My fellow students, Here are my Creativity projects and below is my Read and React Response:
How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci:
After extensive study of Leonardo’s life, reading his journals, and literally walking in his footsteps when exploring da Vinci’s life journey, Michael Gelb formulated the 7 Da Vincian Principals with the steps and process to put them into every day practice.
The Artist Way:
Leonardo Da Vinci himself has recorded his methods and has
described how to think, how to develop and use our inherent capabilities, how to
integrate everything we learn into one harmonious whole.
Five centuries later, as people search for new ways to improve the performance in their lives, work and art, Da Vinci's ideas have re-emerged as buzzwords of
management and self help ideas and theories such as:
"continuous learning",
"whole-brain thinking",
"mind-body connection"
"brainstorming",
"systems thinking",
"thriving on chaos",
According to Gelb, a key to da Vinci’s creativity lay in his approach to daily life. The ideal
Renaissance thinker was well-rounded and open-minded. The modern Renaissance man or
woman also should be well-rounded in education in both liberal arts and science. One needn’t
be an authority in all fields, but should possess good knowledge. Other essentials for genius-
thinking: computer literacy, mental literacy, and global awareness.
Curiosità
An insatiably curious approach to life and an unrelenting quest for continuous learning.
Young children learn at an astonishing rate. If a child is raised in a home where five languages are spoken, the child will learn to speak all five languages. Why are children so good at learning? They are born with profound, unrelenting curiosity. And genius is born when that quality of curiosity continues throughout life.
Leonardo da Vinci was insatiably curious. He possessed the openness and energy of a child combined with the focus and discipline of maturity. What was he curious about? Everything! But his integrating theme was the quest to find the essence of truth and beauty. In this course you’ll learn to strengthen and develop your natural curiosity and reawaken the childlike openness that can bring more truth and beauty to your life every day.
Dimostrazione
A commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
Leonardo came along after a one-thousand-year period when no one questioned anything, and he questioned everything, starting a revolution in the development of independent thinking. In the Middle Ages, it was generally assumed that everything worth knowing was already known. No one questioned the belief, for example, that the Biblical Flood had deposited the fossilized seashells in the mountains outside of Milan. In his notebooks, Leonardo demonstrated through careful observation and logic that this explanation was invalid and proposed a more scientific explanation.
Dimostrazione is a word used by Leonardo to refer to the idea of thinking independently, testing things through our own experience, and learning from mistakes. Like a baby learning to walk, Leonardo was persistent in his quest for truth and beauty. In his notebooks, he affirms: “I shall continue,” “All obstacles shall be overcome by commitment,” and “Fix your course to a star.”
In the lessons that follow, you’ll learn to strengthen your ability to learn from experience and cut through the “spam” of information overload. And, like the maestro himself, you’ll cultivate a positive attitude to learning from mistakes as you fix your own course to a star.
Sensazione
The continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.
Five hundred years ago, in Tuscany, Leonardo observed that the average person “looks without seeing, hears without listening, breathes in without awareness of aroma or fragrance, eats without tasting, touches without feeling, and talks without thinking!” And that was well before the onslaught of environmental and media pollution that afflicts us today. Our popular culture tends not to encourage sensory awareness and refinement. But this awareness is a secret of savoring “la dolce vita” (the sweet, soulful life) and a key to becoming “sharper” and more creative.
Leonardo cultivated his sensory awareness like an Olympic athlete trains his body for competition, and he noted that, “The five sense are the ministers of the soul.” In this part of the course, you’ll practice delightful exercises in comparative appreciation (with rigorous wine and chocolate tasting) that will sharpen your senses and your appreciation for the beauty of creation. You’ll learn a simple but powerful approach to enhancing your enjoyment of music, art, food, wine, and life itself.
Sfumato
A willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
If you begin to awaken your childlike curiosity by asking deeper questions, if you commit to independent thinking and start to sharpen your senses, the result will be — more questions! Sfumato is a term that art critics coined to refer to the hazy, mysterious quality in Leonardo’s paintings, a quality he achieved through the gossamer-thin application of hundreds of layers of paint so that the light seems to suffuse magically from behind the canvas. It represents one of the most distinctive characteristics of highly creative people like Leonardo himself: openness to the unknown and poise in the face of uncertainty.
