This cozy long weekend always reinforces the beauty of giving thanks. I have a lot to be thankful for.

Writing to all of you has been a great source of joy. I love hearing from you and connecting with you on a daily basis. It is a wonderful way for me to begin creating my day. Thank you.

One of my favorite writers, Wallace D. Wattles, has some fabulous reasons as to why gratitude is a key ingredient for success.

As creative beings we realize that All things are born out of a creative force. This unseen creativity is immense and powerful. It is energy made manifest. Money also is energy made manifest. The more energy you express creatively, the more comes into your world in the form of riches, or money.

Wattles writes, “If it is a new thought to you that gratitude brings your whole mind into closer harmony with the creative energies of the universe, consider it well, and you will see that it is true.

“The good things you already have, have come to you along the line of obedience to certain laws. Gratitude will lead your mind out along the ways by which things come; and it will keep you in close harmony with creative thought and prevent you from falling into competitive thought.”

Being competitive wipes out any sparks of creativity. Being grateful instantaneously attracts a movement of blessings towards you. “The law of gratitude is the natural principle that action and reaction are equal, and in opposite directions.

“But the value of gratitude does not consist solely in getting you more blessings in the future. Without gratitude you cannot long

keep from dissatisfied thought regarding things as they are.”

He is saying that if you feel dissatisfied, switch gears, then find something, anything that you are grateful for. This alone transforms the unproductive energy of dissatisfaction into the wealth-producing energy of appreciation.

“It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you; and to give thanks continuously.”

And this next bit is really important. “And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

Wow. What does this mean?

Well, take this moment to reflect on all that has happened to you. If you really look closely, every event has formed you into the beautiful, creative being you are today. So don’t look back in judgment. Give thanks even to those who you may have previously felt don’t deserve it.

You see, a judgmental world is a sad, depressive world. A world of gratitude is a joyous, peaceful, infinitely creative world. Only you can choose which world fits your needs.

Just remember. What you want wants you too. And being thankful for even the smallest event triggers a joyful creative force that may otherwise lay dormant forever. This creative force manifests into wealth thus allowing you, the creator, the freedom and joy to be all you can be.

Copyright 2005 Tania French

Tania French is a composer who has enjoyed performances and radio broadcasts of her music worldwide. Her new CD “Renewal” (released January 1, 2006) features a rejuvenating fusion of new age, classical, and world music.Subscribe to her popular newsletter at http://www.prosperousartist.com.© 2005 Tania French. All Rights Reserved.

Now that I no longer awaken to the sound of a jarring alarm clock, I’ve learned to welcome the early morning hours.

Because that is the time when I can hear my inner voice most clearly.

Sometimes it is just a knowing. A realization that cuts through the noise to reveal how I truly feel about something or someone.

It picks apart puzzling dilemmas and offers creative solutions.

It is at the time before I have fully awakened and left the world of dreams, that messages from some deep place percolate to the surface.

It is a peaceful time. It is easy to be sensitive to the rhythms of the body, the sounds of the quiet inner voice.

Shortly, the shrill ring of the telephone will shatter the stillness and redirect my energy to external concerns. My attention will then belong to the client on the other end of the line.

But for these few precious minutes, I savor the calm.

We function best when we make time to be both active and still. The demands of being making a living, raising a family, draw us toward motion and activity. But my observation is that we nourish ourselves and become more productive when we include the contributions of

our inner voice.

Upon awakening, while still dwelling in that netherworld between consciousness and unconsciousness, the neatly packaged solution to some petty problem floats up into my mind. Whole articles with their sentences quietly arranged in perfect rows hang in the air.

A perfect turn of a phrase, the solution to a knotty problem with a difficult client, the working out of the composition of an illustration … such jewls are the gifts of the inner mind.

They are fragile bubbles that pop when exposed to the direct morning sun. The trick is to capture the quiet voices before they are drowned by the noise of daily activity.

By extending the quiet time a little longer I can sit at my computer and transcribe those thoughts.

Some say artists and intuitives hear it loudest. But we all have an inner voice. And it speaks to us. All we must do is listen.

Ellen Zucker’s site, selfemployment101.com, provides helpful articles and resources to help the creative sole-proprietor earn a living and create a life.

Ellen has been successfully self-employed for the past 10 years.Her company, Faces & Fortunes, http://www.facesandfortunes.com, provides caricature and psychic entertainment to parties and special events in the Philadelphia area.

