Friday, March 9, 2012

Week 11 - LOL (Laughing Out Loud) Creative Courage Challenge


“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”  ― Robert Frost

As Artists and Creatives we look for patterns in our art, in nature and in structure.  As humans we look for patterns within ourselves; and often those patterns are subconsciously formed in our minds. When we think one thought often enough and it becomes a habit to think it. The problem is just that we often find negative and not so helpful patterns in our lives based on just one or two of our life experiences. Or perhaps by misjudging or miscommunication in a situation we begin to believe something that possibly is not true at all.  Unfortunately often times our minds are telling us that they are true because we have conditioned ourselves to believe our patterns.
For example you may be at an art show and as you are glancing around while setting up you see another artist and she frowns and looks away.  Most often when we are stuck in patterns we may think “Every time I see her, she looks at me funny..she must not like me.”  It is this type of thought which may lead to actions such as avoiding that artist, which in turn cuts us off completely from an entire aspect of our possible life path. This other creative may well be a great wealth of information and inspiration that we have now convinced ourselves will never happen. When the truth may be that she didn’t even see you or was not aware you were looking at her.

“I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.”   ― Maya Angelou

When we become too identified with our thoughts we’ll believe anything they tell us. So what we must do is create a more helpful practice, which is to not take ourselves (or our thoughts) too seriously.  We have already learned to not Judge Judy other people, so let’s not Judge Judy ourselves (or again, our thoughts) either.
Here are a few fabulous FACTS about smiling and laughing that we may not all be aware of:
FACT: Smiling Makes Us Happy
Smiling loads the body with endorphins, known as the hormone of happiness, which is usually generated by way of exercise. So simply smiling will not only make you happier, it also immediately makes you more attractive, eluding that you are pleasant and sincere.
FACT:  Smiling Makes Us Look Younger
One smile may involve anywhere from 3-53 facial muscles, which of course keeps our facial muscles strong, in turn they will support the facial tissue more prominently; which over time will help you look younger than your years!
FACT: Laughing Improves Our Physical Health
Laughing out loud (yes, LOL) for 20 seconds is the equivalent of jogging in place for 3 minutes! If you laugh out loud for a full minute, if you haven’t wet your pants – which is generally what that type of laughter incurs – that is about the same as 15 minutes of exercise.  Laughing Out Loud uses approximately 80 different muscles in our whole body. The vibration of the laughter creates a faster heartbeat, increasing blood pressure, in turn improving the oxygen level in our blood which lowers stress and helps our bodies boost its immune system. Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress.
FACT: Laughing Improves Our Emotional Health
You cannot feel angry anxious or sad while in the midst of laughing; laughter dissipates distressing emotions. Humor shifts perspective, bringing stressful or painful situations into a more realistic less threatening light. It can help us to relax and recharge, reducing stress and increasing energy; enabling you to focus and accomplish more.

“And I have one of those very loud, stupid laughs. I mean if I ever sat behind myself in a movie or something, I’d probably lean over and tell myself to please shut up.”   ― J.D. Salinger

FACT: Laughing Makes Us Smarter (and More Creative)
Laughter stimulates BOTH sides of the brain at the same time, allowing us to get messages quicker and remember them longer.  The left brain is logical, sequential, objective, rational, detail oriented, analytical and fact oriented.  It includes visual perception, language, attention, memory, and focus.  The right brain is innovative, whole picture oriented, subjective, holistic, intuitive, synthesizing, and emotionally alert.  It includes general well-being, stress management, problem solving, spatial reasoning, integration of ideas, multiple intelligence use, and ability to collaborate, and to be thankful. Imagination rules in the right brain, as do beliefs, using symbols or icons,  and taking risks for renewed possibilities. We all learn quicker and retain better when we are having fun while we learn. Laughing will engage both sides of the brain, in turn increases innovation and creativity.
FACT: Laughing Strengthens Relationships
Laughing, when it is share, helps to bind people together and increases intimacy and happiness. Humor and playful communication connects us with others by triggering positive feelings and fostering an emotional association. Shared laughter is one of the most effective tools for keeping any relationship fresh and exciting; it acts as a strong buffer against stress, disappointment and general disagreements. Humor is a powerful and effective way in which to heal disagreements and resentments, it unites people during difficult times.

“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”   ― Charles Dickens

FACT: Laughing Is Infectious
Smiling is the beginning of laughter. Like laughter, it’s contagious. Pioneers in “laugh therapy,” find it’s possible to laugh without even experiencing a funny event. The same holds for smiling. When you look at someone or see something even mildly pleasing, practice smiling. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle, sneeze or yawn. Sophie Scott a neuroscientist at the University College London found that laughter is in fact infectious and explains why on this MSNBC report.
EXPERIMENT: I double dog dare (yes, I indeed broke protocol, and jumped directly to the Double Dog Dare! – Don’t make me jump to the ultimate TRIPLE Dog Dare!!!)  you to listen to this 1:44 video of a baby laughing or this 1:41 video of a baby laughing this andNOT laugh!!  I do not believe it is possible.  It can NOT be done!  It’s just too fun, giggly and infectious!!  It is completely worth a few minutes out of your day! I know you want to click them, go ahead, and get yourself a good giggle!   If not both, just listen to one of them!  If you can do it without laughing even a little, you might as well stop reading right now, and get back to whatever serious business that is your life!
So… our challenge this week is to go forth in our daily lives and sprinkle them with humor! Any kind of humor! Be more spontaneous, let go of defensiveness, judgements, criticisms and doubts.  Watch a funny movie, go see a comedy show, have a joke telling contest, giggle instead of rolling your eyes…. Smile and look younger, giggle and improve your health, laugh and help others be smarter, healthier and more attractive too!
Let me get you started….What illness did everyone on the Enterprise catch?….Chicken Spocks!  :)  You smiled, I know you did…keep it going!

