Creative Inspiration: How to Live

I love this poem: "How to Live" by Charles Harper Webb, from Amplified Dog.
© Red Hen Press.

How to Live

"I don't know how to live."
–Sharon Olds

Eat lots of steak and salmon and Thai curry and mu shu
pork and fresh green beans and baked potatoes
and fresh strawberries with vanilla ice cream.
Kick-box three days a week. Stay strong and lean.
Go fly-fishing every chance you get, with friends

who'll teach you secrets of the stream. Play guitar
in a rock band. Read Dostoyevsky, Whitman, Kafka,
Shakespeare, Twain. Collect Uncle Scrooge comics.
See Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, and everything Monty Python made.
Love freely. Treat ex-partners as kindly

as you can. Wish them as well as you're able.
Snorkel with moray eels and yellow tangs. Watch
spinner dolphins earn their name as your panga slam-
bams over glittering seas. Try not to lie; it sours
the soul. But being a patsy sours it too. If you cause

a car wreck, and aren't hurt, but someone is, apologize
silently. Learn from your mistake. Walk gratefully
away. Let your insurance handle it. Never drive drunk.
Don't be a drunk, or any kind of "aholic." It's bad
English, and bad news. Don't berate yourself. If you lose

a game or prize you've earned, remember the winners
history forgets. Remember them if you do win. Enjoy
success. Have kids if you want and can afford them,
but don't make them your reason-to-be. Spare them that
misery. Take them to the beach. Mail order sea

monkeys once in your life. Give someone the full-on
ass-kicking he (or she) has earned. Keep a box turtle
in good heath for twenty years. If you get sick, don't thrive
on suffering. There's nothing noble about pain. Die
if you need to, the best way you can. (You define best.)

Go to church if it helps you. Grow tomatoes to put store-
bought in perspective. Listen to Elvis and Bach. Unless
you're tone deaf, own Perlman's "Meditation from Thais."
Don't look for hidden meanings in a cardinal's song.
Don't think TV characters talk to you; that's crazy.

Don't be too sane. Work hard. Loaf easily. Have good
friends, and be good to them. Be immoderate
in moderation. Spend little time anesthetized. Dive
the Great Barrier Reef. Don't touch the coral. Watch
for sea snakes. Smile for the camera. Don't say "Cheese."

Creativity Tips: Appreciate Your Own Talents

Ah, the carving card.

Here's the meaning behind it ...

Creativity Tips: End Grouchy with Groucho

Here's a fun way to start the week. Wear your pair of Groucho glasses.

What do you mean, you don't have a pair of Groucho glasses? How is that even possible?

As we move through our creativity card series, the Groucho card is very important. It started out meaning: Take a new look -- at people and projects. But every time I pull out the glasses and have someone put them on, everyone laughs.

Everyone laughs. Now, there's a mood for creative instigation -- everyone engaged, everyone happy.

Buy the glasses.

Friday Fun: Truth in Advertising

This video is 12 minutes long, it's completely R-rated, and it's hysterically true.

Welcome to one aspect of my world. (Thanks, Barb, for the link and the laugh!)

Creativity Tips: Do Something New

As we continue exploring the meaning behind the creativity cards I handed out at the Creative Instigation presentation, let's look at one of my favorites: Coco, the sock monkey.

I write. I bake. I don't often make sock monkeys. But, there were people I love who really, really needed a sock monkey. (You know who you are.) So, I found a pattern, and voila! Adorable sock monkeys to give away -- and one to keep.

When you get in a creative rut, try something totally different. Monkey around.

Site Seeing: Boom-De-Yada

If you watch the Discovery channel, you've seen this. If you don't, you should. Both, I mean. Watch Discovery. And see this.

Thanks to Greg for the idea!

Creativity Tips: Be Generous with Applause

Start the week off right. Give yourself a hand! And, while you're at it, applaud the person next to you and the person next to that person.

What are you applauding? You tell me. I'll tell you this: If you look for something to appreciate and celebrate, you'll find it.