Isabel Designs

I’ve been putting off ordering new glasses for over two years now. My eyes have changed to the point where I need bifocals – I guess it happens to most of us after we pass the forty year milestone. My eye doctor said I could wait until I just couldn’t stand it anymore before biting the bullet. In this case, the bullet could have been $650.00 worth of lenses and frames! Yikes! So I’ve held off placing the order…until now. I broke my glasses.

Duct Tape & 18 gauge wire

It’ll take two weeks for my new glasses to arrive, and in the meantime, I’ve wired and duct-taped up my old frames. Yes, they look funny, and I get a good chuckle at myself when I put them on. They’ve become a social experiment for me. I leave them on when I go into the grocery store, or gas station, or wherever. The reactions are fairly predictable: my friends laugh and jab, but strangers take one look, and never make eye contact again. I have broken glasses – not leprosy! How many people in wheelchairs or with other visible differences experience similar reactions? Though I didn’t scientifically measure the results, my two week experiment was certainly enough time to ‘experience’ the awkwardness of people I encountered.

We have the ability to touch each other with our eyes every day – every time we look someone’s way. We’re all broken in someway or another – mostly on the inside. Today my challenge to you is another social experiment – never look away. Focus your ‘kind eyes’ on friends and strangers, especially if they’re ‘different’. Don’t just look at them – ‘see’ them – and take it to heart.

(By the way – I ordered new glasses online, progressive lenses and frames for a mere $66.00. Now we’re talking!)

Read Jackson Brown’s song lyrics: Doctor My Eyes

Sorting the pieces

Some day’s life really does resemble a box of moving parts. When the lid is removed, the pieces look like they should come together to create the finished-product of your dreams, if only you had more time. But if you’re like most people, it’s a struggle to find enough hours in the day to study the instruction manual, let alone sort the pieces.

I love spending time with my sister. Last time we were together she happened to be working on a 500-piece puzzle. She set up a card table in the living room, emptied out the box, and sorted the pieces into nice neat piles according to colour and texture of the picture on the box. By the time I pulled a chair up to the table, she had the perimeter done, and was working on the interior. Each newly placed piece felt like a small victory, and as the evening went on, it was clear we were on a quest for complete and utter triumph. A few hours later, we high-fived and called it a night, satisfied and proud of our puzzle making skills.

I love looking for lessons and meaning in the activities I do, and certainly there’s one here for me. I think it’s this: I need to believe my many small efforts will yield the results I’m hoping for. I like to be organized. I need confidence and steadfastness. Sometimes it just seems like I’m spinning my wheels – or that I’m just moving pieces around. My hope is that at the end of the day I’ll be that much closer to realizing my dreams.

Nancy & the High Flyer

If ever there was a guaranteed recipe for feeling like a kid again, it’s this: sunshine, wind, and a colourful piece of nylon with strings attached. If you can find a sandy beach even better, but a big green meadow will work just as well. Stir up these ingredients and you’ll find yourself flying a kite and feeling like an eight year old. That’s probably just how old I was the last time I held the reigns of a kite, and it is as amazing to me now as it was then.

It wasn’t my idea to fly the kite. I would have been content to sit on my beach chair and catch rays all afternoon. My friend Chris, on the other hand, had the kite out of the package and in the air before setting up her chair! I was simply flabbergasted at how easily the kite propelled into the sky and danced effortlessly on the wind. I certainly don’t remember it being that simple to launch a kite when I was a kid. When it was my turn to take the reigns, all of my ‘adult’ inhibitions fell to the ground and I felt like it was me up there, soaring and swaying above the clouds. Quite simply, it was fun.

Riding High

So next time you’re feeling tired after a long day, or you need to release a little stress, consider taking the kite-flying challenge. You’ll be glad you did.

If you need more details on how to fly a kite, check out this step by step on eHow.

Strings Attached!

Pat Pattison, Jonnell, Nancy Beaudette & Graham Greer in Nashville

Friend and mentor Pat Pattison is a songwriting professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He teaches seminars on the craft of songwriting all over the world, and was recently interviewed on New Zealand television. 

Just as a skilled craftsman builds an extraordinary piece of furniture by manipulating the tools in the workshop, the songwriter must hone and refine songwriting skills too. In this interview Pat states that, “it (writing) starts to be art when it stops being arbitrary”. When done successfully, the marriage of melody and lyric leaves the listener filled with emotion. Watch the interview here

I have worked with Pat on numerous occasions and filled my ‘songwriters’ toolbox’ with many new tools. ‘Stable vs. unstable emotions’, ‘motion creates emotion’, and ‘writing from a title’ are just three of the valuable seminars he teaches, and I highly recommend any of Pat’s classes.

Visit Pat Pattison’s website for more information about seminars and online songwriting classes at Berklee.

