These are a few of my favorite quotes for my Creativity as a Way of Life Workshop

"It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful, but it is more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." ~ Henry David Thoreau

"A first rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting." ~ Abraham Maslow

Loss can shift our perspective on what is important. Losing a child takes it to a completely different level. A friend sent me this quote after losing her son. 

Her comment resonates. Even from a distance, things that once seemed worthwhile now seem trivial and mundane. I've been struggling to find a reason to continue working on an outline for a creativity workshop. This morning the answer came to me and has given me a new perspective and energy, in spite of the lump in my throat that still comes and goes. 

Through the years I've heard countless definitions of creativity and none have seemed to capture my perspective. Often creativity is associated with being an artist, writer or musician, creating something new. That is a part of it but there is so much more.

I view creativity as an approach to life that radiates from a deep personal connection with our sacred center and provides a base for how we live our lives from day to day. Creativity is a map that guides us through life. It is a bridge that connects our inner reflections with our outer world.  It is a shield that protects us when the world rushes in with doom, gloom and tragedy. Through focusing on assets, trusting out intuition, using visualization and imagination, every aspect of our lives can be enhanced. 

As the workshop develops I'll fine tune the concepts, but for now I'm finding comfort in the value of creativity as a means of enabling us to be more resilient, with a focus on love, joy, play and purpose.

The average number of days we are given on this earth is estimated to be roughly 30,000. That may seem like a lot if you have recently made your debut, but for some of us, there are more days behind us than ahead. By the time we are 54 years old, the estimated amount of days left is 10,000. 

My dad spent roughly 16760 days on this earth. He taught me many lessons, and still provides valuable inspirations. When I think of numbers, which is becoming more and more frequent, he comes to mind.

When he died, I wrote a poem about a falling star and how quickly something could end. Recent events have reinforced the value of each day. There is an illusion that tomorrow will come. It may not - for us or for those we love. 

Living each day with gratitude, and an appreciation of the present moment will ensure that we best use the time we have been gifted!

Today is Saturday, and counting days reminds me of a story that we used in time management trainings years ago. 

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the backyard patio with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up to listen to a Saturday morning talk show I heard an older sounding gentleman, with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whoever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles".

I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say...

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."

He continued, “Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles." "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years."

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.

Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part."

"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy."

"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away."

"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again.

You could have heard a pin drop on the radio when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work that morning. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a while since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

Source: Anonymous – received by email in mid 90’s.

My dad had a delightful way of viewing life. He combined his logical, linear left brain thinking skills with creative and intuitive right brain skills, and approached life with masterful intelligence, lack of judgement, humor and insatiable curiosity. He had a genius IQ, was a member of Mensa, a Mason and a college professor. He was creative, open minded, and loved thinking 'outside the box', decades before the now overused term was coined. When an elementary school teacher was annoyed with me for stating that half of 8 was 0, he was amused, because as we both knew, I could prove it! In a school system that limited us to finding the one and only answer, he encouraged me to keep looking. 

     "Experiment. Think. Use your brain. Don't accept anything anyone says as the only way. It will limit you."

After he died at the very young age of 46, there was no one to encourage me to think creatively. I watched as my classmates beamed with pride at knowing the one right answer, usually memorized, not thought out. I no longer dared verbalize a different perspective or point of view.

Half of eight is four. Period.

Or is it?  Of course there is 0. Cut 8 in half horizontally and there is no denying it. Slice it vertically. It could be E. Could be 3. Turn 8 on it's side and slice it horizontally. You'll find an m or a w. If we begin with a roman numeral, half of VIII may still be VIII. And on it goes . . . 

But why does thinking creatively matter? It's just a game . . . a trick . . . a diversion. Fluff, right?

My most valuable aha in regard to the power of creative thinking occurred in Washington D.C. when we attended Colin Powell's celebration of the 100 Best Communities to raise young people in the country. Harrisburg, PA was proud to be included, and the highlight of the trip was listening to the stories about other winning communities across the nation. 

There was a town in West Virginia in economic decline. Coal mining had been their main source of revenue, but it was no longer lucrative and the young people were leaving their families and friends to find work in other areas. There was a sense of hopelessness as more and more people left the area, having given up on revitalizing the town.  Their paradigm was the only way to make a living there was through coal mining.

Then they began to look for alternative solutions. Could anything be done in a coal mine other than mining coal? They began to look at the characteristics of the mines and discovered that the temperature in a coal mine was ideal for raising fish. A new industry was born and the town began to thrive. Families were able to stay together and the quality of life improved by quantum leaps. 

Looking beyond the traditional correct answer can move us to new alternatives, and those choices can improve the quality of every aspect of our lives.