Farmville Survey – what kind of farmer are you?

Hey hey Farmers!  These surveys are just for fun.
Is your farming style like your life style? 
Or are you living a whole different life on the farm?
And why do you farm, anyway?
See how similar or dissimilar you are to the rest of the farmers.

Make sure you check the results and comments..
I’m sure there will be some funny answers.

(Note: I don’t think comments in ‘other’ show up. If not,  you can click ‘comments’ to add more, or just leave comments at the end of the post – there’s a spot to ‘post a comment’ )
(This survey is safe and does not lead you into any sales pitches)

 

 

 Thanks for stopping by!
I just knew  you all needed a little break from farming.

Math and the creative right brained child

As a child, I remember sitting at our grand old oak table doing my arithmetic homework. Yes, back then it was called arithmetic.  I remember very clearly having the answers to the math questions, but not the steps to get there.  I was trying to “make up’ the steps.. come up with anything the teacher would mark correct.  I was in tears with frustration because all I wanted to do was go outside and roller skate. (again, dating myself here)   I desperately wanted to play, but here I was with this stupid homework making up steps that a teacher would mark correct. (Because I was also a perfectionist.)

I didn’t know I was a right brain thinker.  I didn’t know that bit of news until a billion years later. I did learn to memorize the teachers’ ways to find answers… first coming up with my own way then doing what I was taught by rote methods.

As a creative thinking child, I was completely unsupported in the school system.  I was, however, one of the more fortunate ones:  like many right brain thinkers, we also develop a pretty functional left brain to adapt.  Many of us received good marks in school. But did we all dread going to school each day, I wonder?  I can honestly say I hated school.. it felt like a torture chamber.  Nobody would have known that because my marks were good and I was a ‘nice’ little girl. 

 I also remember in Grade 6 writing and illustrating a story – it involved research, creativity, imagination and it fed my young soul.  That I remember happily. 

People like me adapted as best we could.. we learned to  shut down the leaps of excitement when we made random out of the blue discoveries – because leaps of excitement were ‘inappropriate’ to the classroom (and later the office.)  We sat quietly in high school with brilliant answers in our head that we wouldn’t share.. .finding out much later in life that in fact, those answers were genius and far ahead ‘of their time’. 

We learned that art and writng were nice hobbies, but we’d better get a real job.  (Sadly not much has changed)   We learned that our often brilliant philosophies and concepts were ‘just our imagination’ and therefore had no value.  And we did what we could  to NOT talk about our intuitive abilities.. because we were sure we’d probably be committed or burn in hell.

 We didn’t learn that not all children felt trapped in school. 

 We learned that it was bad that we didn’t like team sports. I loved independant sports.. I excelled in track and bombed in team sports.  I adored racing wildly down steep hills on rollerskates. Again, signs of the right brain child. 

But what about those kids more dominantly right brained? Who couldn’t help but jump up in excitment?  Who couldn’t sit still?  Who didn’t learn to memorize the teachers linear detailed way of solving problems and therefore failed with every try?   Yes, I’m describing da Vinci as a child, or Einstein, or perhaps today’s children diagnosed with adhd, behaviour disorders, and learning disabilities.

Way back in my childhood days,  nobody knew a thing about the concept of left brain/ right brain dominant thinkers. In fact science was only beginning to recognize there was a use for our right brain.. having previously thought it served no purpose!!!!

Now we know much more… and yes, the school systems are evolving, with more schools popping up that recognize the creative right brain way of thinking.  May the wee right brain dominant children soon fully get the support and encouragement they need to be their brilliant selves and may the more predominant left brain children learn the tools to access their right brain answers!

Funny, I remember believing that in Russia children were educated based on their strengths and gifts.  That’s all I understood about it and I remember wishing there was a way for me to go to school in Russia. When the rest of the world was ranting about the cold war and the dangers of Russians, I wanted to go to school there.  Imagine that.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.. there’s a little ‘post a comment’ button at the end of all the tags listed below!

Unbelievably brilliant! Paper cutting, storytelling,..

 

Film for NZ Book Council Produced by Colenso BBDO Animated by Andersen M Studio.

Paper cutting, storytelling, film, altered books… all in one short video. May you be inspired to connect the not usually connected!

Stroke of Insight – a must see if you have a brain.

We, the world, must thank Jill Bolte Taylor for having a stroke. Her insights have skyrocketed awareness of the power and abilities of our left and right brain.. and their differences!  I also recommend her book to learn even more. Please share your thoughts below. (There’s a little ‘post your comment’ button at the end of the tag list below)

My farmville outhouse needs harvesting!

 Frightening to imagine what might be harvested. I’m not going to do it.

Maybe let me know what you find when you harvest yours. (There’s a little ‘post your comment’ button at the end of the tag list below)

And on a important note, did you make your donation for Haiti Earthquake Relief?  10 million users each donating $5 would make a big difference.

This was going to be about stress reduction, but then I found the kitchen sink button

People, did you know there is a kitchen sink button on wordpress visual editor?  It gives you a second toolbar of options for formatting the blog post. 