I stumbled upon Hugh MacLeod’s business card art on the internet a few years back. His loose, sketchy drawings reminded me of my own love for doodling. His unorthodox quotes, mostly risqué and/or satirical, made me laugh or ponder the whacky truth of his observations. Hugh is a cartoonist, copywriter, and advertising guy who’s been able to turn his art into a brand, and then share his passion and insight for marketing it with the rest of the world. If you haven’t heard of gapingvoid.com, I’d invite you to take a look now and dive into the ‘crazy, deranged’ world of Hugh MacLeod.

Hugh’s new marketing book, “Ignore Everybody” is due to be released in June 2009. You can also download a couple of Hugh’s manefestos at ChangeThis.com.  (The HughTrain) (How to Be Creative)

Share your impressions of Hugh MacLeod with us in the comment area. If you know other people who’ve been able to take a crazy idea like business card art doodling and turn it into a worldwide brand, please let us know that too. Enjoy.

I’m not quite sure who first posed this question, but I think it’s worth asking over and over again: “When is the last time you did something for the first time? I’ve contemplated the question often over the past year, but more importantly, have taken it to heart. New people, places and adventures await at every turn, and I am anxious to embrace them as opportunities for change and personal growth. Perhaps it’s as simple as making a new middle eastern recipe, or hanging a set of bifold doors for the first time. It could also be as exciting as starting a new jewelry business, or strapping on a set of skis and hitting the slopes (ok, I have to admit I went downhill skiing as a teenager, but at 48 it sure feels like the first time all over again). In the past few months I’ve also learned how to dye easter eggs and weave a basket, and I can’t wait to see what will come next!

Nancy & Lauren

For me, the question isn’t so much about seeking out the next great thrill, – even though I still have a desire to bungee jump and sky dive – rather it’s about not standing still.  A couple of months ago I met a fellow songwriter at an afternoon workshop. She has a passion, energy and expertise  for the craft that is inspiring. (Check out Lauren Passarelli). Doing something for the first time can mean you have to step out of your comfort zone. In this case, I had to put my fear aside and ask Lauren if she would be interested in a collaboration. She said yes! We started working in the studio together to record one of my songs, and I believe there’ll be co-writing in our future as well. That’s momentum. 

So now I’ll ask you, “when is the last time you did something for the first time”? Maybe sharing a story in this blog will be your answer!

Cup of Inspiration - photo by Noella Cotnam

 I think most artistic types struggle to find the incentive to create when feeling overwhelmed or just plain tired. It’s too easy to get side tracked in front of a TV, or aimlessly surf the internet, when really, you know you should be doing ‘something’ more productive. ‘Something’ that would make you feel good inside and remind you that you are a creative force to be reckoned with, if only you could get started. The Irony is that the act of being creative – of engaging your mind, soul and hands to make something that wasn’t there before – is exactly the catalyst needed to get out of a slump. 

It’s not like I’ve got limited choices when it comes to exercising my creativity. I’m a songwriter, visual artist, jewelry maker, writer, outdoor enthusiast and love to cook, and any one of these things could bolster my imagination. Perhaps it’s just that I want to do everything at once, and so my wheels just spin like bald tires in the mud, and I don’t get anywhere. When I’m stuck I turn to previously proven methods to augment the process.

Here are five things you can do to jump start your creativity when you’re in a slump:

1) Give yourself permission to relax. Creative answers often come to us when we least expect them and they need time to brew. Quiet, reflective time allows your subconscious to reorganize and connect the dots in fresh new ways. 

2) Do an environmental assessment – just a fancy way to say ‘clean up your space’! An uncluttered, organized work space with everything in its proper place gives you a ‘clean pallet’, ‘a blank canvas’, and room to breathe as you prepare to start a new project. 

3) Change your space. If you’ve been glued to that same spot for days, it’s time to find a new stall. Little indie type cafes are a great place to go and hang out for an afternoon. A lot of ‘creative types’ frequent these places and their energy can be intoxicating. 

4) Share your energy. Brainstorming with another person or group will almost always ‘spur the flow’ of ideas and inspiration. Bouncing ideas around can lead to that next big thing and ‘recession-proof’ your creative gene pool.

5) Find a new muse. If your creative fairies have left the building, maybe it’s time to play with gnome’s instead. “Guiding spirits” are all around us, so the next time something or someone tickles your fancy, pay attention and prepare to engage!

There are many ways to get the ol’ creative juices brewing again. Do you have something that works for you? Share it here.

I love to work with my hands to create things I feel with my heart. Jewelry has been a relatively new ‘craft’ for me, especially the pieces that can be seen at Isabeldesigns.com. I first experimented with necklace making when I was on tour with my band and choir on the East Coast of Canada in 1998. Between gigs, we spent time at ‘Point Michaud Beach’ on Cape Breton Island. The shore was lined with ocean tossed stones; their beautiful colours and markings exposed as waves curled to shore and washed over them.

I left the beach that day with my pockets full of precious treasure. Treasures that were then fashioned into “Crossrocks”. I have since made over a hundred of these necklaces, and sold them at concerts and online for the next few years. They are still a popular gift for confirmations and other special spiritual occasions. I am always moved when I see someone wearing one, and they continue to remind me that no matter how small an object, or how tiny a deed, who we are and what we do matters.