Somewhere inside your mind you have the seeds of genius. They may be lying dormant now, but if nurtured and cultivated, these seeds can grow into achievements beyond which you have ever dreamed or imagined.

Einstein and Edison were recognized as geniuses. Not only did these men come up with innovative and previously unheard of ideas, each claimed to have gotten their ideas through a “flash of insight”. The creative imaginations of Einstein and Edison set them apart from the rest of us. They were among the few individuals who had the ability to call upon their creative imaginations at will.

But all of us are capable of genius. All we have to do is to cultivate the creative genius within us. Creativity is not a “gift” given only to an elite few. It is available to all of us – if we learn to recognize it and nurture it.

What makes a person creative? Creative people have complex outlooks, adventurous minds and independent judgment. They consider many diverse solutions to problems, even foolish ones, recognizing that one idea often leads to another, perhaps better, idea.

Creative people systematically look at all sides of a problem and then lay the problem aside to “incubate” in their subconscious minds. Often solutions to problems come to them in sudden insights. Creative people trust their ideas and intuition. They develop the courage to proceed in spite of criticism. If they fail, they learn from the failure and try again.

Creative people tend to prefer complexity to neatness. They are not upset by half-formed ideas or

half-realized solutions. They enjoy taking risks and experiencing challenge. Creative people tend to break out of the usual, recognized paths of conception.

To nurture your own creativity, start by breaking out of old thinking patterns.

Playfully consider “impossible” solutions to problems. Take risks and become open to new possibilities. Temporarily suspend logic and reason your and allow intuition to come into play.

Intuition, sometimes called “true” knowledge, is not contrary or opposite to reason, it simply lies outside the realm of traditional reason. Only by quieting or by-passing the logical mind can one free intuition and experience the “Eureka!” of discovery.

You can develop your creative intuition by learning to pay attention to “hunches”. Keep a journal of your intuitions, hunches and gut feelings. Later, look back

on these feelings to see which proved to be real intuition, and which were just “wishful thinking”. You may begin to notice that real intuitions feel differentthan your other thoughts. You may notice that you have “intuitive cues” that tell you when you are experiencing real intuition Common intuitive cues include feelings of expectation, a “stomach dropping” sensation or other mental “alert” signals.

Learn to play the “mind games” of creative thinkers, and you may find that you, too, can think like a genius.

Rita Milios is a psychotherapist, author and speaker on topics of mind and creativity. Her books include Tools for Transformation (available at http://www.ritamilios.com/) and the forthcoming Instant Inspiration: How to Have Creativity on Tap…Anytime, All the Time…and Never Have Writer’s Block Again.

If your life is dull, meaningless and filled of routines, it’s time you developed a creative habit. This is a habit that must give you energy, hold your interest, challenge your thoughts, stretch your imagination, and generate new discoveries and problem-solving ideas. Practicing a creative habit can increases your self-confidence and self-acceptance.

Here are some ideas of how to develop a creative habit and improve your life within weeks.

1. Do something you have wanted to do by have been postponing for a long time. E.g.: learn how to cook, work on your car, decorate a room in your house, develop a business idea, learn how to dance, begin a collection, learn how to make jewelry, learn a foreign language. Follow your desire and listen to your heart.

2. Do something creative when you are in the grips of a negative emotion, such as anger or sadness. Keep a log of your activities and progress. You will be amazed with the results in your life, in a very short time. (Hint: Watch Billy Elliot dance his anger off in the film listed above.)

3. Join a group or a class and learn to make something with your hands (e.g.: pottery, gardening, baking, making jewelry, welding, making furniture, knitting, etc.) Engage your body in the creative process, especially if you spend hours in an office.

4. If you like music, join a choir or learn an instrument. Organize music nights at your home. (A client of mine organized ‘opera nights’ in her home; her guests dressed up as famous opera characters and each performed their favorite aria. Then, they had champagne and a lavish, home-cooked dinner.)

4. Finish a project that you began and abandoned some time ago. When you finish it, have a party to celebrate your completed creation.

5. There are hundreds of books and video-tapes on craft-making. Borrow a few from your public library and read through them. Find a craft or

activity that interests you and emerge yourself in it. Allow yourself to have fun in the process.

6. For Christmas, a birthday, or for a special a holiday, make gifts for your family, friends or loved ones, instead of buying them: they can be hand-made cards, home-made cakes, a craft, a knitted sweater, a carved toy, a framed sketch, a collage, anything that excites your fantasy and gives you pleasure to create. Invite your family to do the same. Hand-made gifts are special and very meaningful not only for those who receive them but also for those who make them. They are less likely to be thrown or put away, and gain value as time goes by.

