CALM & COOL DOESN'T PRODUCE. PASSION DOES.

WARNING: This is a no-edit zone...

Calm and Cool Doesn’t Produce. Passion Does.
Recently, I listened carefully to opinions on disposition and their value regarding a discussion between two people that held opposing views. One was passionate, one was calm and cool.

Afterward, there was a lot of post-discussion debate about which demeanor held more value. The consensus left me scratching my head. They opted for cool and collected, the least emotional of the two people being debated.

I thought just the opposite. The one who spoke with passion infused what he said with purpose and vision. He clearly felt deep convictions about what he was saying. This was acknowledged in the group discussion, and yet they gravitated to calm.

I love calm as much as the next person. I seek it and go to great lengths to preserve it. But calm doesn’t bring out the best of us or encourage us to dig deeper, to play like Einstein or Ben Franklin and do that experiment for the thousandth time or the two-thousandth time--whatever it takes.

Calm doesn’t inspire us... READ MORE

TAGS: calm, passion, vision, purpose, creativity, vicki hinze, writers library

CREATIVITY AND CHAOS

WARNING: This is a no-edit zone...

In the past few weeks, and in this week in particular, it’s been a rare note in my inbox that hasn’t been about challenges and from people seeking help to confront them constructively. America’s state of affairs has a lot of people angry, disillusioned, frustrated and despairing. How can you create anything when in that state of mind?

Typically, when I’m down, I write humor for balance. But to be honest, there’s nothing in the current situation funny enough to compensate for all the nonsense now going on, and to make light of where corruption and greed have landed a nation of good people, well, let’s just say that humor is not going to work for me this time. It’s not working for others, either. We need more. But what more?

We need hope that we can turn things around. Hope that collectively we have the courage and conviction and believe strongly enough in the good to endure what we must endure to regain it.

That’s what we need. But gauging from the notes and calls I’ve received, the stretch from where we are to where we need to be to create is too huge a gap to reach direct. So first we need to bridge the gap.

BRIDGE THE GAP

Sounds impossible, but it’s not. There are a few adjustments we can make that will help us do it:
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Tags: creativity, chaos, author, writer, novelist, creative writing, balance, anxiety, upset, calm, serenity, peace, knowledge, wisdom

THIS NEW DAY: The Power of Clarity

Times are tough and from appearances they’re about to get tougher. But here’s the thing:

Times have always been tough. At no time in recorded history has life been a cake-walk for anyone anywhere. Everyone has challenges and they either rise to meet them or they don’t.

This is today’s position. Whether you’re talking about on the governmental front or the front centering on your personal life. We all have challenges.

And so it’s important to keep those challenges in perspective. To stay calm and clearheaded, because the absence of calm is anxiety and the absence of being clearheaded is being mired in confusion.

Anxious and confused isn’t the best frame of mind or state of being for making the decisions required of us to rise and meet our challenges.

So what can we do to minimize being anxious and maximize clarity? READ MORE

Tags: challenges, clarity, confusion, solutions, anxiety, calm, serenity, peace, coping skills, vicki hinze, writers' library, life skills