Lessons from The Music Room No. 2: “Just Do” Cold Showers and Write Short Lists

Posted on March 21, 2011 by galarzamonsalve

For one year– from Spring 2010 to Spring 2011,  I turned my growing family into a laboratory.  My purpose– to set each of us on a Creative path of our own.  We began in the grand central space we call The Music Room.  Our old piano is here and our shelves are stuffed with great books.  There are Kapla blocks to build with and a wooden castle with queens and kings to play with. For one week I’m writing about what I’ve learned this year– about Creativity and what it takes to live it. Yesterday I wrote The Creative Life is a Struggle.

The Nike slogan Just Do It works well enough as my family’s current task-accomplishment (including all things creativity-related) plan.  I hope this is only temporary because I’m a big fan of the perfectly tuned schedule.

When my first daughter arrived my mother said,  She’ll take over your life until you get a good schedule.  But once you’ve got a schedule you’ll have time for anything you want.  And so it was.  At six months my tiny girl woke at 6 a.m.  I bundled her up, strapped her into a jogger-stroller and ran several miles before breakfast.  We ate at 7:30.   Then I sat her facing the bathroom shower on a bouncy chair with toys so I could shower in peace.  We took walks, sang songs, giggled and read books.  I made her baby food from scratch and tried complicated recipes (i.e., Shitake-mushroom fried polenta topped with tomatoes, slivered almonds and parmigiano-reggiano) for dinner and she watched me.  Twice a week my lovely mother-in-law took over, while I took off for grad school.  I’m barely scratching the surface here.  More than a decade later (I may not be young), I still believe a perfectly tuned schedule is best.

That’s why I’ve tried all sorts of plans and schedules this year to put this creativity thing on rails. But all of them required more energy than they generated.  I nixed each plan when it turned more needy than a child.  Who wants a needy schedule?  I don’t.  Real kid voices (expressing human needs) filter into my dreams at day-break Sunday through Saturday. Check out my current (not-so-needy) 5 item schedule:

  1. I nurse the baby.
  2. I head for my semi-private wake-up chamber–  the cold shower.  (Did I use the word “cold’?  Freezing is more appropriate this time of year– Freezing showers are perfectly safe. I choose to do this, OK?)
  3. I dry my body with the available clean towel.
  4. I pull on my best jeans, dab on the lipstick.
  5. I run the rest of the day (it’s kind of a blur– except when I follow my two-year-old outside and read at the same time, or when I drive to kid-classes or when I lecture at the University. And all running stops when I write.  Which I do almost every day. Some days I even write three pages of long-hand free thought.

Someday I’ll return to a perfectly tuned routine– all Highly Creative people fashion favored schedules.  To read some favored routines I’ve come across check out my series: Routines.

But back to now.  Let me tell you, with five children under twelve–  it’s just impossible to follow a perfectly tuned schedule.  For children each little habit expressively worked on (e.i., flushing the toilet after use or signing every piece of artwork) takes thirty days of practice.  Perfectly tuned schedules are built of a thousand little habits.  You do the math.  So instead, we all meet in The Music Room and make short lists (one for each person above five-years-old) and each finds a way to do it.  On Sundays,  I often have only one item on my list– Write.  And I do.  Of course I still bathe the baby, drive the kids to hit tennis balls and make lunch.  But those things tend to get done list or not.  A one-item “To-Do” list makes you happy at the start but turns exhilarating when you’re finished.

Just Do It is the motto of the determined desperate.  The person who came up with the motto (don’t tell Nike)–  a serial killer about to die for his crimes and ready to get dying over-with, was certainly desperate.  I admit I’m not always determined or desperate.  But this post is proof Just Do It is working out for now.

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Today (March 21, 2011) is…

…The exact One Year Anniversary of Creating Brains!

To my faithful readers:

Thank you for sticking with me. Just knowing you’re there adds intensity and relevance to every word I write. Thank you!

To those who’ve left comments:

A capital THANK YOU!  Your feedback keeps me thinking–  what a gift.

To all my Hitters (is that a word yet?)– Creating Brains has been visited over 9,000 times so far!  Whoop-y! Hurray!

Thank you all for visiting.