7. Take a cooking class or create your “Party of Chefs”, in which you invite friends to participate in a collaboratively cooked dinner. Rent a cooking video, open your recipe books, and have a lot of fun creating in the kitchen!

9. Interview three people that you consider creative in any domain. Ask them about their creative habits and their relationship to their creativity. Ask them about the gifts they received from their creative habits. Ask for advice of how to develop and maintain a creative habit.

10. Stop associating with people who drain your creative energy due to their actions, words, or attitudes. Instead, use your time to develop a creative habit.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maria Grace, Ph.D., is an expert at teaching people how to learn lessons from popular movies to find the job, home, relationship, and healthy body and mind they want. She is a Fulbright scholar, licensed psychotherapist, sought-after public speaker and coach, and the author of “Reel Fulfillment: A 12-Step Plan for Transforming Your Life through Movies” (McGraw-Hill, 2005). “Reel Fulfillment” was praised by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the top “self help books out of the self-help box” for 2005-2006.

For more information visit http://www.mariagrace.com and http://www.reelfulfillment.com

Creativity is the gift to mankind. This is not the thing which can be created by human beings.

In the every day life we see a lot of things like computer, calculators, abacus etc. After the sight of which we think that these are better than the Human mind.

But fact is different. Computers have no ability to think and create on their own.

Am I right or not? What do you think about this?

Thinking, creativity, feelings and many things which computer is short of at this time. There are many man made things which works better than human body and mind. But they can not take the place of human being.You can not replace a human body with a computer after the body dies. But you can replace computer from a computer even better in some respects. Computers can not make the human minds better.

Now close your eyes for five minutes and think as written below:

You are on a most beautiful hill with grass everywhere and flowers of romantic

pink colors spread here and there. You are walking on a concrete path. It starts raining.

You are feeling the drops of rain on your head, your face, your whole body. And you are talking with someone you love the most i.e., you are on a romantic getaway.

It is sure that after thinking this you are feeling good.

Can computers do this? They do not have emotions. They do not have imaginations.

They are just like our slaves. Computers are actually poor. Though they are best of the creation of human being. But human beings are better than computers because ALLAH has created human being and nobody is better creator than ALLAH.

Creativity is only bestowed to humans. And wise peoples do not stop thinking. Whether they are sitting or standing. They think every time about the earth and heavens and the things between them. And at last they say, ” My Lord! you have not created anything purposeless. You are great!”.

Usman Zafar Paracha

Student of B-Pharmacy, Final Proff.

http://www.zafarparacha.netfirms.com

It is possible to enhance your intelligence quotient in a matter of 10 minutes. Some techniques to do so are discussed below.

Don’t you want to enhance your IQ? Of course, you can use the brain power exercises and techniques. But these are long term and you would need to regularly practice them. What if you want to boost your IQ now, when you don’t have more than 10 minutes. You would need all your IQ for any important meeting, or a test or any other major event in your life. If you really need some concrete results and not argue about intelligence, try the following techniques.

Breath To Increase Intelligence Quotient

Breath deeply through your nose. This will relax you immensely and help you remain calm and composed. Deep breathing infuses oxygen into your blood and therefore into your brain and enhances its functioning. A relaxed brain will be far more efficient. Also nose breathing uses the diaphragm more, so lungs draw more air. This is the simplest and shortest way to enhance your intelligence quotient immediately.

Another level of relaxation through breathing is meditation. Sit in whatever posture you are comfortable and concentrate on your breathing. With eyes closed, breath through your nose initially and this will truly calm and relax you. you will have thoughts interfering but just ignore them and keep your focus on your breathing. Do this for a few minutes.

Posture and exercise can improve your IQ

The posture you take while at any problem will surely affect the intelligence at your disposal. Just observe the difference when you solve a math problem slouching and sleeping while you do the same sitting upright. The latter posture will definitely be better since you can think a lot better like that.

You need to exercise, but not a very hectic regime as such. Exercise just enough to pump blood into your brain. Walking works for many but a better alternative to boost your IQ is aerobics.

Sleep also is very crucial for proper brain functioning. But the quality of sleep is also important apart from the duration of sleep.

Diet to Boost IQ

One tree whose leaves do certainly increase blood flow into brain is ginkgo biloba tree. You can use its leaves either in tea or in form of capsules. It

also helps improve your memory power and concentration. The effect is immediate and it lasts long if regularly used.