Sure, after the fact when you think about it, a button that includes everything AND the kitchen sink makes sense.   After the fact.  I imagine I’ve scrolled over the button and when it said ’show/hide kitchen sink’, I gave it a fleeting, “what the hell?” but did not click.

 But, sheesh, I’ve been annoyed for 3 years that there were so little options to prettify the posts.  So, I suppose, now I’ve reduced that stress. 

BUT, another part of me has always been very relieved that there were so few options.. because really, I can get very caught up in all the possibilities of anything creative.  Do I have time to fuss with pretty posts, in additon to all the other technical creative opportunities like  building and maintaining my website? doing newsletters? producing my books? I even have moments where I wonder why I ever learned photoshop because I can get immersed in a silly psd project for hours! 

So, ya, okay… maybe there was less stress not knowing about the kitchen sink button.  Now I’m going to feel obligated to fuss with this creatively.

Wait a sec. I think it’s okay. There’s not many options in the kitchen sink area. No font changing options without going into html.

Hang on…. there’s a ‘copy from word’ button… let’s just see if it let’s me copy without turning the document into words scattered randomly over the page with huge spaces, blanks and otherwise unreadable formatting errors. (That only has value for poets)

‘Testing the copy from Word button.’

Alrighty, that didn’t work.  That phrase should have been pretty.

Phew. Discovering the kitchen sink button has not given me many options at all. Thank goodness.

So, what do you think? Probably could have let go the ‘annoyed’ part three years ago and instead consciously thanked my lucky stars that there’s so few creative options here?    yup. 

And now it seems I have written about reducing stress after all:

Stress Reduction Rule #1: Check in with the stressors.  Are they a ’stress’ only because somewhere there is a ’should’ guiding you?  (like me thinking I ’should’ make my posts more creatively pleasing since I’m a creative person.) 

Are you stressed because you ’should’ be going to the gym because media says so but really you hate the gym and don’t go anyway?  (That’s a cry to find a way to keep active that you love!  Personally, tonight I danced in the yard just to hear the crunch of frosty sparkling grass under my feet)

Are you stressed because your house should be perfectly tidy because your in-laws who keep a ‘perfect’ house and who do not have 4 young children expect you to keep yours the same way?  Put that way, it becomes pretty clear that that is one stressor to let go.

Do you think you should vacuum daily and get upset with yourself when you don’t? Do you know that, unless there is a person in your home with allergies,  nobody cares?  Did your mother teach you that your home had to be vacuumed daily – yet you, unlike her, work out of the home, volunteer, drive three kids to soccer, each at different fields in different parts of the city, and somehow magically get them there even if they all start at the same time?  Yes, it’s time to let go the ‘vacuum daily’ value.

Give yourself permission to notice what is stressing you.. the little things for starts.  Decide if they are a ’should’ do, or an old belief, or a value that no longer serves any purpose and then.. let it go.  Celebrate by sipping a hot cup of tea, curling up in your favourite chair, and doing ‘nothing’.

and me?  Changing font colour in a post is just not that exciting.  I am now going to pretend I never found the kitchen sink button.  Oh, the relief of not having to make my posts pretty. Phew.

Please feel free to share a stressor that you think you might be able to let go.  Your comment might be one that triggers ‘aha’ moments for others! In this case, the more, the merrier.. literally!

Sir Ken Robinson – do schools kill creativity?

If you have children or if you were ever a child yourself, watch this.

The video is 20 minutes and is funny. This is a powerful topic that I suggest will open doors to recognizing your own limiting beliefs and how they may have began.  Particularly if you were ever a child in school.   What’s cool about that is recognizing limiting beliefs (beliefs that stop you)  is usually enough to make them go away!  Video comes with humour to keep your attention.  Worth every moment.

I know brilliant people who are wise, caring, and creative teachers .. but they work within a system built in the dark ages.. or was it the industrial age?… that is riddled with rules, regulations, and ‘must teach this’ restrictions. 

Yes, schools are evolving but the effort it will take to make mass changes to these institutions is nearly impossible to comprehend. 

So, small steps:

• More art schools.
• More inservices on creativity.
• More principals giving permission to gently alter curriculum.
• Less stuffing a poor 6 year old into a desk, with recess being their only hope for the day. 
• More recess.
• More parents learning (remembering!) the value of creativity and creative play and encouraging and acknowledging their children’s successes in those areas (in and out of school) equally, or perhaps more than, their successes in standard curriculum.
• Allowing children to lead and their teachers and guides follow.  
• Parents, ask yourself “What little thing can I do today that supports my child’s creativity?”  Think tiny. A comment, a hug, a few moments of creating together, a conversation on the phone about creativity and it’s value and making sure your child is nearby to hear you…..

Many small steps like these and soon people like myself will no longer have a career helping people to get past all of the limiting beliefs our left brain systems have produced, to help them become their most unique, creative thinking, passionate selves.  I’m cool with that.

It is the Age of Creativity now.. it’s time.

Ban New Year’s Resolutions – there’s a much better way to succeed

Forget resolutions. They’ve got a bad name.

It’s about as exciting to have a New Year’s Resolution as it is to have ants move into your house.  They both become something you are trying to ‘deal with.’

