chtějí si tím vydělávat?

Když jsem hovořila s mnoha tvůrci různých žánrů v rámci své disertace, dospěla jsem k deseti možným důvodům, proč tvořit. Většina z těch, které tvůrci uváděli, souvisela více s vnitřní motivací (intrinsic motivation), tedy věnování se úkolu pro úkol samotný, než s motivací vnější (extrinsic motivation), cílem, který je mimo samotný úkol.

To potvrzují i různé studie – v jedné z prvních z nich, v roce 1973, zkoumali vědci děti ve školce. Začalo to dobře – děti dostali nové barevné fixy. Skupina Berušek měla motivaci vnější, paní učitelka stanovila, že nejlepší obrázek dostane “Good Player Award”. Skupina Veverek měla motivaci vnitřní, kreslení pro samotné kreslení, žádný diplom. Ukázalo se, že Berušky sice něco nakreslily, ale vnější odměna oslabila jejich zájem o kreslení novými fixy. Odpoledne si s nimi už nehrály, na rozdíl od Veverek, kterým žádná odměna slíbena nebyla. Navíc i kvalita jejich obrázků byla horší než u Veverek.

Na základě třiceti let empirických studií tohoto typu, kdy byl podobný efekt zjištěn u různých věkových skupin a v různých prostředích, zformulovala Teresa Amabileová “princip vnitřní motivace tvořivosti” (intrinsic motivation principle of creativity), který se dá shrnout následovně:

“Ve velmi velkém počtu pečlivých empirických studií se ukázalo, že pro většinu osob ve většině situací má nastavení vnějších cílů, včetně očekávané odměny negativní dopad jak na motivaci jedince k vykonání úkolu, tak na jeho tvořivost při plnění úkolu”.

Vědci vysvětlují tento fakt tím, že očekávání odměny, hodnocení nebo jiného vnějšího tlaku nás vede k tomu, že hrajeme na jistotu a hledáme nejrychlejší řešení. To je v protikladu k hledání opravdu tvůrčího řešení. Očekávaná odměna zužuje naše pole, místo aby ho rozšiřovala (což zase souvisí s pozitivní psychologií a teoriemi “broaden and build”, rozšíření a budování Barb Fredriksonové, ale o tom až někdy jindy).

Takže je vlastně dost zajímavé, že i když jsou ty výzkumy hodně staré, tak se pořád divíme (jako já včera), že tolik lidí píše román/kreslí/tančí z vnitřní motivace spíše než kvůli motivaci vnitřní …

Princip vnitřní motivace je možno převést i na jiné činnosti než jsou ty “umělecky” tvořivé. Vlastně skoro na všechny. I když zrovna nepíšete/nekreslíte/netančíte, možná pracujete v nějakém týmu, podniku, korporaci. A jak ukázal Daniel Pink ve svém bestselleru “Pohon”, pokud se jedná alespoň o malinko kognitivně náročný úkol, vnitřní motivace je výhodnější než motivace vnitřní. Takže až budete příště jako šéf vyhlašovat soutěž o “Good Player Award”, vzpomeňte si na Berušky a Veverky ve školce a ještě to promyslete.

A proč píšete/tančíte/kreslíte vy? Napište něco do komentářů a uvidíme, jestli to zapadá do mých 10 důvodů “proč tvořit”, o které se podělím příště. Anebo možná máte nějaký zcela originální důvod?

P.S. Fotka je z představení „Buchet“. Hodně radosti, hodně společenství, hodně práce (to už trochu napovídám ohledně těch důvodů tvořit).

FLEXIBLE LEADERSHIP: HOW TO STOP MANAGING AND START FACILITATING

12/10/2016

The role of the leader in this context is not to set a vision and then make others follow it, but rather to create an environment where others can flourish. In other words, to make things easier for them.

You can read the whole blog post (written for the Ariel Group) here. 

RISKY BUSINESS: GET YOUR TEAM TO DARE

6/12/2016

Our task as facilitators, and leaders, is to create an environment where uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure are part of life. Where failure is a chance to learn. That is what “safe” means.

You can read the whole blog post (written for the Ariel Group) here. 