Caffeine is certainly a IQ booster. It has been proved that any test taken after consuming caffeine in some form or the other does increase your scores. But do remember, that the effect is only temporary and caffeine if used longer can have adverse side effects too.

Give up sugar. Any carbohydrate if taken beyond a limit, can blur your thinking. Insulin gets injected into your blood stream after you have sugar and thus diminishes your ability to think. Avoid all carbohydrates like white flour, sugar, potatoes if you want to think clearly.

Results matter in the end

Experts will endlessly debate if the above techniques can really boost one’s IQ. But there are times when it is very crucial for you to score high in a test. The above techniques if are found to be IQ booster, why not use them rather than wasting time in thinking if IQ really gets boosted or not. What matters is the score you get in the IQ test. So if you sleep well, have coffee and think sitting straight and if all this boosts IQ, there is no harm in doing the above techniques. These will prepare you better to face any task. Hence, be wise and don’t debate any more on IQ and its definitions.

I am sure you all know Henry Ford. What was his IQ, any idea? Why bother? He was the most creative thinker of the last century and he was so because he was always in the company of intelligent people. That alone is a direct 20 point in IQ. I hope you get the point I state here.

You are concerned about results. Hence if you want to be creative resort to such techniques of finding a solution. There are techniques available to try out anything. Try your hands at speed reading and you will have double the grasp on the subject you read. What the world will see are the results or achievements you garner in your lifetime. The Monalisa, the Empire State building etc are what the world will remember and not your score in IQ tests.

Evgheny Stivenson, psychologist, developer of a very difficult IQ test: http://www.wordofmouthexperiment.com/dedpyhto/IQ-test-trainer.htm

Clutter, clutter everywhere!

More and more I’m hearing Baby Boomers complain about the clutter in their lives. And, I have to admit, I’m no exception. Plus, a significant number of clients are telling me they are overwhelmed by clutter and can’t seem to get to the things that really matter.

When we redid the office recently, just that one room showed how much “stuff” we’d accumulated and then let sit over the years. I’m proud to say that not everything went back into the office. Instead, the library received a large donation of books, charities received useable items, some antique books are on consignment, and the rest was trashed.

I’ve also been unloading a storage locker for which I’ve been paying good money to store a lot of useless, worthless stuff. As of this writing, every box of junk has been purged and countless bags of garbage have been hauled away each week for the past several months. There’s more reviewing, sorting and pitching left to do, but already it’s a great weight off my shoulders.

The sad thing about this story is that so many other people are facing the same glut of stuff in their homes and lives. In fact, the problem is so prevalent that I’ve come to believe that the Baby Boomers may be the most cluttered generation in history.

So, how did we amass so much clutter? And, how much of our creative energy – not to mention our money — is being drained, because our stuff has taken charge of our lives? Just how much is the clutter in your life interfering with your creativity?

As I think back over the past 50+ years, I remember times that were far less pressured and far less affluent. Overwhelm in the 1950s was a very different thing than it is today. But as each decade went by, it seemed that affluence increased and the pace of life became so incredibly fast that it became easier and easier to dump “stuff” in boxes to be dealt with “later”. Only “later” never came, and the stuff – now known as clutter – just kept piling up and costing me more and more – time, money, energy, self-respect, to name a few.

Then there’s the issue of families growing smaller. Whereas great-grandma and great-grandpa had four or five or more children to whom to distribute their earthly goods during their old age, today there may be only one or two, sometimes three, kids who inherit not just from mom and pop, but from all sorts of other relatives. In my case, I’ve been “blessed” by my parents, two aunts, my mother’s cousins and a few others with everything from furniture to china to oodles of pictures and papers including baptism certificates, letters exchanged during World War II, home mortgages and

military discharge papers! And, of course, all have tremendous sentimental value that has made it very difficult to part with such treasures. I mean, how could I part with something all those good people touched and used and shared with me?!

So, I’ve hung on to this stuff, even though managing it has been a costly nightmare. After all, I’ve been holding it all in trust for the next generation. Let them take care of it! But, guess what. This new generation does not value these things that connect one generation to the next. They want simplicity. I guess you can’t blame them. After all, they’ve been living with us and seeing how all this stuff has taken charge of our lives!