Filed under: Lessons from The Music Room, Making Time, Mantras to Increase Creativity | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Lessons from The Music Room No.1: The Creative Life is a Struggle

Posted on March 20, 2011 by galarzamonsalve

For one year– from Spring 2010 to Spring 2011,  I turned my growing family into a laboratory.  My purpose– to set each of us on a Creative path of our own.  We began in the grand central space we call The Music Room.  Our old piano is here and our shelves are stuffed with great books.  There are Kapla blocks to build with and a wooden castle with queens and kings to play with. For one week I’m writing about what I’ve learned this year– about Creativity and what it takes to live it.  This is the first post of the series.

The Creative Life is all about dichotomies. The most troubling dichotomy is that what makes you more Creative is exactly what also kills your Creativity.

Years ago, Alejandro (my uncle’s childhood friend) drowned in a sparkling river on a sunny day for no good reason at all. One second my uncle saw him swimming ten feet away.  Then the boy was gone.  My uncle dove under, desperately looking for him. Over and over and over.  He finally figured out Alejandro was sucked into a very black hole by a whirling under-river tornado invisible from the surface.  The boy lost his life while very much in it.  He drowned for too much of the very substance that makes life possible.

Creativity requires flow–  but sometimes to get flow you tread over under-river tornadoes.  You could leave this energy absorbing zone to glide with gentle water, but you choose to stay. You stay in the thick of the River for love, passion and material.  I’ve been treading over mild water-whirls all day today.  I stopped my writing to read the writing of my students.  I stopped my writing to hold the crying two-year-old I love.  I drove an hour to visit my sick dad.  I talked on the phone with my traveling husband and sang to my eleven-year-old daughter.  All the while my laptop sat open ready to take all I had to give.

All day I wanted to write–  I’ve learned so much this year and have so much to tell you.  But I must begin with the things that stopped my writing.  Interruptions gained force with mass.  They pulled on me to shut my computer and write another day. But I kept coming back to add another line.  I kept treading.

But my biggest struggle–  fierce enough I fear for my own Creative life,  is helping my children discover their Creative lives.  In his book You!  Having A Baby, Dr. Mehmet Oz explains why some babies are born large.  He says pregnancy is a constant battle for the mother’s resources.  The fetus wants more of everything the mother can give.  To live, the mother’s body fights to keep what she needs.  So the battle rages until the baby is born.  A big baby means the baby was winning the fight.  If the baby is tiny, the mother stored more than necessary.

Struggling to stay on your Creative path turns into an all-out-war for resources if you bring the kids along.   But all this drama makes you more Creative than a mental couch-potato version of yourself.  A complex dichotomy-ridden, ever-flowing life gives you plenty of material to Create with.  Complexity makes you larger.

The American poet Walt Whitman said,

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

I couldn’t agree more.  Your Creative life exists only among contradictions and you need them all to Create. The scary truth is you can drown in a mess of Life or you can swim among your many selves and choices non-stop–  inhaling energy constantly.  If you keep up the struggle the flow moments will come.  But for now, there is more struggle than calm.

I say– Keep on treading baby!

Filed under: Lessons from The Music Room, What I've Learned | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Sleeping Around in London

Posted on March 13, 2011 by galarzamonsalve

Before I start today’s post, I must disclose.  I sleep some,  but not enough to think and walk at the same time. My 11-month-old still nurses through the night.  I get up when she cries at night because I want her to fatten up and grow long.  And, she is my precious baby after all. So, against medical advice (my physician sister-in-law looks out for me–  she thinks I need more sleep),  I sleep some and figure, someday I’ll sleep more. And besides,  I can always find a chair to land on if I feel a thought coming.

It turns out, you don’t need a set amount of sleep at precise intervals to think original  thoughts.  Creativity scholar Mihalyi Csikzentmihalyi found highly creative people work with their bio-rhythms.  They arrange their lives to sleep when tired but work when they’re sharp– regardless of hour.  My current baby-controlled schedule is not ideal ( i.e., running a 5k this morning seems impossible) but it’s not horrible for creativity.  I’ve had plenty of brilliant insights in between mid-night naps (unfortunately, I don’t always remember them by morning)  and I’ve found my sharpest hours seem to fall between 1:00 a.m. and dawn (if, I’ve slept early and deep the previous three nights).  I’ve made peace with my sleep issues and continue. My good friend Jennifer says, In a year, things will be different.  She’s right.  I can imagine longer nights a year from now.

