I’m a big fan of the Eh with its integral art, because the new views and explorations are
much needed if our lives and businesses and earth are to sustainably co-evolve.
To quote (I believe) Oliver Wendell Holmes, ‘a
mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old
dimensions’. And to quote my young daughter after our recent visit to the
Damien Hirst exhibition, ‘that was a great
day Mum’.
I learn that sharing and ‘top ten’ lists
are popular in the Twitterverse and so I’m joining in.
The Arts can point us to the need for
discipline and adventure in combination; to relate with who and what already
exists in service of what needs to emerge. Our organisations need this and why
would we want any less for our children, who must make our world sustainable or
lose it? So my list is:
Ten Ways to Nurture your Artistry
You may not identify yourself as an artist but the earth needs your art:
1. Practice your ABCs: Affirm, Be Bold,
Connect
2. Born
to Win. If you can’t face getting the book (by James and Jongeward), at
least absorb the spirit of the title and connect with the you-who-can (and so does).
3. Make Time to Think. If you want to make wise choices and changes, you
have to give yourself a chance. As a coach it’s very useful and if you ever run
meetings, I’d also recommend getting this book or its sequel More Time to Think (Nancy Kline) for its
own 10-point list of creating beneficial thinking environments.
4. Follow Rumi’s advice: ‘Be with those
who help your being. Don’t
sit with indifferent people, whose breath comes cold out of their mouths.
Not these visible forms, your work is deeper.’
Not these visible forms, your work is deeper.’
5. Know where you stand. Here are two sites
where you can have a free exploration of your ethics and your values. (others
are available!)
6. Explore This is
Not a Book or another selected not-book from Keri Smith (kerismith.com).
Definitely not just one for the kids.
7. Find your gratitude. You’ll also find
that annoyances become less salient and less of an energy drain.
8. Attend to your body. Rest and food shouldn’t normally
be optional extras in your day if both are available to you.
9. Do something you’ve never done before. It doesn’t
matter what, as long as you can cosy up and have a laugh with your conscious
incompetence.
10. Find a coach. Maybe you are a rare, gifted hermit, in
which case carry on. Otherwise skilled en-courage-ment can help you transform
yourself and what’s around you.
Do let me know your own favourite ways to
ensure Earth keeps its art. If Twitter is your way I'm @juliesallan.
