| Baby Boomers and Creativity |
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| Written by Guest |
| Monday, 08 February 2010 15:20 |
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The Boomer generation is a very creative group of people and we are surrounded by writers, artists, musicians, actors and highly creative entrepreneurs who were born between 1946 and 1965. In the U.S. alone that represents over 77 million people but the vast majority of that number did not become members of the Rolling Stones. What about the rest of us? We used the music scene of the sixties and seventies to fuel our dreams of artistic success and then reality reared its ugly head and we found out about car loans, mortgages, 40 hour per week jobs, spouses, kids and grocery bills. We went to work, just like our parents and now wake up in the year 2010 and say, "Is that all there is?" Many of us have reached the empty nest stage and are looking at what the future might hold. Perhaps we could leave the bell bottoms and polyester shirts in the trunk and look to some creative endeavours to find fulfillment. While nostalgia can be a pleasant diversion, many Boomers would prefer to look forward and see what might be possible to stretch out that creativity muscle that has been dormant for so long - but how? Creativity is a special gift that each of us can access if we choose to focus some time and effort in that direction. Many of the most successful Boomers have gone on to incredible success by reaching inside and finding and trusting their creative core. Here are a few ways that anyone can increase their creativity.
The Morning Paper - set your alarm a half an hour earlier and before breakfast, the newspaper, radio or anything else, sit down and write a full page of thoughts as they occur in your mind. This might be dreams from overnight, fears, nagging concerns, things that pop into your mind when you used to be in the shower at this time - anything that your mind is working on. Do this every morning of the week as your first thing on the "to-do" list. The idea is to spur your creative juices, empty the random thoughts that tend to plug up our minds and get them out to make room for more creative thoughts to enter. If you have ever tried meditating and found that it is a constant struggle to keep your mind empty, then this is the place for all of those intrusions that prevented you from experiencing the wisdom and peace of meditation. Try it for a month - it really works. The purpose of these exercises is to crank up the inspiration muscle a bit, that is why a small notebook might be a good idea. You might even want to start an online blog to record some of your thoughts, ideas and observations because that exercise will also bring our your inner creativity and it does not matter where you focus your efforts. Some of you will find yourself thinking and focussing on business but that is alright as long as you leave room for those other thoughts and do not judge yourself - let them flow. Boomers are starting to hunt for that deeper meaning in life that we glimpsed in our youth and we really do have the opportunity now to return to that creative space and find happiness and joy. |