Some friends– a high-flying London couple, are about to have their first baby.  She’s a novelist.  He’s a club DJ by night,  international lawyer by day.  Their spacious Hackney flat has plenty of space for the gear they’ll need and they both love kids. They’re more than ready;  they’re giddy non-stop with anticipation.  There’s only one small problem.  They love their current party-almost-every-night, sleep in, work late and do it all again life rhythm.  Last time I visited them,  the guy asked,

Do kids HAVE to go to bed early?  I mean,  that doesn’t make sense.  My sister is adamant.  She says, Just wait.  You’ll see.  Kids HAVE to go to bed super early. It’s just the way it works. But why would that be?  I mean, as long as they get the amount they need–  you know, like 8 hours,  or whatever.  Right?

I said,

I don’t know. I suppose you could convince your baby you live in another time zone–  you could carry around a full-spectrum light lamp in your diaper bag and shine it on your kid’s face at sundown.  And shut the blinds in her room in the morning,  so she still thinks it’s night. That shouldn’t be too hard–    days are pretty dark here in London anyway. I don’t know.  I haven’t tried it.

I don’t remember where our conversation went from there.  But now (two years later) I wonder if they’ll try to make the baby adjust to their time.  Will they lug her around London’s night-scene in a sound-proof bassinet?  I doubt it.  I think the novelist will nix any exceedingly silly plan.  But she is pretty flexible and does like to try things out.

In any case,  the man’s question is a good one.  Do babies need to sleep when 7:30 p.m. hits wherever they are?  I’ve always stuck to a traditional bedtime.  But, I’d love to watch the London couple trick their baby into sleeping exactly when they’d like her to sleep. If they pull this off,  they should write a book and I bet it would hit the bestseller list on Day 1.

Filed under: Biology, Creative Families, Following Rules, Living the Creative Life, Music, Parents, The Child | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Living the Creative Life — James Watson’s Take

Posted on March 2, 2011 by galarzamonsalve

How do you live the creative life? I’ve gleaned tips from some of my favorite Creators. For five days I’m writing about these insightful suggestions.  Today is technically Day 6– but I couldn’t help adding one more day of tips. Yesterday I wrote about Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice.

James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA, recently wrote a book packed with advice for young scientists: Avoid Boring People and Other Lessons from a Life in Science . But it’s more than a how-to book.  It’s a great life story. I tried to read it to my children this morning (they lost interest rather quickly,  but that’s another post for another day).

Check out his advice below:

  1. Knowing “why” (an idea) is more important than learning “what” (a fact).
  2. New ideas usually need new facts.
  3. Think like your teachers not your peers.
  4. Seek out bright as opposed to popular friends.
  5. The sooner you narrow your creative interests,  the better.
  6. Keep your intellectual curiosity broad.
  7. Work on Sundays.  (More on this: Spending More Time at the Office).
  8. Exercise when you feel intellectually dull.
  9. Have a big objective that makes you feel special.
  10. Always have an audience for your creative work.
  11. Avoid boring people.
  12. Science is highly social.
  13. Leave a project or field before it bores you.
  14. Choose an objective apparently ahead of its time.
  15. Work on problems that take 3-5 years to work out.
  16. Never be the brightest person in the room.
  17. Stay connected to intellectual competitors.
  18. Work with a teammate who is your intellectual equal.
  19. Constantly share what you learn.
  20. Immediately write-up big discoveries.
  21. Travel increases your creative prowess.
  22. Be the first to tell a good story.
  23. Read out-loud what you write.
  24. Two obsessions are one too many.
  25. Don’t take up golf.
  26. Close competitors should publish simultaneously.
  27. Schedule as few appointments as possible.
  28. Never dye your hair or use collagen.

My favorites are #9, #11, #21 and #28.  What do you think?

*Don’t go away yet:  You may have noticed I’ve changed my blog’s look.  What do you think about that?  Is it better?  Worse?  In bad-taste?  Tantalizing?  I’d love to hear your opinion.  If you’re new here… I’d still love to hear what you think about my site, creativity…the Universe!

