Thankfulness & creativity – the link

it’s been a while since I posted here but I am still alive and functioning, i just got real busy and some things slid down the priority pile. but here I am again, my batteries are refreshed and my creativity is flowing… sounds great doesn’t it? and it feels great too!

i have just finished the first draft on a new book about how to grow and enhance your creativity. it’s funny – but when you start to write you realise you know a heck of a lot more than you thought. you just are so used to putting it into practise unconsciously that you don’t stop to think what you’ve learnt along the way. you also find out how much you don’t know lol, and how much you can still learn! so the new book is in it’s infancy but should be reality fairly soon. i’ll let you know when it’s ready.

today – can i suggest that you take some time to think about something you are currently involved with doing and consciously be thankful for the things you’ve learnt that you’re putting into practise in that task. gratitude is such a positive creativity booster and mood booster you’ll find that your day will even go better because you took a moment to be thankful.

you also find that your task will go better too.  i believe there is a link between thankfulness and creativity. thankfulness releases feel good stuff (endorphins) into your body and also, i believe boosts your brain function for a period of time afterwards. i’m not a scientist or medical person but i do know how i feel and how differently i see things when i am in a good mood.

if things are going hard for you at the moment, take that time to be thankful for the good things in your life and you’ll find the grey cloud will lift and you’ll see with new eyes.

make thankfulness a part of your lifestyle and you’ll see changes in your life. you may have to be deliberate to start with and you may have to do this a lot until it becomes a part of who you are but it’s worth persevering for.

i used to be a pretty negative person; life had been real hard and abusive to me growing up and it had affected the way i saw everything. then one day i realised that if something didn’t change i would continue to live a negative and depressive life. so i pulled up to my memory the image of a positive person (a fictional image but still a strong one) a young girl called pollyanna. did you ever see that movie – it’s about a young girl who always sees the positive in every situation and always hopes for the best and how her life affects everyone around her. i decided i wanted to be like that – to learn to see the good in every situation and to become a positive person and so i asked god for help to become that person!

it has taken conscious effort and many backwards and fowards moments but my whole life has undergone a huge shift because of it. i don’t get it right all the time of course but i am much improved to how i was in my earlier years and i hope my story and my life is an encouragement to others. an encouragement that they are not stuck in a box, imprisoned behind bars, destined to seeing the same view forever, but there is a whole different outlook to be found.

it reminds me of that old story about the two prisoners, one with hope and one without; they both stood at their barred window looking out into the night, one saw only the bars while the other saw stars.

the man on the silver screen

creativity can happen anywhere, anytime and sometimes it surprises you. a while ago i rewatched the old film “sabrina” with harrison ford and julie ormond and in it sabrina is a girl who has grown up loving the youngest son of a rich family but he never notices her until one particular day. i remember sititng there watching thinking what a predator the guy was and wouldn’t you know it, creativity struck and before long i was sitting there writing not watching. here’s the piece that came from that.

the man on the silver screen

he smiles

with predatory eyes

the man on the silver screen

to him

love is but a game

to the victor the spoils

the young girl

 adoringly looks his way

with innocent eyes

she doesn’t see

beyond

beyond her hopes

her dreams

of a long white gown

and champagne

as the band plays on

but he sees

and to him

the game is on

© Lyn Packer

inspired by the film “sabrina”

Eternally one

“i am my beloveds and he is mine” – i know, valentines was weeks ago but i don’t really do valentines anyway, can’t be bothered with the consumerism of it all. however i do like to play and make things so the other day i remembered i had seen a logo for a headboard on someones site somewhere. i know, i should take more notice of where i see stuff but i see so much stuff it would take a whole computer just to keep records of what i saw where. is anybody else out there like that too?

anyway, the logo said “forever one” meaning you’ll only ever need one of their headboards but i loved the way they’d created it layering one word on top of the other, very simple but very stylish, so this is a knock-off recreation with a twist.

hey it was fun to do and I’m not going to sell it or anything so I don’t think they’ll get too mad, do you? so here is my homage to forever one –

More T-Shirt fun

I’ve loved designing the poke-a bit-of-fun-at-ourself Christian t-shirt slogans. They remind me that God gave us a sense of humour and wants us to have fun. Sometimes we just take ourselves too seriously don’t we! So here’s the other ones I’ve done over the last couple of days.

Hope they gave you a wee laugh.

words, words, sticks and stones

words create – which is why we writers write.

words create realities and worlds which we inhabit by our imagination.

words create us and define us – they create the world we inhabit and live out of. it happens to everyone – but sometimes we don’t recognise it or believe it or we forget it and  we let others throw their word garbage over us and wonder why we end up feeling dirtied.

words had and have a big part in creating who you and i now are.

sometimes we need a closet clean out to happen in our mind – to take out the words that once defined us, or define us now, look at them and ask does this fit, does this suit me – who i am and who i want to be, and if not to chuck those old word clothes out and put on some new ones.

this is a piece i wrote a while ago about words, i know its not a new piece but i was thinking this morning about the power words have and decided that would be a good entry for this blog.

words

words

like a ragged coat

from a childhood long gone

i wear them in my mind.

cold comfort

this coat that no longer fits

but I can’t throw it away.

words

wrapped around my spirit

not wanted

dirty

ugly

unclean

unclean

unclean.

words

my constant companions

childhood bullies

that taunted and hurt

that over time

became me

became who I am.

yet you

see me differently

and call me

to be someone new.

trade coats you say.

can I let go

do I dare try on this new coat

these new words

and see how they fit.

i know I must give up the old

to become the new

so I struggle to surrender

struggle

surrender.

surrender the old

to take hold of the new

so I must

so I do.

new words

seem foreign to my mind.

my new coat

seems too big

yet trust I must

knowing I will grow

until i fit

my new coat

copyright Lyn Packer 2001

while it’s true that we were created and our existance came into being at a particular point in time our creation did not stop on that day. it didn’t stop when childhood ended and our body stopped growing in height. it didn’t stop then and it will never stop. we are still being created – by what others say to us but more importantly what we say to ourselves. those words shape and define us and we will become those words over time.

you have the power to create and everyday you are taking part in making your greatest creation ever – creating you. don’t settle for a second rate creation, don’t settle for being a second-best you, simply because words that no longer have a right to define you are still cluttering your mind closet. chuck them out, put on some new clothes and see yourself stand up straighter in the mirror of life.

you’re worth it!