"Creative Habit": #3 Weekly Homework

The focus of Chapter 3: Your Creative DNA is learning more about yourself and who you are in regards to your art.  Twyla therefore gives us two exercises we can engage in to move us in this direction of self-discovery.

Go on.  Give one or both of them a try this weekend.  I look forward to hearing your experiences.

1)  Go outside and observe.  Pick out a few people to watch and write down everything they do until you get to twenty items.  I am sure it wouldn't be hard to them apply your imagination and come up with a story.  You can do this for an optional exercise.  However, writing a story is not the goal.

Now do it again.  Pick out another few people and this time only note the things that happen that you find interesting ~ things that please you aesthetically or emotionally.  It will take longer, but compile a list of twenty items again.

Now study the two lists.  What appealed to you in the second?  What you included in the second list or left out speaks volumes about how you see the world.  If you do this exercise enough times, patterns will emerge.  The world will not be revealed to you.  YOU will be revealed.

2)  Pick a new name.  Imagine you could change your name.  What would you choose?  Would it be a name that sounded good or belonged to someone you admire?  Would it make a statement about what you believe or how you want the world to approach you?  What would you want it to say about you? This is not just an exercise in "what if."  It's about identity--who you are and aim to be.

Join us next week for exploration of Chapter 4: Harness Your Memory.