Filed under: Advice, Living the Creative Life, The Scientist | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Living the Creative Life (Part V): Eleanor Roosevelt

Posted on February 28, 2011 by galarzamonsalve

How do you live the creative life? I’ve gleaned tips from some of my favorite Creators. For five days I’m writing about these insightful suggestions.  Yesterday I wrote about Jonas Salk’s Advice.

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a newspaper column without missing a day for over twenty years. She wrote her last “post” only two weeks before her death.  She tackled big issues like racism, war and poverty and weighed in on life’s simplest trials (i.e., not having anything to say at a dinner party).  Roosevelt’s list of accomplishments is long,  from helping found the United Nations to inspiring the women’s rights movement,  but I think one of the most inspiring gifts she left for us is her autobiographical treatise on how to live the creative life,  You Learn by Living.  It’s one of my favorite books of all time,  alongside Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.

Check out Roosevelt’s advice on how to court creativity:

  1. Live every experience as deeply as you can.
  2. Sift your book-learning through your own intelligence.
  3. To expose yourself to new ideas make a game of trying to make people talk about their interests.
  4. Listen to people open and with interest.
  5. Surround yourself with the best of human creativity–  the things you surround yourself with sink into your consciousness.
  6. Overcome fear with discipline.
  7. To overcome shyness:  Just stop thinking about yourself.
  8. Freedom comes with achievement.
  9. You have all the time in the world— just like everyone else.  But you need to schedule it as you please.
  10. Learn to work around noise, disorder and chaos.
  11. For a sharp mind take care of your general health.
  12. Avoid burdening your spouse or children by your lack of curiosity and dull mind — stay curious and sharp into old age.
  13. Choose hope over fear.
  14. Choose trying over not trying.
  15. Justify your existence.  Learn by living.

My favorites are #3, #5, #8 and #12.  How about you?  What do you think?

Filed under: Advice, advice and expectations | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Living the Creative Life (Part I): Leonardo Da Vinci

Posted on February 22, 2011 by galarzamonsalve

How do you live the creative life? I’ve gleaned tips from some of my favorite Creators. For five days I’m writing about these insightful suggestions.

History’s creative heavies often possessed uncanny premonitions of the true weight of their work. Some of them even wrote accounts of their lives as road maps for future creators. Leonardo Da Vinci, for example,  must have at least hoped someone eventually would care how he lived.  In his famous notebooks, he tells how he mastered drawing the human form.  First, he hired nudes to pose for him so he could get everything true to form.  He drew hundreds of nudes all summer long.  Next, when the days turned cold he took all his summer drawings and picked the absolute best.  The rest he tossed into the fireplace.  Then, he memorized the proportions and exact shadings of his best drawings and replicated them over and over again until the next summer. When the next summer rolled around, he hired nudes again.  But this time they we’re out-of-shape,  over-weight people, rather than the fine specimens he used before.  He drew them as they were, but also added more muscles in the right places.  When he finished these,  he held them up against a mirror to trick his brain into thinking they were someone else’s work and his mistakes would pop out for him to analyze.  The next summer, he’d begin the entire cycle once more.

Da Vinci also left 16 tips on how to live.  His suggestions are clearly meant for artists but, I think you’ll agree, they are universal for anyone wanting the Good Life for Creativity’s sake.

Check them out below:

  1. Live life mostly in your studio. ( “Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones distract it“)
  2. Have work at hand always.
  3. Don’t take holidays from work.
  4. Do the most difficult part of your work first. Persevere until you work through that hard part.
  5. Take time to imagine (when you wake and right before you fall asleep).
  6. Spend winter evenings re-studying what you learned the previous summer.
  7. When the next summer comes around, review.
  8. Take walks about town and study people.
  9. Use your natural competitiveness to improve your craft.
  10. Use a mirror to trick your brain into thinking you are looking at someone else’s work, and errors will instantly pop out before your eyes.
  11. Figure out what others find beautiful and blend those ideals into your work.
  12. Arrange your room to bring out the best in your work.
  13. Learn diligence first and not rapid execution.
  14. Make your art universal– of use or appeal to everyone.
  15. Always check your art against the real thing.
  16. Surpass your teachers.

My favorites are #3, #4, #8 and $12.  Did you find any you think worth trying out? Let me know.  Leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!

Filed under: advice and expectations, Creativity by Habits, Imitating/Borrowing | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

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