JeaneMargherite Meria Murray McMahon Schintgen
(that’s my name, don’t wear it out!)

Check me out in my other realms…..

Friday, March 2, 2012

Week 10 - Googly Maps


“I feel like I am diagonally parked in a parallel universe.”

The purpose of this week’s challenge is to be spontaneous, to not think and plan outeverything you do!  Since that may encompass a great many subjects and topics, let’s concentrate on one thing…as part of our Creative Courage Challenge, we have discussed cars, and in Pink Cadillac I urged you to test drive your dream car.  This week though, we are not talking about cars…we are talking about driving.  Driving and how driving can help us become more inspired, open our creative spirit, and charge our courage!
Whether you drive to and from work every day, are a mom in a car pool, or have a studio at home and only drive when you need to…changing our driving habits has the power to change the way our brains work, and to build our courage while enhancing creativity!! As Artists and Creatives we must balance our daily responsibilities with creating our art, often times we get stuck in our creativity because we are encompassed with our daily chores. This week we are going to give our minds a Moonstruck “snap out of it!” slap in the face!

“Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” ~George Carlin

Driving can be a drag, especially if you are required to do it every day, it can become quite monotonous, and boring. It can also become quite frustrating…as some have said, especially in the Midwest…the shortest distance between two points, is under construction!  So this week…allow yourself some extra time on your drive; try a different route or turn down a street that each time you pass it by you wonder where it leads. Instead of wondering where it leads…find out where it leads! Just do it!! Turn the car and go down that road!  If when leaving work you drive north then west to get home, try driving west and then north. If you go through a toll booth, ( first of all, I’m so sorry)….but second, pay for the guy behind you, just because you can!! Brighten someone’s day without want of gratitude or need for acclimation. Change your brain! It goes against your natural instinct and routine to do something out of the ordinary. To explain to the toll booth attendant you’d like to pay TWO tolls, then have the driver of the car behind you be confused. But I promise you it will give you a rush. It will get your brain to switch gears…it really is that easy!
If you are going to use the excuse that you are too busy during the week, then pick a weekend day, and just “go for a drive”. We used to do that all the time when I was younger…we never knew where we’d end up! Back then there was no GPS or cell phones, so that took a great deal more courage than it does these days! When you are driving aimlessly, without a goal in mind, then you are in no hurry, you can appreciate your time and enjoy your ride. Go alone, listen to music – better yet relish the quiet.  If you like, ask someone to join you, but don’t be put off if no one wants to come, or thinks you strange for asking!
I found this tidbit written on a piece of paper, in my own pen, but don’t recall where or why I wrote it down, but I thought it befitting this challenge:
“A little voice inside told me, You don’t have to depend on other people to accomplish what you want to do. Just do it. That was exactly what I did. I packed some snacks and some bottled water. I packed my laptop in case I decided to do some writing wherever I was going. At 9:00 a.m., I got into my car, made a beeline to a nearby ATM, and then got on the highway west, not knowing where I was going. All I knew was that I had to go somewhere, away from town where I could enjoy nature and the glorious day.”
It takes courage to venture out, courage to go without a plan, to endeavor into the unknown, or barely known…. but more often than not it is during these ventures (or Adventures) when I have found the most interesting and creative inspirations.  I’ve discovered places I was driving past daily and didn’t know they existed just two block east of my drive….I have seen the tops of buildings and just started driving towards them to see what they are, I have followed a hot air balloon from the ground because I thought it was fantastic-that was quite an adventure to be sure!  I have gone alone, I have gone with friends, I have gone without a map, without a phone, and without any idea of what was going to transpire for the day…and I have always, always, always enjoyed the ride!

“Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do.” ~ Jason Love

Yes it’s true you might get lost, sometimes that is the thrill of it. I challenge you to get lost on purpose! I challenge you to take a different route to or from work. I challenge you to go somewhere and turn off your GPS or your Navigator. Don’t consult Google Maps. Take a map! Buy a map! Stop and ask someone if there is anything interesting in the area to see! Be curious, be courageous, be daring! Drive with no destination in mind, bring a snack, bring some water, and bring your craft of choice. If you are a writer- bring a pen and paper, if you are a painter- take a small easel, if you create anything that requires hard to transport materials, then just take a sketch book and a pencil to write or draw ideas and inspirations that come to mind – and they will. Just be open to what might inspire you, go with whatever and whomever you want…but go! Just do it! It will open your mind, it will build your courage, and it will exercise your creativity!! It will bring your Evil Creative Genius to life! What have you got to lose?!

“And suddenly I realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.”~ Ayrton Senna

Be bold this week, be brave…remember we have to DO the thing, then the courage comes after! I know you are sitting there right now (or hopefully “Walking Tall”) saying either “this is going to be awesome!” or “yeah, never gonna happen” I urge you to do this, try this just once, you will grow out of your comfort zone, and grow into your creative courage! Even if all you do is take a different route home from work one time this week…anything to break up the drive, and break up the monotony of the mind…and open up to creative courage.

“It finally happened. I got the GPS lady so confused, she said “In one-quarter mile, make a legal stop and ask for directions.” ~Robert Brault

Go out this week and confuse your internal, creative GPS, so you can be open …to more, well …of everything! Enjoy the ride!

JeaneMargherite Meria Murray McMahon Schintgen
(that’s my name, don’t wear it out!)

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