Tag: creativity

18 Creativity Affirmations

Hello, my friends.

These affirmations are aimed at your creative side. Most creative endeavors ask us to tap into our highest potential. That can be fun and it can be intimidating.

These affirmations invite you to move into a mindset that your creativity matters to you, those around you, and the world. The affirmations are set to upbeat, meditative music.

They are recorded in the first and second person for maximum impact. Affirmations work best when used with repetition. For best results listen often and with headphones.

Just in case no one else has reminded you today, you’re awesome!

Ray

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Be Intentional T-shirt

My wife is a crafter and she’s a magician with her Cricut machine. She made me this awesome t-shirt. It’s my reminder of the two words I’m working to live by every day in 2019.

New Year’s Day 2009 – The Affirmation Spot for January 1, 2009

Today’s Affirmation:

“I constantly look for new ways to use creativity to enhance my work.”
(click the affirmation to hear it in mp3)

fireworks1As 2009 begins, 2008 and all its memories slip into the past. There they join memories from other years. It’s easy to allow our present to become a place where we long for the past. The past always seems somehow noble and safe from a distance. As long as we don’t live in the past, there is no harm in remembering it.

The past, though, has a lesson for the present. All those fond memories were once a “right now”. Did we enjoy them to their fullest when we were there? We remember them fondly now, but did we truly and fully experience their miracle then?

2009 is now full of potential and memories to be created. As we create them, let us pledge to live each one to its fullest and experience it to the max.

So what does 2009 promise? The words that come to mind are Transformation and Renaissance. There are some very hopeful and inspiring possibilities on the horizon.

Global – This year, I believe, has the potential for a Renaissance on so many fronts. It’s becoming apparent – as we’ve seen in recent months – that many of the ways we think about, see, and interact with the world no longer serve us.

Transformation is in the air as outmoded institutions and systems struggle to survive.  Renaissance is happening, but we must ensure it is the kind of Renaissance that leads to a freer, more enlightened humanity.

Bottom-up empowerment must win out against Top-down control. Centralized authority and control – be it governmental, economic, military, spiritual, or corporate – are the problem not the solution. These systems stifle the creativity and collaboration needed to advance.

However, these systems are going to try to hold on to power with white-knuckled determination. Their power and control are what they know and what they are comfortable with. In my opinion, it is not global recession we are witnessing, but global transformation.

That new posidigm is coming into view, but the existing negadigm is going to drag its feet. Wisdom and empowered thinking will be at a premium, but they will see us through.

Personal – Changes in the global system necessitate change within us. As we seek to grasp new models for universal advancement, we also have inner work that we know needs to happen.

Resolutions are great, but if you’re bold enough this year; replace your resolutions with revolutions. Your life can be transformed by this time next year, if you choose. You are the deciding factor.

There is no throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. What still works for the world and for us will remain. We are simply going to see a shedding of old paradigms created for another era. 2009 seems poised to be a pivotal year in this shift.

We are, indeed, living in interesting times.

Stay awesome!
Ray

10 Tips for Maximum Creativity – The Affirmation Spot for Thursday August 14, 2008

Today’s Affirmation:

“My choices create my world. Each and every day I am creating my world exactly as I want it to be.” (hear it)

“It is better to create than to be learned. Creating is the true essence of life.”

~ Barthold Georg Niebuhr

Taking a break from Olympics posts today. A few weeks ago I was in a meeting and someone presented 10 tips for maximum creativity. I thought these were worthy of sharing on the blog. I’m certain some or all of these will help boost your creativity. They are directed at the workplace, but have relevance to our personal lives as well.

  1. No one is exempt – research shows that anyone with normal intelligence is capable of doing some degree of creative work.
  2. No guilt and give yourself permission to think – let go of the guilt and give yourself permission to sit, to think, to surf. And, give your peers the same permission. Don’t assume someone is not working if they are sitting idle.
  3. Make time for creative thought – find places and make time for uninterrupted and focused creative thought. People produce creative work when they are focused, not when they are scattered and interrupted. And, while time pressure can stifle creativity, research supports that it is not the deadline that stifles; it’s the distractions.
  4. Capture ideas – good ones often come before or after work—in the shower, in your car, before you go to bed, etc. Find ways to remember them without logging on or extending your work day.
  5. Collaborate – the most creative teams are those that have the confidence to share and debate ideas.
  6. Be agile – be patient and allow for several ideas, iterations, and drafts before picking one. The creative process is not “one and done.”
  7. Be tenacious – creativity depends on the capacity to push through uncreative dry spells. Manage your energy and find ways to renew.
  8. Be curious – explore, experiment, find a different venue. Experiment.  Ask others how they do it.
  9. Get out of your comfort zone – stretch yourself. Leonardo da Vinci once said, “You’re brain is much better than you think.”
  10. Be happy – creativity is associated with happiness. In fact, research shows that people are more likely to have a breakthrough idea if they were happy the day before.

