Challenge #6: Something Completely Different

Remember back a few weeks when we talked about needing to get it on with other creative buddies so our ideas could have sex?  The whole point of that exercise was making new and varied connections in our brains; which in turn inspires us and get our creative juices flowing.  

Most of the time we stick to our own areas of expertise because that is just what we know.  It's safe, it's comfortable... it's like a hug from a giant teddy bear. Getting together with a creative buddy to talk shop can help unlock new ideas and vantage points we might never have seen on our own without something they said having helped put two and two together for us in our brains.

So yeah, ideas having sex for the win.

However, there is actually a way we can do this on our own, without necessarily needing to get together with anybody else. (Oh the places we could go with that statement and this train of thought...  I'll just let your imagination run with that while I continue on... don't mind me...)

The reason getting together with a creative buddy to talk shop works so well is because it lets you see the world from a different perspective.  If we want to accomplish this on our own we can't just keep doing what we've always done because most likely we'll just see what we've already seen.  If we want to see the world from a different perspective, we have to take a cue from Monty Python and do something completely different.  Or simply put, if you want to see the world, you've got to leave your hometown.

Staying where it's safe and warm and comfortable is awesome, but it doesn't always let us grow or help us build our creative arsenal.  To do that we have to mix things up.

Pretty sure this is our best challenge badge yet...
Don't forget to snag it off the blog and share it!

So, your challenge this week is simple: Do something completely different.  It's that easy.  Drive home a way you have never gone before. Bake a random recipe you've never tried. If you're a photographer try painting, if you're a painter try sculpture, if you're a musician try dancing.  It doesn't matter what it is as long as it gets you out of your normal routine and is expanding your wealth of creative experiences.

Have an idea for what you are going to try out this week as part of your challenge? Drop us a line in the comment section and let us know!

Play Is Spreading + I Suck At Running

For some reason lately I have decided I want to become a runner.  This probably has something to do with the fact that my husband just ran a half marathon a few weeks ago (13 miles in 2hr 2mins!) and I felt like a lazy piece of !#(*! sitting in the bleachers watching all the other people (of ALLLL sorts of shapes and sizes) in the race actually getting off their lazy bums and kicking butt at life.   Although, as a knee jerk reaction to feeling lame in a sea of awesomeness I spent the whole day lying to people when they asked me if I was a runner too, saying how I had already finished the race, gone home, showered, changed and come back to meet up with some friends.  That part was quite fun...

The truth is, I am terrible.  I get about a mile (running pretty much as slow as death warmed over) before I start gasping for breath, or doubling over with a side stitch, or getting nauseous, or having a cramp in my leg, or a cut on my foot, or my eyes tearing so bad I can't even see… it's not a pretty sight people.

And then just because I apparently like public humiliation, I signed myself up to run a 5k at the end of next month.  Which leads me up to my main point which is, while I was "running" (or more accurately "spastically flailing around in a linear motion") in downtown Huntsville yesterday I saw something cool. True story.

Said Cool Thing:

I'm not going to lie, sometimes I'm pretty sure nobody else on the planet really cares about things like the importance of playtime besides me.  I talk to people about it, they nod politely and say something like… "hmmm, that's really interesting". (I've still never deciphered what exactly that means, is it good, bad? Anyone?)  So when I randomly stumbled upon this art installation downtown I was a tad bit excited! (that and the fact that it gave me an excuse to stop running for a moment and take a few pics while I sucked in air)

Don't projects like this just make the world a better place?  For more info on the project check out their website: LOVEHuntsville.com  Any ideas how can you spread a little play into your community?  We'd love to hear them!!!!

Playtime… it's spreading people!

Fun, The Great And Powerful

If you haven't gotten the hint already, the theme for this week is fun.  So far we've focused mainly on how fun and play can be beneficial in our own lives,  how it can make our brains actually get bigger, improve our emotional health and creativity and let us work more productively.  But what would happen if we harnessed the power of fun and used it to actually make the world a better place?  Well the good people of Volkswagen have been on a mission to answer this very question with their website: TheFunTheory.Com.  In their words:

 "This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."