I’m sure you’ve noticed that when one thinks about ‘New Year’s Resolutions’, strange thoughts often sneak in like:
“Oh goody, look what I can fail at this year!”

 “Fat chance I’m telling anyone this resolution just so they can watch me break it!”

“I’m the queen of procrastination… maybe I’ll get to it tomorrow”

“I have no willpower, and that chocolate looks realllly good.”

The term ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ is now tarnished by becoming a synonym for failure, disappointment, self sabotage, and lack of willpower.  Why would we put ourselves through that?

Yet, the concept was once well intended.  There’s great wisdom in looking into the future and taking steps towards achieving your goals.  But forget the old way of thinking, choosing, planning and doing those steps.

                                  That concept is done

It’s time to take revelactions and live happy revelly after…..

Definitions:        

 revelation     rev-e-la-tion  (noun)
1.information revealed:
               information that is newly disclosed, especially surprising,
               or valuable
2. surprising thing:
              a surprisingly good or valuable experience
3. disclosure:
             the revealing of something previously hidden or secret

action    ac-tion    (noun)
           1. doing something toward a goal
           2. movement

revelaction*   rev-el –ac-tion (noun)
           1. revelling actions
 *Note from dictionary: this word does not exist. Aren’t we revelactionaries!

«  What if this is the year you get to.. be involved in activities you love, go travelling, change your career, take on creative adventures, go whitewater rafting, write, play, enhance relationships, build your business, achieve financial goals, discover your magic, take time for people, places and community?

«  What if you actually discover and move forward with your true purpose – creatively, authentically and soulfully?

«  What if you get to uncover your surprising and valuable hidden gifts and passions and put them to use?
«  Wouldn’t that be a lot more fun than worrying about how much water you drink each day?
«  And wouldn’t it be even more enticing when one day you realize you are drinking less coffee, more water, getting exercise, creating, not complaining etc etc etc simply as a side effect of moving passionately forward in your most unique way? 
«  What if you made revelations this year and you enjoyed them, savoured them, felt passionate about them and took great satisfaction in knowing you will achieve them?    What if they became revelactions?

Want this year to be your best ever?

Of course you do.  Let’s get you started…

www.musingsandmud.com/workbooks.html

$7.98 could  change your life, gently, profoundly and, imagine this.. with fun!  It’s a new year, a new decade.. you truly do deserve to head into it passionately and joyfully!

(This article is a portion of the Happy Revelly After workbook and  is copyrighted 2009 by Janet L Whitehead)

The Magic of Creativity

Creativity…  For me, it is blissful to witness a world that is evolving to recognize the power of our creative being.   Like magic dust finding its way into all nooks and crannies, those who were once considered ‘ordinary mortals’ are now experiencing moments, discoveries and creations that leave them breathless saying, “YES! YES!… but wait a sec, where’d that come from?”

We all know the stories of ‘elite’ genius minds, artists and writers, and their ability to be in a space where brilliant thoughts, ideas, inventions, answers, artwork and stories ‘come to them.”  When asked how these creators got the idea, they often answer, “I don’t know.” or “From God.” or “From spirit.” 
We’ve heard the stories of Da Vinci and Einstein and we’ve commented in awe, “Gifted.”

As we move from the Age of Information to the Age of Conceptualization and Creativity, more and more research, resources and stories are appearing that give credit and value to the creative being in each of us.  Yes, we are all gifted.  We simply need to find our best way to access our creative soulful brilliance.

And that access– whether it be through making art, thinking differently, writing, storytelling, dancing, yoga, playing, using our imagination, singing, visualizing and/or  taking meditative journeys – opens the door to the intuitive, wise, gifted and magical self.  Yes, magical. With ‘magical’ meaning “making the impossible possible.”

I, for one, am gloriously happy that finally.. FINALLY.. the word ‘creativity’  gets to take on its full meaning.  And that soon, when people see the word “creativity’ their first response will no longer be “I haven’t got a creative bone in my body.”  Last I heard we all have a right brain.  And I think that the more creativity is given its value, the more people will realize “Hey, I’ve always been creative… and it’s okay to spend more time with that.”

Simply by reading this and pondering the concept, you have opened a door of awareness and possibility. You might not even notice as old belief systems that have limited you start to melt away.  By reading this, you have taken a step in your pursuit of your unlimited potential as a soulful being.
That was easy enough, wasn’t it?  Yes, it’s all so much simpler than people think.

Christmas is a magical time of year.  Have you noticed how much creativity plays a part in the celebration?  Storytelling, theatre, baking, singing, crafting, decorating…. perhaps we have always naturally known a way to be open to the magic.

Farmville Funeral and a Farmville Christmas Miracle

The gravemarker read:

“Here lies Sonny Snowman.  Once too often playing in the sun -Now  this snowman is done.  We’ll miss you, Bro. May you become a snow angel.”

The funeral lasted days and days.  Then one day, a Christmas miracle occurred!  Sonny rolled back to life!

And although at first I thought the funeral attendees were lining up in preparation for Santa’s sleigh.. I was wrong.  They all just have to go pee. It was a long funeral after all.