Our world is changing faster than ever before. New developments in technology, geo-politics, business, science, and medicine are accelerating change and multiplying uncertainty. As uncertainty mounts, the ability to remain centered and balanced becomes more important for individual well-being. In this part of the course, you’ll apply exercises that will strengthen your comfort with ambiguity and guide you to smile as you deal with uncertainty, and you’ll learn simple techniques for cultivating your intuitive powers.
Arte/Scienza
The development of the balance between science and art, logic and imagination; whole- brain thinking.
Leonardo urged his students to “study the science of art and the art of science.” His claim to the title of greatest genius of all time rests on his unmatched mastery of both science and art. In modern terms, Leonardo was a representative and advocate of what we call whole-brain thinking. He inspires us to use the linear, logical, analytical capacities of our mind in harmony with the more imaginative, colorful, and playful elements.
This ideal of balance is brought to everyday practice through a simple technique called mind mapping (developed by British brain researcher Tony Buzan, who was inspired by the notes of Leonardo da Vinci). In this section of the course, you’ll learn to make mind maps for everything from daily planning and speech preparation to creative problem-solving and test preparation. Mind mapping is a simple, easy method for training yourself to think like Leonardo.
Corporalita
The cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.
In addition to his prowess in art and science, Leonardo was also renowned for his physical gifts. History records that he was as renowned for his strength and athleticism as he was for his beauty, grace, and poise. Leonardo gave advice on health and well being that is echoed today in writings on holistic health. He advocated moderate exercise, a diet of fresh, wholesome food (the Maestro was a vegetarian), and a little red wine with dinner. Leonardo understood all those years ago what we now call “the mind-body connection.” His most important advice on maintaining health and well-being included these words: “Avoid grievous moods and keep your mind cheerful.”
In this part of the course, you’ll be introduced to a da Vincian approach to health and well-being that can dramatically improve the quality of your life.
Connessione
A recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena; systems thinking.
As Leonardo searched for truth and beauty, he observed parallels in the flow of water, the movement of wind, the flight of birds, and the refraction of light. He noted that everything connects to everything else. The ability to see connections that others don’t is a hallmark of genius and Leonardo offers a supreme example of this creative capacity. In this section of the course you’ll learn to look at your life vision, values and goals from this holistic perspective so that you can integrate your highest aspirations into your life everyday.
The Artist Way:
With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Julia Cameron takes you on a comprehensive twelve-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions, and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity.
! Julia speaks of creativity being inseparable with spirituality and she uses the term God as the initial inspiration from which she is a conduit for receiving and producing his/her divine creative energy. She says we should use what-ever we call on or get our inspiration from when doing these exercises.
! Julia speaks of creativity being inseparable with spirituality and she uses the term God as the initial inspiration from which she is a conduit for receiving and producing his/her divine creative energy. She says we should use what-ever we call on or get our inspiration from when doing these exercises.
Creativity Connections
The book introduces two primary tools of the course:
Morning Pages and the Artist Date.
The morning pages are taking time each morning first thing after you wake to write three handwritten pages, penned in stream-of- consciousness, without looking back at the previous pages. Just dump out the contents of your head without censoring. This will lead to breakthroughs in any block and push you into a clear channel of expression.
The artist date is time set aside to be spent with your inner artist. You make a date with yourself and go out to do anything that appeals to you, but you do it alone and spend time filling your “creative well”
To start out Julia has you sign a creativity contract to help you be accountable to your own creative recovery and to the artist within.
The book introduces two primary tools of the course:
Morning Pages and the Artist Date.
The morning pages are taking time each morning first thing after you wake to write three handwritten pages, penned in stream-of- consciousness, without looking back at the previous pages. Just dump out the contents of your head without censoring. This will lead to breakthroughs in any block and push you into a clear channel of expression.
The artist date is time set aside to be spent with your inner artist. You make a date with yourself and go out to do anything that appeals to you, but you do it alone and spend time filling your “creative well”
To start out Julia has you sign a creativity contract to help you be accountable to your own creative recovery and to the artist within.
No comments:
Post a Comment