Toastmaster of the Evening 6th July 2009: "Unlocking Your Creativity"

INTRODUCTION

You don’t ask the river “How often does your water flow’…
Because if the river is healthy, its water will flow all the time. All day, every day.
It is only when there is a block and the flow stops that its waters become stagnant, its crystalline clarity goes and the life in it dies.

Creativity is just the same: like the water, ideas and inspiration should be able to flow through us at any time.
It is only when we are concerned or worried, when we resist change and movement forward fearing loss of control, that our creativity gets blocked. And both physically, and spiritually we get stagnant, maybe even sick and definitely die to a point as we replace a potential fresh way to look at the world with an outdated, repetitive, controlled and safe but limiting way.

Someone said: “When do you know you have reached middle age? When your narrow waist and broad mind swap places!”


WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Creativity is a process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts. It is the act of making something new and a novel use of tools for problem solving.

The stages of creativity are preparation (we get a flash, an idea, an inspiration), incubation (the idea starts to take shape), clarity (the vision becomes clear in our mind) and elaboration (a plan is developed).

According to Arieti in “Creativity: The Magic Synthesis”, the conditions that encourage creativity are aloneness (fosters inspiration), inactivity (fosters inner focus), daydreaming, free thinking (allows the mind to wander), gullibility (a willingness to suspend judgment allows one to be open to possibilities), alertness (a state of awareness) and discipline (a devotion to the techniques, logic and repetition that permit creative ideas to be realized).

I would also add to be joyful or another high frequency emotion. Creativity bursts when we feel exhilarated, happy – we can raise our energy by singing, dancing, playing with our children, creating a moment of romance.
Finally, use our own signature, personality, gift or characteristic: this is a natural opening for creativity to flow to us (e.g. I can’t be creative at playing football because I am useless at it!).

WHAT LIMITS CREATIVITY?
• Controlling the process or the outcome instead of flowing with it
• Controlling results to fit the status quo: it stiffles the birth of the creation
• Trying to stay within one’s comfort zone: no growth, no creation
• Trying to do things the way we have always done them if they no longer work: this repetition or re+action is oposite to cre+ation


A CREATIVE LIFE IS AN LIFE.

Dr Christine Page in “Spiritual Alchemy” tells us that there are 4 levels at which we can choose to live and she calls them Drivers of Manifestation: these are the main fuels or energies that are used for our creative activities:

1. Survival based – (“I take from you before you take from me”). Very expensive! Energy cost: 95% outgoing, 5% in return.

2. Power games based – (Very common in relationships and business): using large amounts of manipulation and the incitement of guilt, duty, anger, control, etc. Energy cost: 75% outgoing, 25% in return. (Energy is always lost despite an apparent win).

3. Willing, trying, bargaining, believing or thinking – (“I will make it happen no matter what!”): energy is lost through stubbornness and the tendency to lock horns with a similarly wilful individual. Energy cost: 50% outgoing, 50% in return.

4. Compassion (from the heart) and wisdom (expressed as flowing) – strength comes from within, developing right timing (very little waste, efforting or struggle – the most energy-efficient way to live but it requires personal growth). Energy cost: 25% outgoing, 75% in return.

Our lives become more creative as we grow or evolve from 1 to 4, we emit less EMOTIONAL pollution and hence offer greater benefits to the Planet and create our own spiritual well-being.


WHAT IS IT LIKE TO LIVE A CREATIVE LIFE?

• You will be challenged in your beliefs at all times, values and personal truth – but will create wider horizons and a life of (inner) adventure.

• Living in the now = in the present >> present means gift – a gift of life with connectedness to your purpose, flowing with Universal energy ebbs & tides, stayig current with the higher plan and your role in it.

• You receive current solutions to old problems, which are normally surprisingly simple and they come in the most unexpected ways, so one needs to be alert – but one is alert when one lives in the moment!



HOW CAN WE APPLY CREATIVITY IN OUR DRIVE TO RAISE MEMBERSHIP AND ACHIEVE MEETING EXCELLENCE?


MARKETING OUR STRENGTHS

As a club, who are we?
What is our niche?
What are the strengths we can offer or market to the world?

Every club is going to be different because of its history, personality of its members, social environment and many other factors. But when a club receives a new member and it is not a perfect fit, the member will leave, perhaps not just our club but the Toastmasters organization.
But if we have a leaflet or some information about the other clubs in the area and the specific service that they could offer, perhaps we could retain more members as we would be targeting their needs and wants, not our club’s needs to raise its membership to at least 20.


LEAVING A LEGACY

Do you know what you looked like when you were born?
Do you know what you used to eat when you were 7 months old?
Do you know when at what age you were potty trained?
/Stop and smile/

I have kept a diary for my daughter from even before she was born. I hope she will never have any questions about who she is. Don’t you wish we were all have been given this gift?

One of her diary’s cuts that I found says: “Leaving a Legacy” /page 28 diary/ “Possessions aren’t the only things worth passing on to your children. The story of your family – told in words, pictures or crafts – is more valuable by far”. “We assume that the details of our ordinary lives rae not worth recrding. But we couldn’t be more wrong […] Recording memories is more than a practical tool to preserve heritage; it is a therapeutic process that allows time to think, deal with emotions and bring closure”.

I know that we didn’t have the facility to take photographs or videos when we were little. But today we live in the “media era”. But people like to know the face and the person they are interacting with. They want to know that they can trust you before you build relationships.

Building relationships is a way to create loyalty and commitment.
Feeding people with not too much – not too little information is a way to create continuity: a newsletter or a place where people can find the information when they have the time, e.g. a blog or a web page.

NETWORKING

Have you ever been at a Network Marketing introduction talk?
You come out of it thinking that the product is the solution to all your problems.
But when the buzz goes, reality hits and you realise that not all that glitters is gold.

HOWEVER…!

I have a strategy for learning. Wherever I go, whomever I meet, whatever I do, I have my “energy feelers” out and even if it seems that I am wasting my time miserably by doing a specific activity, if there is an “energy signature” that triggers my “feelers to go off”, I know that there is a lesson there hidden for me. It is not a mind-thing, it is a feeling-thing.

So creating the ideal Toastmasters’ networking strategy, why not using the network marketing approach and:

 Create a regular Area D3 “Toastmasters Introduction Talk” for new members and guests, as a marketing tool to attract new members and as an informative tool for new members, with a “questions and answer” session at the end. Then market this free talk to businesses and other organizations.

 Create an Area D3 leaflet with the niche of its 5 clubs so that new members can choose the club best fit to them.

One particular club may get fewer members to start with, but Toastmasters’ will have more probabilities to keep the members and these will be happier and their needs better served.

 Create an Educational Exchange Program according to each club’s strengths and expertise (regular training as workshops) to encourage the sharing of resources and benefit everyone.

 Cross-pollinate among the clubs: every club invites at least one member from another club to attend their meeting FREE OF CHARGE in exchange of FEEDBACK (and copy me).

 Area D3 End of Year awards:
• Most Influential Toastmaster Area D3
• Most Outstanding Contribution to Area D3
• Toastmaster of the Year Area D3

These are just some ideas that I have created off the cuff. I am sure you can all use your own creativity and come up with options that perhaps fit better with your club.

But the idea is that we can use everything we know from every industry we are familiar with and apply it to our Toastmasters established club program to gain Distinguished Club Status and beyond, year in, year out.

Happy creation!