Embrace Curiosity & Creativity as a Way of Living and Appreciating Life!

Creativity Resources
Spark Your Creativity | Books | Websites | Products & Games | Videos 

Guess What?
You don’t have to be a great artist to be creative. You don’t need permission to create.
You don’t even need to be good at anything. Simply Explore & Play!

Books

• The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life
  by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander
• On Becoming An Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity
  by Ellen J. Langer
• The Creative Habit 
  by Twyla Tharp
• Make It Mighty Ugly: Exercises & Advice for Getting Creative Even When It Ain’t Pretty
  by Kim Piper Werker
• The Artist’s Way
  by Julia Cameron
• Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul
  by Stuart Brown, M.D.
• Monday Hearts for Madalene 
  by Page Hodel
• Under Plum Lake
  by Lionel Davidson
• If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence & Spirit
  by Brenda Ueland
• Orbiting The Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace
  by Gordon MacKenzie
• Confessions of a Public Speaker
  by Scott Berkun
• Be Heard Now! Tap Into Your Inner Speaker & Communicate with Ease by Lee Glickstein
• The Alchemist
  by Paulo Coelho
• Einstein’s Dreams
  by Alan Lightman

Websites

• Brain Pickings
• Good New Network
• Good Magazine
• UCB Greater Good Science Center 
• KQED Arts
• On Being with Krista Tippett
• Share A Story
• StoryCorps
• The Creativity Post
• The School of Life 
• Soul Pancake
• 99 U
• Yes! Magazine
• Zentangle

 

Products & Games

• Buddha Board 
• Catch Phrase (original)
• FabMo Creative Reuse
• Grok Cards
• Micron Fine Line Assorted Colored Pens
• Moleskin Journal & Sketchbook
• Newsprint Pad
• Spot It! 
• Stamp Set – Vintage Alphabet
• Stamp Set – Ink 
• Table Topics: Questions to Start Great Conversations 
• Pentel Arts Colored Pens
• Pictionary
• Qwirkle

credit: Dan Elijah G. Fajardo

Videos

• UCSC Last Photo Project 
• Cash Studios
• Caine’s Arcade
• Imagination Foundation
• Choose to Change with Kelly McGonigal, PhD
• Creativity on TED 
• The Creative Spark – 6 TED Talks 
• Idea Execution & The Creative Process  – 10 Talks
• Kid President on Soul Pancake YouTube

BONUS:  Simple Stress-Reduction & Relaxation Techniques
4-7-8 Breathing – Relaxation Exercise
Inhale through your nose for a count of 4.
Hold breathe for a count of 7.
Exhale completely & slowly through your mouth for a count of 8.
Repeat up to three times. You may close your eyes.

This exercise is a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system. Use it when you are nervous. Use it whenever anything upsetting happens – before you react. It may also help you fall asleep at night. This exercise can’t be recommended too highly.
Everyone can benefit from it. (A. Weil)

Try a 1-Minute Relaxation Vacation – Pressure Point, Focus Exercise
Sit down. Place finger on center of forehead. Apply gentle pressure.
Close eyes and concentrate only on that spot where you applied pressure.
You will notice that your thoughts slow…or stop!

You may begin to laugh. That’s awesome. Enjoy.  Breathe and Relax.  

Disclaimer: These books, websites, videos, products & techniques contribute & inspire my everyday creativity. I am not compensated by any of these authors, publications, organizations or companies. These are just recommendations from my heart. I hope they will delight and support you too!

 

 

Photo Credit: Ally Finkel. 2015.