THE TWO WORDS YOU SHOULD AVOID (ESPECIALLY WHILE INNOVATING)

6/9/2016

“Yes, and” does not mean that you agree with everything other people are saying. It means that you do listen and take seriously their suggestions before accepting them, building on them or dismissing them.
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You can read the whole blog (written for the Ariel Group) here. 

HE IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN ME! COMPARING IN MUMBAI

3/4/2015

A week in Mumbai. Contrasts, colour, spices, Bollywood songs, heat, Indian ocean. Wonderful participants in our two day training for the Ariel Group. Wonderful colleagues who flew in from Europe and Australia to deliver this training to four groups of 8 people in parallel. We go for dinner the night before, we discuss how to run this, what would be best, we exchange tips. We are professionals, colleagues, friends. 

9 a.m. the next day, we start. My training room is next to Martin’s  and the sound proofing is really bad –  I can hear a lot of what he says with his resonant voice. And I can hear his group laugh. And laugh again. And laugh again. Cheerful, active, engaged group. 

Suddenly, it is here! Comparison! Martin must be a better facilitator than myself! He makes them laugh right from the beginning. His group is active already while in my group we have not even introduced each other. And we have not laughed! I am so boring! Martin is so entertaining! He is better! I am worse! 

In one of the interviews I am doing for this creativity project, Victor, a performer, meditator and teacher, has summed this up beautifully, when we were talking about obstacles to creativity: 

„But another obstacle is all the other stuff  where my mind tends to go and that makes me suffer. Like comparing myself to others. Or being caught up in the questions of „how successful am I“, „how well-known am I?“ „am I on a good career track“? When I see people being very successful like – am I doing enough, am I doing ok? So that whole what I would call a pattern of suffering in the mind is another obstacle to creativity. That when I’m in that mindset of comparing or jealousy or grasping after more money or fame or whatever it is, that’s the opposite of creativity.

And right, it’s a direct parallel to the performance mind of – I’m on stage and what I’m worried about is the audiences‘ approval. Like: „is what I’m doing good enough“? That’s performance mind. So yes, this is the direct day to day life analogy to performance mind. 

The opposite is „being mind“, because being mind is creativity. Being mind is being open to what’s actually present. So, when I’m open to my senses, when I’m open to my thoughts and emotions. That’s the essence of creativity, then all channels are open, I’m informed by everything and inspired by everything and I can create endlessly. I am letting in all of these things and there’s no lack of inspiration.  It’s just letting in what’s already there.“

So, back in Mumbai, I do two things – first, on a very practical level, I ask the organizers to change the room, and indeed we manage to get a better room after the break. In the remaining hour, I take this as an exercise in the „being mind“ versus „comparing mind“. I tell myself things like: „I have a different style from Martin, maybe my group will laugh later (he who laughs later laughs best), or: „this is not about laughing but about learning“. Mostly, I just breathe deeply and connect with the participants. Through all this, after some time, I do not hear Martin’s group any more. 

The funny thing? When we meet in the evening over a delicious palaak paneer and daal and biryani and all the other things on the buffet table, Martin shares with me that he went through the same process – why does Eva’s group laugh more than mine? 

CREATIVITY LEADS TO HAPPINESS WHICH LEADS TO CREATIVITY WHICH ...

10/29/2014

It makes me very happy to follow the UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center online course “The Science of Happiness”. As other courses I have taken on Coursera, EdX or Novoed, I find the experience inspiring, informative and entertaining. 

The course also clarified for me the interesting links between happiness and creativity, there seems to be a virtuous cycle between happiness and creativity. 

There are dozens of studies proving that happiness and positive emotions make you more creative and innovative at work. Studies by Alice Isen and Barb Fredrikson show that when I am in a state in positive emotion, I become more creative. In their experiments, people who are given a bag of candy or shown a few minutes of a comedy film perform better on creative tasks and have more ideas about what to do next. Interesting work was done with doctors making better medical decisions, being better at integrating the complex information of an unsolved case when they’re given a bag of candy – which when you think of it, is a really small positive emotion induction.

In the interviews I am conducting  with people about their own creativity, the same pattern emerges – when people remember the conditions which made it possible for them to be creative, they talk about happy periods and moments in their lifes. 