It’s taken a few years and a lot of reflection, but I’ve decided to take this noose off from around my neck. I’ve decided that it’s much better to let go of many of the family treasures, and let others who will use them add them to their lives. When they gather dust in a closet or a storage locker, what’s the point of keeping them? I will keep some things, of course. But I don’t need to hang on to everything everyone has willed to me. And, all those old papers – magazines, catalogs, school papers, kid’s stuff, etc. etc. – which I haven’t looked at in years, they’re gone forever.

My husband and I have been fussing about this issue for the last 20 years. Now, I’m not sure what we will talk about for the next 20 years! However, I can tell you I’m looking forward to fresh topics and new adventures. I’ve spent way too much energy thinking about, arguing about, shuffling around and spending money on useless stuff that’s been controlling my life.

The end result, which I’m just beginning to enjoy, is that I now have much more room in my life for creativity and innovation.

And, you know, it feels fantastic to be back in charge.

© 2005-2006. All rights reserved. Impact Coaching International™.

Copyright and bio paragraph must be included when reproducing this article. In addition, author requests notification of use: rosemary@impactcoaching.biz.

Rosemary Hauschild is an innovation and creativity, business coach serving individuals developing intellectual property. Impact Coaching International™ offers a year-long program showing creative individuals how to protect, promote and profit from their innovative ideas in less time and with more profits. Individual coaching services are also available. To learn more about how to protect and promote your intellectual property, you are invited to subscribe to the free e-zine, Creations Of The Mind™, by sending an email to subscribe@impactcoaching.biz with the following phrase in the subject line of your e-mail: subscribe creations list. To contact Rosemary directly, please email rosemary@impactcoaching.biz.

Worried that you’re not creative? You are, but you may be out of touch with it. Your intuition can lead you into a world of novel ideas, experimentation, and brainstorming that will perk up your work life and stimulate innovation and problem-solving. Intuition training is not just for New Agers. Many executives, business owners, and research and development professionals attribute their successes to following intuitive clues.

Intuition is your internal information and feeling source. It is an inner library of physical and emotional cues that can direct you onto the right avenue. It is the composite of “gut feelings” and perceptions unique to you. It is an inner way of knowing. Too often, we are trained to discount or repress that knowledge and therefore purposely neglect it, devalue it, or refuse to recognize its message. Intuition is a tool for insight and illumination. Can you recall a time when your intuition prompted you to follow a different course and connected you to a result you were looking for? Quentin recalls a time when his intuition prodded him to take an unfamiliar exit off the expressway on his way home. As he turned off, he felt foolish and almost turned around. But he followed this country road and passed an intriguing building with a “for sale” sign on it. He stopped in amazement–this building fit his image of the gourmet shop he wanted to open someday. Here was his dream in reality; the rest was up to him. The creative process demands, like Quentin, that you’re willing to step into the unknown and see what happens. Creativity is born of inspiration and your inspirations evolve from your passions. So follow your whims and see where they lead. These excursions will stimulate new thought patterns and generate new paradigms for you. To help you to massage your intuitive talents, you can try a series of exercises to evoke creative prospects for you.

Exercise #One: What Inspires You?

What do you feel excited by or passionate about? What kinds of books or magazines do you read? What kinds of people do you most like to talk with? What kinds of interests/projects are you drawn to in your leisure time? If you went back to school, what would you most like to learn about? What do you fantasize about? What are your aspirations? What kinds of activities stimulate your creative expression? Do you long to paint or write or build or organize or sing or play something? Write down everything and anything that comes to mind. No idea is wrong or silly. What is your internal voice urging you to explore/experience? Let this exercise be the beginning of a creative journal. You may be surprised at the wisdom and guidance stored for you in these seemingly random thoughts.

To facilitate the new, it helps to clear away the past. Think back to any regrets you have about lost opportunities. Kim wishes she had studied engineering in college instead of teaching. Paul had a chance to go into business with a friend and turned it down as he was too scared. His friend is now a millionaire who works part-time. It may not be too late for you.

Exercise #Two: What Creative Dreams Have You Abandoned and Why?

Make a list of all of the things you wanted to do, but didn’t. Then think back to what your intuition told you about this option. Are you still interested in this path? What does your inner voice tell you about this choice now? Note any patterns that are still possible or an enduring vision that you want to manifest.

You need to make peace with these cast offs. What can you learn from these mistakes? Rudy learned that he hadn’t been ready until now to write his play. His vision just became vivid enough for him to tell the story. So he was able to release his regrets. Melissa, on the other hand, always wanted to become a lawyer. Now at age fifty, she thought she was too old, but the dream still beckoned her. This was a choice point for her. She could either live the rest of her life with the sorrow of not having become a lawyer or she could go to law school. Or she could leverage her skills and become a lobbyist, a political activist, a paralegal, a city official, or fulfill her dream in numerous alternative ways. It was time for Melissa to move on. Grieve what you must and then turn the corner and make room for the next episode.