So far by using just the power of fun they have been able to reduce speeding by 22%,  increase the number of people walking up stairs instead of taking the escalator by 66%, and drastically increase the amount of people recycling and throwing away trash.

Not only have these projects bettered the environment and the communities health and safety, they have also spread the joy of fun into the lives of those who participated in them.  I mean, who doesn't want to live in a world with musical staircases and recycling arcade games?  I'm pretty sure I'd have the most well toned rear end of anyone around if I had a musical staircase in my house and I'm pretty sure I'd have to drag my husband away from the recycling bin kicking and screaming...









Also be sure to check out all the other ingenious creative ideas for infecting our world with fun that were submitted by people from all over the world HERE.  Or better yet, if you have an idea about how we could all inject a bit more fun into our lives, leave a comment below!  We'd loved to hear it!

The Case For Fun

This is our very first challenge week here on the Art Abyss and we are talking about taking time everyday to do something fun for yourself.  Ok, now before you start going down the thought trail I know half of you are already going down, I know this idea may sound petty, but it's not.

I also know most of you are thinking, "I just don't have time for that."  Kate's been there, I've been there, we get it.  When you have a list of 50 things to get done, clients breathing down your neck, phone calls coming in every 15 minutes, orders to ship, meetings to attend, a desperate need to do something that will put some money in your account, the last thing you think you have time for is fun.

But what if I told you that if you took a 30min break everyday to do something fun, it would actually make you more productive, more creative, and more emotionally stable?  It's true.  I know because 1) I've done the research to prove it and 2) I've been there.

As much as we think devoting all our time and attention to our work 24/7 is what needs to happen for us to be really successful in life, we need to come to terms with the fact that that is a lie.  It took my brain literally years to come to terms with this fact.

As your inspiration for this week and to help you with your challenge I wanted to share a video from the 2011 TEDX conference in Bulgaria.  At first most of the talk is devoted to the sad state of affairs Bulgaria has found itself in recently, last in europe for business, education and social wellness.  However, the discussion takes a rather interesting turn when speaker Steve Keil diagnoses Bulgaria's problem as a lack of fun.  I wanted to share this video because it is an amazing example of the profound effect that devoting too much energy to serious business 24/7 can have on not only an individual but on a society as a whole.



Some of the most profound points that I think Steve mentions in the video are:

"Play: our brains are hardwired for play. Evolution has selected, over millions and billions of years, for play in animals and in humans. And you know what? Evolution does a really, really good job of deselecting traits that aren't advantageous to us and selecting traits for competitive advantage. Nature isn't stupid, and it selected for play. Throughout the animal kingdom, for example: ants. Ants play. Maybe you didn't know that. But when they're playing, they're learning the social order and dynamics of things. Rats play, but what you might not have known is that rats that play more have bigger brains and they learn tasks better, skills. Kittens play. We all know kittens play. But what you may not know is that kittens deprived of play are unable to interact socially. They can still hunt, but they can't be social. Bears play. But what you may not know is that bears that play more survive longer. It's not the bears that learn how to fish better. It's the ones that play more."

"For example, [play] has been shown to stimulate neural growth in the amygdala, in the area where it controls emotions. It's been shown to promote pre-frontal cortex development where a lot of cognition is happening. As a result, what happens? We develop more emotional maturity if we play more. We develop better decision-making ability if we play more."

"The opposite of play is not work. The opposite of play is depression. It's depression. In fact, play improves our work."

I think that last statement is the one that is the most profound to me because it is so true.  Every time I find myself at the point where I want nothing more than to curl up under the covers and never come back out again I can almost always associate it with a lack of fun in my life.  Bring back the fun, my emotions stabilize, my ideas suddenly get better, I am more motivated while I am working and life is just better as a whole.

So even though it may sound silly, or you may feel like you don't have time for it right now, be inspired to add a little fun into your daily routine. If anyone asks you what you are doing you can just tell them that you are expanding the size of your brain, improving your creativity and decision making abilities and generally winning at life.