Back From The Edge

by: Grace L. Judson

When you think about it, it’s pretty funny, the things that we’ll do to be what our society considers normal. Just look at any band of teenagers in a shopping mall or outside a high school, and you’ll see the lengths to which we humans will go to fit in with the group’s definition of normal.

As adults, we continue relying on those conformity skills to fit in with our chosen crowd. Almost every group has its normal behaviors clearly defined: we can all identify computer geeks, soccer moms, aging hippies, golfers, and many other groups simply based on their behavioral attributes. I’m sure you belong to a number of groups whose characteristics you’ve adopted almost unconsciously.

Fitting in with a group is a good thing. It gives us a sense of belonging, identity, and security, and it establishes group-specific expectations of how each individual will act and respond to others in the group. In this way, it reduces misunderstandings and the social gyrations otherwise necessary to establish who you are and how you will behave. So members of a networking group have a mutual understanding that they will provide business opportunities to each other – and those in the group who violate this defined normal behavior will find themselves outcast or ostracized.

But at the same time, the pressure to be normal can be distressingly, painfully limiting due to our natural desire to retain that group identity, security, and safety. It squelches personal expression and creativity and smothers the urge to accomplish the extraordinary.

When was the last time you pointed to someone and said, “Wow, that person is so normal – I’d like to be just like that!” Instead, consider the heroes you admire and respect, whether they be political, religious, athletic, or in some other walk of life. Nelson Mandela; Mother Theresa; Gandhi; Tiger Woods – to name a very few – are these people normal!?

We all have the ability and opportunity to act in ways that are not normal, ways that expand our horizons and enhance our lives and the lives of others. It’s usually fear that stops us: fear of stepping outside the defined normal conduct of our group, of being thought “weird” or – well, yes, abnormal. But it’s by doing the unusual and the extraordinary that we can surprise ourselves by being more of who we are instead of less.

I invite you, therefore, to do something wonderfully not normal. Take a small step, even a baby step, outside your comfortable boundaries and explore the possibilities. Then think about how it felt, and how you plan to keep extending yourself into the abnormality of excellence.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain, 19th Century US author

About The Author

(c) Grace L. Judson
Helping professionals who feel trapped and want options.

Stuck in a “success plateau” and having a hard time figuring out reasons to get out of bed in the morning? For more information or to access my free resources (including my free newsletter and Stress Management classes), be sure to visit my website at http://www.svahaconcepts.com.

I don’t post very often, but I couldn’t resist this weeks topic!  As soon as Michael told me we’d be all about play and fun, I immediately thought of my “play guru”, Sark!  Here’s a quote from her book, Make Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, and People Who Would Really Rather Sleep All Day:

“Inside” Children

Inside each of us are the children we were at each developmental stage.

With regard to our creative dreams, these inside children can prevent us from living them by “acting out” in order to try to get our attention. Your inner 5-year-old is not going to patiently wait as you learn intricate metalworking techniques or study impressionist painting. Yet, your inner 10-year-old may be perfectly suited to learn and observe new skills.

What’s really needed is parenting of these inside children so that we bring them to age-appropriate activities.”
— Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK)

The words ‘play’ and ‘fun’ don’t occur at all in this wonderful quote, but that’s what she’s saying to me.

What do you think of when you hear the word “play”?

Wiffle ball with your 6-year-old in the back yard?

The latest Xbox game?

Sudoku?

They’re certainly playful, but are they FUN?

I’m learning that I like play that contains elements of creativity, imagination and inspiration. I have the most fun when I let my inner five-year-old remind me how amazing it felt to learn and experiment.

I remember how much I loved finger painting when I was in kindergarten. I bet I’d still like it.

I’m gonna take my five year old self for a walk and let her look under rocks for cool bugs, take home whichever ones she wants, imitate the birds and then let her finger paint them when she gets home.

Sounds like fun to me!

I follow the quote hash on Twitter as closely as I can. As I was exploring the theme of fun, I encountered a dearth of quotes on fun, playfulness, play, and the like. So, I went in search of quotes on these topics.  While I pulled from a number of sources, I appreciated the ones at the JoyofQuotes.com. All of the quotes below are immediately tweetable (according to number of characters). I hope you enjoy these. Post your favorite quotes on play, fun, and playfulness. I’d love to see them.

Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning
Dianne Ackerman

play produces feelings of pleasure which help you escape from two major creativity killers – stress and self-consciousness
Jordan Ayan

Whoever wants to understand much must play much
Gottfried Bern

Play keeps us fit physically and mentally.
Stuart Brown

Play is the exultation of the possible.
Martin Buber

Live and work but do not forget to play, to have fun in life and really enjoy it.
Eileen Caddy

Play has been man’s most useful preoccupation.
Frank Caplan

To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!
Charlie Chaplin

The true object of all human life is play.
G.K. Chesterton

If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.
John Cleese

Life is playfulness…We need to play so that we can rediscover the magic all around us.
Flora Colao

It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish
Aeschylus

Laughter puts your brain, your central nervous system and your whole being into a state of free play.
Max Eastman

Play is the highest form of research.
Albert Einstein

To stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition.
Albert Einstein

It is a happy talent to know how to play.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
Heraclitus

Most people are much more unusual and complicated and eccentric and playful and creative than they have time to express.
Oliver Herring

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.
Kay Renfield Jamison

Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.
Michael Jordan

Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.
Abraham Maslow

In the true man there is a child concealed – who wants to play.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.
Joseph Chilton Pierce

Do not…keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play.
Plato

The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.
Plato

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.
Plato

In the garden of your days cultivate festivity, play and celebrations.
Mary Anne Radmacher

It’s not that you won or lost…but how you played the game.
Grantland Rice

We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.
Charles Schaefer

Serious play is not an oxymoron; it is the essence of innovation.
Michael Schrage

We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.
George Bernard Shaw

The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression.
Brian Sutton-Smith

It is essential to our well-being, and to our lives, that we play and enjoy life.
Marcia Wieder

Steven Pressfield is normally known for his novels (The Legend of Bagger Vance; Gates of Fire). In The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, however, he delves into the artist’s psyche. The book is best termed self-help. The War of Art deals with what he terms “Resistance”. Resistance is the negative force one encounters when attempting to create art, be creative, or make positive change. He helps to identify, understand, and overcome this enemy so that the individual can achieve “the unlived life within”.

I have reread the book many times and I take away different insights each time. As the quote from Esquire states on the cover, the book is “a vital gem…a kick in the ass”

An article by Mitch Ditkoff which begin provocatively enough:

“If creativity is the flower of a human life, then intention is the root”.

It is a short article but thought provoking. There are also a number of other articles by Mitch Ditkoff found on the Blogging Innovation blog.

Sir Ken Robinson offers a persuasive talk regarding creativity. He argues it is not that we grow into creativity but rather we are born creative and it is educated out of us. It is an intelligent, persuasive, and funny presentation.

I wonder how can I approach my world and my life more creatively. How do I approach it more right brained? How do I learn, metaphorically, to dance through my life? I’d love to hear what you are doing to relearn creativity.

Also, below is a follow-up presentation. This talk focuses on the squandering of talent and giftedness. He calls for a revolution in education.