Learning to trust your intuition is the critical foundation for creativity. Think back to the times when you were clear that a particular choice was not a wise one. Your “gut” warned you against it. Silvie, a billing consultant, recalls a phone call she received from a potential client. The woman owned an antique store and sounded stressed, disorganized, and demanding. Silvie had a negative visceral reaction to the woman’s voice. Yet, Silvie needed more business and this was a big account, so Silvie hushed up her intuitive radar and accepted the woman as a client. A year later, the woman sued Silvie for malpractice. During the legal proceedings, Silvie learned that this woman had sued her last two billing agents and that lawsuits, not antiques, were her primary source of income. Silvie swore to heed her intuitive doubts in the future.

Exercise #Three: I Am Grateful to my Intuition for the Following…

When has your intuition steered you right? Make a list of the times when your intuition helped you to make the right decision or prompted you to try something. What have you learned about how it operates on your behalf? One of the greatest blocks to creativity is fear. Fear keeps you from exploring new ways. Fear of failure keeps you from enjoying an experimental mind set where failure is expected and welcomed as new information. Fear of being wrong or criticized also clips your creative wings. Almost everyone can remember trying something fresh and new and being chided. Therefore we learn to play it safe, cease taking risks, and stop the flow of creative solutions. While most people are educated in a school system that advocates one right answer, today’s workplace requires you to invoke new answers. The beauty of the entrepreneurial mind set is that it

allows you to innovate and make up your own solutions. Fear of “getting the wrong answer” halts your flow of unique ideas.

Exercise #Four: What Frightens You Most About Expressing Your Creativity?

What is your fear about? What creative traumas from the past still hold power over you? What do you fear from your internal critic and others? What person(s) from your past criticized your ideas and actions? Write this all down so you can see it. Fear is a component of risk and risking is essential to creativity. If you read about writers and artists and businesspeople, they all acknowledge fear. You will never be free of fear but you can minimize it and strategize around it. Just don’t let fear keep you from your true self. Whenever you accomplish something, you become vulnerable to criticism. Leaders are often controversial and therefore targets for someone’s arrow. Are you living your life for them or yourself? When I get scared to write, I pick up a book called “Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations for Writers” by Susan Shaughnessy (Harper, 1993). Writing often feels dangerous to me and reading about other writer’s similar terrors helps me to forget my doubt and just start typing. You need to find antidotes for your fear. Mentors, support groups, classes, coaches, readings, etc. all offer support systems which can undo the demons from the past. Figure out what solutions will most help your fear to stay in the background and use them.

Another form of support for your creativity is a nurturing environment. Where do you do your best thinking? Where does your inner self feel most daring and alive?

Exercise #Five: Creative Stimuli

Describe the ideal environment for your creative process. Imagine it in all of its detail. What distracts and what stimulates you? Are you alone or with others? Is there music playing? Are you outdoors? What tools do you need? Are you at home or at a quaint inn? Knowing what sparks your creative fire allows you to make that space. Lots of creative people talk about having a studio or room of their own. Kay, a painter I know, can paint anywhere that’s light enough if she has her female jazz singers serenading her in the background. Music is her cue to let go and play with her colors. Trudie, a landscape architect, built an office for herself above the garage. As she lives in the city and doesn’t have a view of trees, her office walls are plastered with pictures of plants and trees and gardens and she has silk flowers all over. Her rug of outdoor carpet spreads out like a lawn and her desk is a table inside a rickety old trellis with strings of vines and garden tools attached to it. She keeps bags of dirt and peat moss in the corner so she can smell them and pretend she’s in the garden. You know what business she’s in. Even if you only have a small space, make it your own and fill it with personal catalysts.

Sometimes when you have a business problem or feel stuck on a decision, nothing seems to help. Sit quietly and ask your intuitive guide for suggestions. You can also write yourself a note requesting an answer and put it in a drawer and let go for a while. Or you can change the format of your project or question and see what happens. I often find drawing a picture of what I’m trying to write about opens up new angles. Other innovators try techniques like turning a project upside down or sideways or miniaturizing it or making it into a story or photographing it or discussing it with a child. These configurations often cut through the haze. You’ve heard tales of inventions that were actually mistakes or the result of a hair brain scheme. Experiment with your dilemma and watch the solution appear.

