The Problem with Giving Birth then Creative Freedom

I am thinking new exciting starts for the New Year.

You know, assessing, doing less of this more of that.

If there are any humans left out there in The Land of Facebook I fear we are few and that means I must bid adieu to Facebook.

A perusal of content reeks of animation, repetition and pathos. Soppy sayings about death, loss and love, puppies, puking and purchases, factory generated and clicked on to reflect true love and loss, and Lord help us, that ancient relic the chain letter, that if you do not pass on in minutes to at least half the world you will receive neither blessings nor bounty.

Smart ass snippets of wisdom, amusing the first time but pretty quickly pathetic. Very little human to human communication, but what is there is buried deep and takes too long to ferret out.

Honesty of opinion cannot be expressed without vile backlash. I miss expressing my opinion and I miss having someone disagree with my opinion openly and both of us respecting the other and walking away emotionally and intellectually intact.

I have a group of friends I meet with for coffee a few mornings a week at a lovely café. Opinions are diverse, expressed, discussed. There is nothing wrong with differing opinions. By considering others’ thoughts we grow, we consider, we think. We learn. We may learn something new or we may discover a little bit more about how and why we feel what we do.

How and when did we start thinking everyone must agree with us? Truth and perception are very personal and seldom exactly the same for any two.

And whoever came up with the idea of political correctness?

Pure puppet mastery, no longer amusing and painful to watch. Unfortunately this forum has been reduced from a luxurious banquet of prime rib thought exchange to the pablum consistency only suitable for infant minded consumption.

I love my contact with my real peeps but continuing contact this way is like having to read every one of the 156 flyers that come each week with the newspaper. And I love Mark Z. He did not make this what it has become. We did. ADIEU

OH AND EVERY ONE HAVE A BLESSED MERRY CHRISTMAS.

 

Intelligence Intellect Creativity

Intellect Intelligence Creativity

I just finished reading The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery The PEI Years 1901-1911 by Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Hillman Waterston and it got me thinking about intellect, intelligence, and creativity.

Montgomery is the author of Anne of Green Gables and many other stories.  Her personal journals have been published both after she had edited them and then in completion and since she lived from 1874 until 1942 I feel I absolutely must find the others and read them. Of course when I searched, my rusty trusty local library only carries the one book I have just read so now I have to decide whether to fork out some moola for the others.

There is a lot to discuss and share about the girl whose mother died 22 months after having given birth, whose father left her with his grandparents while he went off to another province, leaving her to be raised in an unloving, don’t you ever forget what we have done for you family. Seeing her life through her eyes is fascinating.  It was a stark life both emotionally and environmentally.  Prince Edward Island is one of three Canadian Maritime Provinces and while it has beautiful summer and fall seasons the winters can be brutal and when the annual storms from December to April raged it meant physical isolation for extended times.

But what I am thinking about this morning is creativity.  Maude Montgomery talks about the people in her life, family, friends, acquaintances, and notes those that are intelligent, intellectual, simple, coarse, common, and endearing.

But to get back to creativity – are writers born?  Many of my favorite writers say that from a very young age they had to write. Can you be creative and not intelligent?  Can you be intelligent and not an intellectual?  Can you be creative and not an intellectual?

Graham Collier in Psychology Today indicates from my understanding, that Intellect is Fact, and Intelligence is Feeling.

Can you increase your intellect or intelligence?  There is a lot of information on the internet dealing with this very question.  It seems yes, you can become more intellectual by learning, seeking out, and yes more intelligent, though it seems you can also be blessed with an intelligence gene.  In fact intelligence seems to be innate and intellect acquired.   So it seems you can be intelligent but not an intellect but if you are an intellect you must have some intelligence to have acquired it.

But where does that leave us on the Creativity question?  I don’t consider myself creative, at least not the kind of creativity where I am driven to create with intensity.  In fact it has crossed my mind that if there is reincarnation I may have been a successful writer in some past life but damaged my karma to such an extent that I am left aware in this life of the capability and to some degree hunger for it but lack just enough of je ne sais quoi to actually achieve anything.

Interesting huh?

I Appear Brighter Than I Really Am

Flower Child

I Appear Brighter Than I really Am

This is similar to: objects in the mirror are closer than they appear, but I am glad I do not have to wear a sticky on my rear view mirror or any other part of my anatomy announcing the fact.

There is a fav quote of mine, I have no idea who said it originally but it goes something like this: 
It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.  I like it. I do not always, or almost never adhere to it, but somehow I can pull it off, mouth and all.

I understand from my father that when I was born the world was taken aback by my extremely intelligent dark brown eyes.  It is my humble belief that was just a reaction from a proud papa gazing upon his first born – me.  He would tell me that story again and again, and so I believed.

So how does one give the illusion of Intelligence?

1). Look, Listen, and Learn.  From everyone.
2). I am a natural empath and connect with people easily.  I feel and understand the emotion behind their words and body language and they feel me feeling them. Minds out of the gutter here..but it works as well in those situations too.
3). Look into their eyes when they speak – with interest, even if you have absolutely no interest in the subject at hand.  It’s surprising what you might learn and hey you just won a fan.
4). Listen for keywords and ask questions. Hey by now they are ready to write you into the will.
5). When you listen, when you appear to care all kinds of amazing things happen.  You do learn, you find yourself even caring, truly and what is better than anything else:)
6) When you do have something to say everyone listens to you!  And usually you have a lot of worthwhile things to say because you have learned so much!

For you naturally bright bunnies out there, this information will provide nothing new, however, I do wish to thank you for teaching me!