Other creativity articles, resources and blogs

Finally, when you don’t know where to start take the advice of composer John Cage and “begin anywhere.”

Stay inspired and creative!

Ray

www.theaffirmationspot.com offers downloadable mp3 affirmations for nearly every area of life – sports, sales, wealth and prosperity, health and fitness – to name just a few. Our library is growing all the time. Remember your fifth affirmation on each order is always free.

Thinking Inside the Box

Today’s Affirmation:
Million dollar ideas are as common as grass. My million dollar idea is coming to me today.


How inventive are you? Do you see a roadblock or an opportunity when you encounter a challenge? When your million dollar idea comes along will you recognize it or dismiss it as crazy?

Innovation is not always miraculous. Sometimes it’s simplicity. It’s born of necessity and an otherwise ordinary idea meeting in the right time and place.

We’re all constantly told to “think outside the box” when we need to be creative. Sometimes, though, innovation requires us to think inside the box.

My friend Gerry passed along an e-mail she received about a recent Japanese innovation – square watermelons!

Japanese grocers had a problem. Their stores are much smaller than American stores and so space is limited. Watermelons take up a lot of room and they don’t stack neatly in a tight space.

A natural response would be to say that watermelons are round and that’s just the way it is. However, Japanese farmers decided that if the grocers needed square watermelons they would come up with a way to do it. As it turns out, watermelons will grow in the shape of a square when they are planted in a square box.

Japanese consumers, who also have smaller refrigerators, loved the new watermelons. Farmers were able to sell the melons at premium prices. Everyone won.

At the bottom of the e-mail, its originator offered some outstanding analysis that benefits all of us when confronting a challenging issue.

  • Don’t Assume: The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question. Things that you have been doing a certain way your entire life have taken on the aura of the round watermelon and you likely don’t even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Breaking yourself from assuming this way can greatly improve your overall life as you are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things. This was one of the most difficult things for me to do because most of the assumptions I make, I don’t even realize that I’m making them. They seem perfectly logical on the surface, so I have to constantly make an effort to question them.
  • Question habits: The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that you can continually improve the way that you live your life. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a positive thing, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them. I have changed a large number of habits that I have had after taking the time to question them and continue to do so. Some of them I have know idea where they came from while others I can trace to certain people or instances in my life. It’s a never ending process, but by doing this, you can consistently strive toward making all aspects of your life more enjoyable instead of defaulting to what you have now.
  • Be creative: When faced with a problem, be creative in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter water melons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of your life will help you find solutions to many problems where others can’t see them. I am not a creative person, but I’ve found that the more that you look at things from different perspectives, the more creative I have become. It’s a learned art and builds upon itself.
  • Look for a better way: The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It’s impossible to find a better way if you are never asking the question in the first place. I try to ask if there is a better way of doing the things that I do and I constantly write down the things I wish I could do (but currently can’t) since these are usually hints about steps I need to change. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “Is there a better way I could be doing this?” and you will find there often is.
  • Impossibilities often aren’t: If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible or not, you will find out through trial and error.   Take away the lessons from the square watermelons and apply them to all areas in your life (work, finances, relationships, etc) and you will find that by consistently applying them, you will constantly be improving all aspects of your life.

The famed starfleet captain Jean-Luc Picard once said, “Something is only impossible until it’s not.” Square watermelons are not impossible and neither, more than likely, is your challenge. You just need to look with a fresh pair of eyes. And whether in or out of the box, let your spirit of invention lead you to success.

Be peaceful Be positive Be prosperous!

Ray

Ray Davis is the Founder of The Affirmation Spot and focuses on empowering minds to think positively, achieve goals, and live dreams.

He is the author of the Anunnaki Awakening series (2015). Book 1 – Revelation – is now available in paperback and on Kindle. This trilogy takes Ancient Aliens out of the past and into the present. An interstellar, interdimensional journey ensues with humanity’s future hanging in the balance.