What Happens in Secret

What Happens in Secret

  

We are attending a jazz week here in Washington state.  Obviously, we’re hearing some incredible talent.  Last night, we heard two of my heroes – John Clayton on stand-up bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums.  Note this – they did not reach this level of their stellar skill without spending a lot of secret time in practice rooms and with their instrument. 

That secret time, when no one else is around, and we work our fingers to the bone to perfect passages, scales, inversions and on and on.  That is the secret sauce toward perfection.

Anybody who is anybody has had to do this.  Sports stars, business gurus, authors/writers, actors.  We work our craft in secret so that we can share it on a public stage someday.

Big question … do we dare to put in the alone time for those important moments that will come later? 

What’s our dedication level?

Thoughts for Improving

Whatever Needs Improving!

P Michael Biggs

Words of Encouragement

Words of Inspiration

Painting Outside the Box

Painting Outside the Box

When I was a small boy, I begged my pert, neatly dressed little friend if I could color in her coloring book.  He name was Kay.  She reluctantly agreed.  I went to work. Picasso look out.

Evidently my art work displeased her.  She said, in effect, “You’ve ruined my coloring book.”  You see, I colored outside the lines.

Seems I’ve been doing that a lot in life.  If I had followed my upbringing, I would have stayed in my hometown, never gone anywhere much, worked at some job that may or may not be satisfying, and lived my life never to discover this writing thing with which I am consumed. 

So, I painted outside the box.  I became a drummer.  My dad was a minister, and he was sure I would end up playing my drums in some less-than-respectable places.  I drummed anyway.

I found my voice through music, marketing, brochure content work, video producing, and ultimately writing. 

I wasn’t supposed to get into those things.  They just came along and I said “Yes”. 

In my reading and spiritual pursuits, I suppose I’ve painted outside the lines in some of the authors and speakers I’ve followed.  For me, they have enlarged my thinking.  They have stretched me and my understanding of God and this lovely world.  I painted outside the box.

What is painting outside the box?  Why, its daring to go where we’ve never gone before.  It’s crossing a line or two just because we can and just to see what is on the other side.  That could be a dangerous thought, I suppose, but in a creativity context, I think you get what I mean.  I’m not saying “Be stupid.  Break the law.”  I’m saying “Try a different way of seeing things.

Some people say, “look at the world up-side-down.”

Some say, “take a walk and write about or paint the obscure, the oblong, the bizarre, the odd, the out-of-shape. 

I don’t know what “Painting outside the lines” means to you, but for me, it is a fresh and creative release to try and see what I might be able to do.

I never knew I could write poetry until April, 2014, when I started A Time for Rhyme Blogsite

Bottom line, creativity comes in a variety of ways.  Find what works for you, even if it means painting outside the lines.

Thoughts for Improving

Whatever Needs Improving!

P Michael Biggs

Words of Encouragement

Words of Inspiration

The Creative Life

The Creative Life

I love the whole idea of creativity.  I consider myself to be a creative type.  All of that leads me to this:

Do you fear being wrong?  Do you want to be creative?  Think about this for a moment. 

Someone else once said, 

It all leads to creativity.  ALL of it.  All of our life, our mistakes, missteps, blunders, weaknesses, failures.

And I’m okay with that.

Thoughts for Improving

Whatever Needs Improving!

P Michael Biggs

Words of Encouragement

Words of Inspiration