At the same time, being creative is the sort of activity that makes us happier. I am writing this on a train to Berlin right now, and as I look around at my fellow passengers, I wonder: “why are some happier than others?”  

Researchers in the field of positive psychology have been studying this and have come up with some approximate answers. So, Sonja Lyubomirsky (LINK) explains that  fifty percent (50%) of the variance in happiness is due to our genes, about ten percent (10%) lies in our life circumstances, being richer, poorer, more or less attractive, more or less healthy. And that leaves forty percent (40%) of happiness (and again, that number shouldn’t be set in stone, but quite a large number that is under our control, under our power to change. So: how do we harness that forty percent (40%)? 

Creativity might be part of the answer. I am not quite sure how many percent (and probably – maybe fortunately – we will never be sure), but there are definitely elements that contribute to happiness. Let me list the most important ones 


1) Focused states lead to happiness – again and again, my colleagues mention in their interviews how much pleasure they derive from a „flow“ state (as famously defined by Mihaly C ) who first studied artists. I liked the description of one of my respondents, who likened it to being in a jaccuzi. 

2) Self-expression leads to happiness through meaning  – recently, Roy Baumaster from Florida State University has published  a controversial paper  trying to disentangle what makes our lives happy and what makes them meaningful. This is a slightly complicated debate trying to separate the „pleasure happiness“ from the „meaningful happiness“. However, usually, the both are linked and go hand in hand. 

Part of his conclusions, as described by Jill Suttie and Jason Marsh (LINK) are that Self-expression is important to meaning but not happiness. Doing things to express oneself and caring about personal and cultural identity were linked to a meaningful life but not a happy one. For example, considering oneself to be wise or creative was associated with meaning but not happiness.

3) Sense of achievement leads to happiness – researchers find that students who do have sense
of achievement both academically and socially rate themselves as happier and as having higher levels of subjective well being. Many of the people I speak to describe the sense of achievement about their creative projects – independently from any external praise or success, “just” the sense of completing a project brings pleasure. 

4) Community – many of my respondents mention their creativity as part of a group of like minded inviduals. and that is the part that makes most sense to them. 

What about you? What about being creative makes you happy? 

ZAKIR HUSSAIN AND RULE NUMBER 6

10/18/2014

Yesterday, we joined few friends and went to see classical Indian music concert in London’s Barbican Centre.  Zakir Hussain, in his 60s, is described as a „classical tabla virtuoso of the highest order“. On Saturday, he was accompanied by and several younger instrumentalists playing a bamboo flute, sarangi, and several types of drums. 

Zakir Hussein is a virtuoso, in the sense of doing something very few people can do – in his case, moving his hands on the tabla in such a way that this produces interesting sounds. For some reason, I am usually not very impressed by virtuosity. My main pleasure and joy from the concert was the the playfulness, the dialogue between players. In front of a sold out hall of 1900 people, there  was call and response between Zakir and one of his colleagues, there were laughs, and smiles and a sense of ease and fun. 
To give you an idea, an example recorded in France last year is  here (especially from minute 15 onwards). 

Few days ago, I was working for one afternoon with a small group of international senior executives on their persuasiveness and passion while presenting. They kept referring to “rule number 6”. Intrigued, I had to ask – they shared that it is a rule the main facilitator of their week-long training, Pierre, mentioned on day 1, inspired by Benjamin Zander, an orchestra conductor, author and speaker. Obviously, this resonated enormously with the participants, from Brasil, Netherlands, China or Indonesia. 

Rule number 6 is: Do not take yourself too seriously! What are rules number 1 to 5? There are no rules number 1 to 5.

I am not sure if Zakir Hussein and his colleagues know rule number 6, if that is a conscious choice. And it definitely works for me – my only complaint is that the concert was too short! 

What is it that the „simple“ idea of not taking ourselves too seriously resonates so much? What does it really mean „do not take yourself too seriously“?  Is it because this instruction provides a „gap“ in our hurried reality? Is is because it includes the assumption that we are human, imperfect, vulnerable? 

