A Different Artist

I remember many years ago in the mid-late 1990's, my husband made me listen to some music. Since our musical taste does not always match, it was no surprise when I was a little concerned about what I was about to subject my ears to.

The artist was Vanessa Mae and the album was her first one - The Violin Player. I'll be honest - I was sceptical when he told me Vanessa Mae played violin with a techno spin. Remember - this was the mid 1990's. Another artist named Ashley MacIsaac, a Canadian East Coast fiddler, was also gaining media attention through non-traditional music, and controversial interviews. It was as if the violin world had been turned upside down.

"Violins are for classical music!" people said. Like many others, I had only been exposed to traditional 'violin' music when I played from grade 8 until high school graduation. These artists were messing with traditional sound!

Alright, alright - who am I kidding? I loved it! I could quickly see how both these artists were going to change violin music. It was going to open up the art-form to a whole new group of people and I could see absolutely no harm in that. I don't believe in keeping things "pure" and in fact, think that Purity is like snuffing out Opportunity.

On that note (ha ha), I'd like you to consider what thoughts or ideas you have that may just change the landscape in ways no one else has tried? It's easy to be a naysayer and everyone does it well - but that is the worn, well formed path. Take the tougher, harder road. I dare you to.

P.S. Here's one of Vanessa Mae's videos.

Creative thinking makes me smile

How do you come up with great ideas? I don't know about you, but it tends to be when I least expect it. In fact, today, I was noodling 2 unrelated thoughts, both of which I thought I would try out. As I noodled them, separately, all of a sudden, I put 1 plus 1 and got more than 2. Dang. What a stinkin' great idea!

Now if only I could better control when I have those lightbulb ideas going off!

How I got free stuff

A few months ago, I was really desperate. I started telling co-workers (and anyone else who would listen) that I needed a way to get free advertising. Many laughed at me. Many told me you can't get advertising for free.

Today, I shared my success with a co-worker and told him how I got it for free. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not like I got free advertising worth gazillions - no, nothing like that. However, I did get something, and something is more than what many of my co-workers thought was possible when I first posed the question. My success (our success?) was a based on a shift in thinking. Although I called it 'Free', what I meant was "at no dollar cost to me or my budget". What I've been able to do, was get people to think creatively about how it just may be possible. My original confidence that this was possible, allowed them to remove the barriers, and help come up with some plans. I ended up successful at getting stuff for "free".

What other impossible feats are you trying to accomplish and are they really impossible?

I want a box of crayons

Do you remember when
...you believed just about anything was possible?
...it was okay to colour a cow any colour of the rainbow?
...it was okay to have a wild imagination?

I tell myself that all the adults in my son's life will teach him about rules and how to follow them. Heck - I encourage a lot of rule following too. However, I also actively encourage his creativity (and mine) by engaging in the silliness and imagination that will hopefully help him retain this skill well into adulthood.

I see my peers having so much difficulty letting go of the rules - instead, they focus on the details of the what, where, why and how that would prevent success. If we focus on failure and how it won't work - how will we figure out the new formula for success? It is only in bending or breaking the rules, that the real creativity occurs. More often than not, we'll realize the answer was right under our noses and the only thing required to see it, was a box of crayons to jolt us into some rule-free thinking.

"Honey, let's continue drawing the adventures of Spooky-Piggy and Bungie-Man - what kind of trouble do you think they got into today?"