Comparisons are also helpful. For example, Brian’s intuition urged him to ponder how his decision about whether or not to cut staff was like a tree. So he bundled up in his parka and went out to look at the oak in his front yard. He finally realized that his employees were the roots of his company; they held the tree up. Cutting an employee was like chopping off a necessary root, yet, he had to cut the payroll. So, he went back into the house and began to draft plans for reduced hours, part-time positions, and job sharing. Honor your intuitive messages and allow them to help you.

Exercise #Six: Your Creative Saboteurs

Write down all the things, people, places, activities, or thoughts that diminish your creative energy. What would you like to subtract from your life that interferes with the clarity of your intuitive channel?

Your intuition is a valuable asset; you can’t afford to have it compromised by clutter, other people’s needs, or busyness. Even if you only find the time to write in your creative journal or sit quietly for fifteen minutes a day, you are connecting with your intuition. Preserve the messages and insights. From the above list, what can you subtract from your life to free up more creative space for yourself? What life choices support your ingenious energy? Honor your individual cravings and notions. Do you thrive in tranquility or excitement? Diligently restructure your lifestyle to cultivate your intuitive knowledge and its creative offshoots. Enjoy the new and exciting adventures that will result.

Gail McMeekin is a national career and creativity coach as well as a licensed psychotherapist and writer located in Boston. She has over 25 years of experience helping people vision and achieve their personal, professional, and creative goals. She is the author of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor (Conari Press, 2000) which sold out its first printing in 8 weeks and The Power of Positive Choices (Conari Press, 2001). She also wrote the 90-minute audiocassette workshop-on-tape Positive Choices: From Stress to Serenity which has been featured in Human Resource Executive, Training, The Improper Bostonian and The Lifestyle Book of Tufts Associated Health Plan. Her company, Creative Success, works with individuals and groups to maximize creative self-expression and positive living. Gail has a B.A. from Connecticut College, an M.S.W. from Boston University, and a certificate in Human Resource Management from Bentley College.

It seems like this week a ton of people have been asking me how they can become more creative. I even had one client jokingly accuse me of being in cahoots with the Devil in trade for my creativity. “Where do you get all of your ideas?” he asked. Well, I have decided to share my secret with you in this issue.

In the following paragraphs you will learn my creativity secret weapon. I use it all the time. It will work for you just as it works for me. It has served me well and it is this technique that got me into the buyers meeting of a major drug store when I was just 15 years old. Yup! You read that right. At age 15 my creativity strategy got me an appointment with a major drug store buyer where I sold my “Idea’s” to them. I didn’t even have a clue what I was doing and I walked right past the suit and tie businessmen right into the office of the guy they were trying to get an appointment with. This happened simply because I was more creative. I know you will have fun with this weeks issue. Enjoy!

It’s not rocket science! :Creativity doesn’t have to be rocket science. We all have fountains of creative energy flowing within us. Our problem is that the world teaches us, in the interest of our own security, to use our heads far too much. In the process, we shift from the habit of spontaneous imaginary expression to intense self-censorship in service to our security conscious ego-minds. We become so concerned with the image we project that we lose touch with our inner “wizard behind the curtain.”

I’ve learned that when I feel stuck, confused, and frustrated, and my intellect can’t seem to find its way out of the cage, that it’s this same mind that created the prison in the first place. Fortunately I’ve found a very simple way out. I’ve taken up the mantra during times such as these to simply “Just Make Stuff Up.”

Experts became experts by studying other experts:Now our culture typically doesn’t give a lot of credence to stuff that’s just made up. Particularly if it’s yours and you’re a nobody (a non-expert with questionable credentials). But I think you’ll find that in most cases, the experts became experts by studying other experts. And if you follow the line of experts to the very heart of their lineage, you’ll most likely find that the originator of their expertise actually “just made stuff up” that hadn’t been seen before and that happened to work, at least for the time being.

So the next time you or your group is stuck in a problem-solving or creative venture, please, encourage them to try “just making stuff up,” and see what comes forward. There’s something about this approach that frees us of our need to be right and invites our inner creative children out to play.

Try it. You may be pleasantly surprised!

