Creativity Tips Newsletter

The Newsletter of Lifespace Coaching ™
Volume 1, No. 4, May 21, 2004

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

>>Article: What We Can Learn from Sad Events
>>Teleclass: Experience Coaching Telegathering
>>Off the Bookshelf: The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
>>Creativity Tip: Scratching for Ideas
>>Copyright and Subscribe/Unsubscribe

>>Article: What We Can Learn from Sad Events

I knew what I wanted to write about in this ezine today. Sometimes, though, life takes us in directions we don't expect, and now I'm writing a different article.

We learned two weeks ago that my friend's father had suffered a stroke. He was found in his bedroom three days after he fell and made his transition last Friday. I attended the funeral two days ago. I felt anxious the night before. Even when I reached the church, I felt maybe I should turn around. I had those common feelings we often have--that maybe my friend wanted to be alone, that I wouldn't know the "right" thing to say, that maybe she didn't need me, etc. Afterwards, I felt emotionally exhausted.

I wonder what does death teach us? A few years ago, as my husband's grandfather slowly died, I learned that I was not where I wanted to be in my life. It was time to make some big changes, which I did. With this most recent event, I'm not sure what I learned. After hearing people talk about my friend's father--how he loved people, how he wrote down names of immigrants he met around town on index cards along with how to say hello in their native languages, and what a humble (few knew he was a lawyer), caring, and learned man he was--I think he will continue to teach a lot of people, like me, he never met.

>>Teleclass: Experience Coaching Telegathering

Join this telegathering as we discuss:

**How we can create different results in our lives by shifting the observer that we are;

**How making requests can create space for our creativity to thrive.

A lucky volunteer can receive FR^EE coaching! Email me at deborah@lifespacecoach.com with your interest.

How Does This Work?

After you register, you'll receive the phone number and PIN code. At the appointed time, you'll dial in to a U.S. phone number to join in the telegathering. The only cost is whatever you pay for your long distance.

Learn more about Deborah, creativity coach and poet, here: http://www.lifespacecoach.com/bio.html

DATE: May 29, 2004, 12 noon to 12:45 p.m. EST

TESTIMONIAL:
Hi, Deborah, My mind has been bubbling all morning from our meeting last night. You really help me formulate questions for myself so I can brainstorm my own viewpoint, rather than just be muddled in my own feeling. . . --Mary Fumento, Virginia

>>Off the Bookshelf: The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

They say don't judge a book by its cover, but I couldn't help it. When I saw the black and white photo of Twyla Tharp sitting on a tall ladder in the distance, I couldn't help but think this book would be good. I'll share a few of the juicy parts with you:

1. The Beginning: The book starts out with her in a white room, a few moments before dancers arrive, and she's supposed to have a new dance completed in several weeks. How will it happen? The beginning of the book describes the beginning that so many of feel when we start a new project--fear, excitement, possibility, and wonder. I like to think of this time as our opportunity to approach the project as a child would--with new eyes.

2. The Box: Everything that inpsires or helps her for a particular project goes into the box; she collects videos, movies, music, hats, notes and places them inside. When she needs ideas or gets stuck, she goes back to the box. At the project's completion, she ships the box off to storage, which gives a sense of finality.

Sprinkled through the book are ideas for you to implement yourself. You may remember that last week I discussed Tharp's idea of "The Egg" as a way to jostle your creativity. This week's tip is also from The Creative Habit. See below.

>>Creativity Tip: Scratching for Ideas

Artists scratch for ideas. I leaf through books. When words pop out at me, they joggle a memory. I'll start writing about the memory and use the words I saw. Chefs sometimes leaf through cookbooks. Choreograhers may listen to music or read. Scratching involves using the ancestry of artists before us to create something new. Scratching is not about taking ideas from others but about using the artists before us as a jumping off point.

What/who do you find inspiring? Where do you want to go to scratch for ideas that will let you leap in new directions?

>>Please forward Creativity Tips to your friends. When you do so, please include the entire newsletter along with copyright information.

>>Copyright (c) Lifespace Coaching ™ 2004. All rights reserved.