#using time

[catefield]

I'm always telling my students that inspiration for new ideas can come from just opening your eyes. Creativity isn't something that switches on. We are all creative. It's just that sometimes stuff gets in the way and we say to ourselves "I'll be creative when I get home, when I've had dinner, when I've been to the gym, when I feel better..."

Yesterday evening, after a day of teaching, I was performing with the a cappella group Academix at the unlikely venue of the Metro Bank, Holborn, London. I aimed to catch the 16:41 train from Woking, and arrived about 5 minutes before. The photo above was taken on my iPhone just before the train pulled in. I liked the light and I thought I could use this image for some experimental pieces. I have changed the camera settings on my phone to obtain the maximum quality without paying anything extra (!). This means that I can get high resolution images with which to manipulate at a later time. So, 5 minutes before catching the train, I took the photo.

This morning I had a play whilst eating breakfast. (Yes, I know that usually it's best not to multitask whilst eating, that I should savour and enjoy my food and offer gratitude... but sometimes....). I use a variety of different apps on my iPad including some very basic editing apps that are easy to use, but my favourite of the moment is Enlight. I like to multilayer and cut out, and Enlight is great for this.

In the two pieces above I have multilayered the same image to create an idea of movement. I've desaturated the colours and added a grainy effect. I'm quite pleased with these and will use them in further experimental pieces.

An ordinary scene: waiting for the train. It's a starting point that could have easily been missed.

From my Linked In Post - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/creativity-changing-way-you-use-your-time-cate-field

[0y45um1]

Normal time of Tumblr use

..And then when Tumblr snek

[daveinediting]

Healthy Creativity is a set of practices that fosters our best creative work. Even under time constraints. Even under pressure.

And yes. I'll put some thought later into a better name for it. Right now... I'm going with the name that made me think of these practices in the first place.

And the first practice that came to mind is based on this principle:

Time isn't constant.

Time isn’t equal.

Time isn’t interchangeable.

The way I've chosen to express this as a practice is that heathy creativity

uses

time... and is

not

directed by it.

Another way of putting it is that it’s crucial for us to be strategic in how we use the time we have... rather than allow our creativity to be bullied by a clock that’s ticking down.

Either way, the first practice that helps foster our best work is understanding that time doesn’t run at the same rate across the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years we commit to our creative endeavors. Our creative quests.

For example (and especially), when you're blocked, when you're struggling, when you've got nothing...

Sitting in front of the computer, the keyboard, the easel... does not consume time at the same rate as walking or running or even taking a shower.

Plus, bang for your buck, you get more faster from physical activity when you’re blocked than you do from white knuckling your creativity on one square foot of floor or chair space.

Even though being at the scene of your creative effort feels like doing something, Time...

Isn't constant.

Isn’t equal.

Isn’t interchangeable.

And how you use it, how I use it, can produce different and better results than if we let Time grab hold of our creativity like a merciless taskmaster.

[thedaveandkimmershow]

Once again, generally speaking, Time facilitates accuracy.

More time, that is.

And less time facilitates mistakes.

In the realm of married life, that truth has all kinds of implications. The main one being Take The Time You Have.

Take.

The time.

You have.

Especially in this day of instant, well, everything... it's easy to embody a right now way of life. A habit of immediacy.

Regardless of circumstance.

That's not necessary, of course, it just feels necessary.

It feels necessary because everything's moving at the speed of light.

Now I've said before that marriage encompasses a lot of hats. And one of those hats is the one that interfaces with the world around us, deals with the logistics of what you've gotta do to be adults living in a home or apartment in this city, state, and country. There's a lot of logistics, contracts, and communications involved in that endeavor. And it's like that every single day.

There's a lot of thinking you've gotta do. A lot of processing. A lot of prioritizing because because because...

Not everything's a right now thing. From responding to emails and posts to bill paying and tax doing to home maintenance, upgrades, and costly random expenses... the best superpower we wield is our ability to Tetris. To mentally project the long-term and short-term of our circumstances in order to prioritize tasks and fit them into temporal spaces that provide for success, that engage us at our best, and definitely avoid putting our worst selves in play.

Basically, what we're obligated to do as a married couple making our way through the real world, well... it turns out the when of what we do is hugely important. Because getting stuff done isn't the bar we're all trying to clear. We're trying to get our obligations done right... and with maximum understanding on our part. We wanna be masters of our own endeavors and not slaves to the capriciousness of daily life.

So we need to be our best selves for each little and big thing. Or, at the very least, we need to be not our worst.

Bottle line: it's a huge problem to operate only in the Now. Because when we do that we deprived ourselves of the ability to use time. To emoloy it strategically. To deploy it for our own purposes instead of being swept mindlessly in its torrent.

When we forego the fullness and complexity of time, we deprive ourselves of being able to take our time. To take. Our time. To take the time we have because we know we have that time.

Instead of rushing.

Instead of being frustrated.

Instead of running randomly...

Into mistakes.

[thedaveandkimmershow]

There's no guarantee, of course, because there are a lot of factors in play. But, generally speaking, Time facilitates accuracy.

More time, that is.

And less time facilitates mistakes.

Now, don't get me wrong, once upon a time I worked live broadcast television. And there was plenty I got right through raw speed.

But speed's a funny thing. If you're in a perfectly calculated groove, you end up being right faster. But if you're in a miscalculated groove, you end up being wrong faster.

With that in mind, let's flip the pages back a ways to my first lesson in Time.

I learned to play chess in high school from a senior named Steve Deibert. It's not that he taught me taught me... it's that we played so many games and he beat me soundly so many times that eventually I figured out how to beat him

Which was sweet, sweet victory.

In college, I think, my dad and I started playing. We set up a board and pieces in the living room of our home and we'd play... and he'd beat me. Not that it was easy for him to beat me... but it was also no problem for him to ultimately tip my king.

One day, I'm not sure how this came about, we decided to forego playing head to head and one of us would make a move whenever that move occured to him. So we were never in the room together while our game unfolded.

And unfolded.

And unfolded.

With neither of us gaining advantage over the other.

Ever.

So eventually we decided to sit down together and see if we could speed things up.

And in that form of our game...

My dad had no problem beating me.

The lesson, however, was learnt.

With more Time, I was evenly matched with my dad. Without it, I'd always come out on the losing end. My king laid forlornly on its side.

Next time: what happens when it's not just a game of chess...

[kyreniacommentator]

Is the present day lifestyle too busy?

Is the present day lifestyle too busy?

  By Ahmet Abdulaziz………

This is a continuation of my last week’s column, where I had mentioned that I like a slower and calm life.

(more…)

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[ijustwantart]

I've been singing Karaoke all morning :P