Example: I’ve been personally challenged with just about all of my major projects for the past few weeks. I’ve felt a change of course was not only needed, but the path I was taking with these projects seemed to be reaching an impasse. Now I’m a pretty creative guy, but I felt really stumped, to the point of giving up on some of them. But being open-minded and self-reflective, I realized that the frustration and confusion I was feeling was energy that I could use to evolve these projects to the next level. This process could be effortless if I simply surrendered to the timing of the project in lieu of my ego-mind.

I discovered that I could view these projects as living beings with intelligence and a natural impulse to unfold in a way they are “intended.” Like seeds that know fully what they are to become if nurtured properly and patiently. I made all of that up and you can do the same thing. Make stuff up that makes your life easier, more free, happier, etc.

We make up everything:So I began to actually listen to what each project had to tell me. I also started “just making stuff up” around each project. I found that the openness and freedom brought by the attitude of “just making stuff up” combined with the act of doing something, got me moving again into creative new arenas, with a sense of childlike lightness, fun, and adventure.

My Coach Steve Davis was discussing this with his partner Anna Dargitz. She decided to consult the wisdom of her seven year old daughter on this subject. When asked what she thought about the nature of “making stuff up,” she replied with something like this. “Well, I make stuff up when I want something real.” It took me awhile to decipher this sage advice. But then it hit me that we make up everything, including what we call real, and that admitting that we make it up, is the closest thing to real we can get…she’s now our new guru.

How to practice this… This week, try just making stuff up or if you find your group, friends, clients, or colleagues stuck or confused, give them permission to try just making stuff up to see what happens. I’d love to hear you’re perspectives and experiences on this. Please email them to me.

Before Ricky Brandon was a life coach, he was a professional Magician. He dedicated his entire life to learning and understanding how to tweak people’s perception of reality. By by his early 20′s, he was consulting and working with the worlds top Illusionists as well as training tigers for large production shows. Ricky now combines his skills as a Magician with Personal Coaching to teach people how to see through life’s illusions so they can focus on what really matters. email him at: ricky@mymomentum.com

Visit Ricky’s website at: http://www.mymomentum.com

Creative thinking is a potential we are all born with. If you don’t use that potential, it is probably because you don’t know and apply the simple principles for developing it. We can remedy that right now.

The two basic principles of creative thinking are:

1. There are methods and techniques of creative thinking.

2. Making these methods and techniques a part of your mental habits will make creative thinking easy and automatic.

An entrepreneur sees the potential profit in a situation, because his mind is trained for that. A lawyer sees the potential problems, because that is how his mind is trained. How we repeatedly think becomes a habit, and that is how you train a mind. Learn the techniques of creative thinking, use them until they are a habit, and creative thinking will be as natural for you as lying is for a politician.

The Techniques Of Creative Thinking

There are dozens of creative problem solving techniques you can learn to use. “Concept-combination,” for example, will have you mixing roses and clocks to create the first alarm clock that wakes you up with a gentle release of fragrance. Use the technique of “random-presentation” and a cell phone can give the idea to do your dictation with a pocket tape recorder while you walk, so you’ll have time for exercise and still get your work done.

Creative thinking goes beyond just solving specific problems or inventing new things. A truly creative mind is always coming up with the questions too, not just the solutions. To be more creative all the time, focus on three things:

1. Challenge your assumptions. What if a restaurant didn’t have employees? Customers could pay a machine as they

enter, and feed themselves at a buffet. If everything was as automated as possible, maybe one owner-operator could run a large restaurant alone. Challenge everything. Do you have to go to work? Do pools need water? Is education always a good thing?

2. Change your perspective. Imagining a dog’s thoughts about your busyness could clue you in to the unecessary things you do. Thinking dollars-per-day instead of per-hour could give you a plan to let employees go home when they finish a certain quota. Greater efficiency would be almost certain, and you could adjust daily pay and quotas so both you and employees made more money. Look at everything from several perspectives.

3. Let your ideas run wild. Flying furniture seems silly, but it may lead to the idea of a hover-lifter. Slide the device under furniture and it lifts it with a cushion of air, making for easy moving. Don’t stifle your creativity. Relax, let ideas come, and know that you can always discard them later.

Creating Creative Thinking Habits

To make the above techniques into an automatic part of your thinking, just use them enough. Usually it takes several weeks to develop a habit, so you need a way to remind yourself each day during that time. Try writing a few of your favorite techniques on a card and carrying it with you. Pull it out throughout the day and apply the techniques to anything. Soon, more creative thinking will be a normal part of your life.

Steve Gillman has been studying brainpower and related topics for years. For more creative problem solving techniques, and to subscribe to the Brain Power Newsletter, visit: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com