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT

10/6/2014

Cornwall, October 6th, 2014

“Happiness project” by Gretchen Rubin is a book I came across in various airports and bookshops in the past year or two, leafed through it and left it there. I only bought it in Boston airport few weeks ago – and I am glad I did. I finished reading it yesterday and in many ways, this is an inspiring book for me at this point of my “journey” with the creativity “project”. 

Gretchen is an ex-lawyer and has written books on Winston Churchill and J.F.Kennedy before, but her “Happiness project” became a bestseller – as the colorful cover says: one million copies sold. 

What made it an „acceptable“ self-help book for myself, is a clever mix of research, inspirational quotes and personal experience. The main heroine (Gretchen) undertakes a journey to improve her happiness in one year, by concentrating on one aspect each month (January – clutter, February – marriage, March – lighten up). What works in that wild mix? A heroine who one can identify with, a journey limited in time, the chapters. Unfortunately, the book does not include links to the research (some of it is well-known, some of it is new to me), and the first part is better than the second one, but overall, an enjoyable read with few inspiring things to remember … 

For myself, it provided encouragement – here is someone who was not an “expert on happiness”, and yet, managed over a reasonable period of time (maybe it took her more than a year) to write something which had impact for myself and for thousands, well, maybe even a million of other people. 

On the more technical aspects, maybe I can be inspired by

  • do not be shy to be the main “heroine” of this journey
  • make some chapters/structure to provide a sense of a “journey”
  • do not be afraid to mix research references and “autoethnography” 
  • the list of “12 commandements” starting with “Be Gretchen” as something to refer to as well as “4 splendid truths” – people like lists … (I am sure there is a list on why people like lists somewhere on the internet)
  • do not be afraid to share my doubts (Gretchen’s main doubt seems to be – who am I to write about happiness when I am living a comfortable life in New York with my family, only someone like Nelson Mandela or people who overcame severe depression should be “allowed” to write about happiness) 

IN THE GAP - HOW TO GET NO POINTS AND BE HAPPY ABOUT IT

10/3/2014

This week, enjoying more and more our weeklong meditation retreat, and while I might “use it” to get some deeper ideas about my various project(s) (as mentioned in the previous blog),  the biggest reminder is a simple one: that ultimately, I believe that there are no “points” for projects, for being productive, for answering emails, for “doing”. 

Quoting Donal’s article from his new website

„We often live with a sense of tremendous speed propelled towards a vague future in the company of the twin terrors: hope and fear. Life seems always to lie in that future. We miss completely the in-dwelling life and the life around us and live in the realm of thought and projection. Thus the greater background, the space of awareness and the mystery and depth of being-in-itself is obliterated by the hard speed of thought and habit. What does it mean to be fully present in our living? Is it possible to be present to the world around us; to the wind in the trees, the bird in the air, the woman sweeping the floor and the man at the gate, to beauty and sorrow? Is it possible to be present to the internal world of thought and feeling and of speech, action and reaction? And going further, what is presence in itself, free of any object, presence without becoming?“

I find it reassuring that I do have a choice about spending time on “projects” and spending time in the “gap”.

It also reminded me of an interview I did recently for this creativity project with a friend who is a teacher and therapist and she came up with the distinction between “product creativity” and “process creativity”. 

„And as with all my creative life which used to be much more actively in theatre, it was always improvisation. It’s always been about process. I’ve never been engaged in a creative process that was about an end product only. That’s never been interesting to me. And it still really isn’t interesting to me. I mean, not that I don’t love great pieces of art, but I know that’s not what I can create. I’m compelled in the moment to be moved in a moment. That’s what creativity is for me. (…)  Improvisation and picking up things in a moment in just being very present has always been most interesting and I’m most good at it. And I don’t know exactly why, but I’m paying extreme attention to everything all the time. And that’s what, I think that’s this like present process creativity.“

So, on a very practical level, should I go to the next meditation session, starting in 3 minutes and be present, in the „gap“, or should I continue writing this blog and aim for the end-product? Is there a formula for integrating those two? 

On a more philosophical note, is creativity in this sense all pervasive? A sign of being human? A sign of being alive?

WHY DAYDREAMING IS GOOD FOR YOUR AND YOUR IDEAS

10/2/2014

2nd of October, Cornwall

I am spending this week on a meditation retreat in a beautiful place in Cornwall, with old and new friends and a wonderful meditation teacher, Donal Creedon. Meditating for more than six hours per day is a mixture of beautiful, inspiring, deep, irritating, boring and difficult. 

On the third day of the retreat, when I finally settled in after a schedule in the weeks before, have had a couple of 9 hour sleep nights, the thoughts, plans, feelings, pains, retreated slightly. And while “resting with whatever comes” in the  morning meditation session, I suddenly had a few ideas about the “creativity project” I have been working on for some time now (and to which this blog is dedicated to – actually I had the idea of starting a blog in this session :-)).  

It was not really meditation, maybe rather daydreaming – the fact of stopping and going into a “deeper” place has helped me come up with better ideas than if I had spent the same amount of time more „efficiently“ in front of the computer or reading articles and books. 

This reminded me of an article recently mentioned at Brainpickings website (a great source on creativity) referencing an article called „“Ode to Positive Constructive Daydreaming”, published in the Frontiers in Psychology.

Rebecca McMillan and Scott Kaufman write: 

(…) most recent studies depict mind wandering as a costly cognitive failure with relatively few benefits (…). This perspective makes sense when mind wandering is observed by a third party and when costs are measured against externally imposed standards such as speed or accuracy of processing, reading fluency or comprehension, sustained attention, and other external metrics.

There is, however, another way of looking at mind wandering, a personal perspective, if you will. For the individual, mind wandering offers the possibility of very real, personal reward, some immediate, some more distant. These reward include self- awareness, creative incubation, improvisation and evaluation, memory consolidation, autobiographical planning, goal driven thought, future planning, retrieval of deeply personal memories, reflective consideration of the meaning of events and experiences, simulating the perspective of another person, evaluating the implications of self and others’ emotional reactions, moral reasoning, and reflective compassion.

From this personal perspective, it is much easier to understand why people are drawn to mind wandering and willing to invest nearly 50% of their waking hours engaged in it.

So next time you daydream, do not beat yourself up for that. Rather, I am asking myself the question – how to integrate those moments into the creative process? For an individual? For a creative group (i.e. a theatre company or a radio production)? Rather than sitting for 4 hours with no break in the studio, go out for some time and daydream? 

Happy daydreaming to you! 

WHY BOTHER?

10/1/2014

  •  1st October, 2014, Cornwall. 
  • OK, I have to write the PhD dissertation on “developing your creativity and creative confidence” by May 2015. No, that is wrong. I WANT to write the Phd dissertation. Well, I do not feel like writing it today. But otherwise, I have chosen the topic and I have decided to do it. And I will do it. 
  • But why? Why bother? Why not read a book? Go for a walk? Take another online course? Make some money? Why bother, Eva, I am asking you? (not quite sure who is speaking). 
  • Because I think it will make me happy in a hedonistic way – I believe that there will be moments in the process when I will feel “in the flow”, or as they say in Greek, “meraki”. Also, because it will make me happy, because it is a meaningful project. I believe that I have things to say (not quite yet, but I will, by May 2015), that could inspire others to be more creative and more confident about their creativity. Also because I have invested time and enegy into it already and have committed myself. ​​​
  • Ehmm, again, just think about it for a while – those are just sunk costs.You could still give up.  Let me say it again: why bother? It is so much work! So much time! So much money you could make instead, or holidays you could take, books you could read … And while we are speaking, let me ask another question – why you? What makes you think that you could write something actually useful to others? Who do you think you are? 
  • OK, still not sure who is speaking .. but let me tell you. Well, it would take too much time to tell you. So let me start a blog. A blog that will help me write this PhD thesis, that will help me lead a (public) dialogue with you, let’s call you my inner critic for the moment … I know what you will say …”Why bother starting a blog? So much work!”
  • It will stretch me, it will force me to write more often, it might connect me with people with similar interests, who will hopefully be somewhat more supportive than yourself. 
  • Are you sure? What if other people will read it and think that it is stupid? Half-baked? Not researched enough? ​
  • Sometimes the hardest thing is to start. Sometimes you just have to do it. Here it is. I am posting my first blog on this website. Enter!