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talktodiana

~ Igniting the power and passion in others…

talktodiana

Tag Archives: creativity

How Do You See The World?

20 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by dianasschwenk in Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, In My Opinion

≈ 31 Comments

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200 words, alive, beauty, community, courage, creating, creativity, danger, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, dream, end of the world, Fear, generosity, happy, hope, kindness, life, living, living in the moment, love, Purpose, safe, vulnerability, world issues

how-to-love

Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.

~ Wayne Dyer

IN MANY WAYS, WE LIVE WITH what we dream and create. Our lives reflect the energy we’ve been putting into them. If we believe people are always out to get us, that is the scenario we unwittingly create and see. If we believe that people are good at heart, that is what we tend to nurture in others and see.

Does that mean if we’ve always believed the world to be hostile, there’s no love in it? Or if we’ve always been loving, there is no hostility in the world? No. But that’s likely what we’re inclined to ‘notice’ more in our daily lives.

One might think that it’s only those who are safe and loved that can see a loving world, but in my experience, it’s often those who are vulnerable and in danger who see the love in the world.

Anne Frank, whose family faced mortal danger, took the time to jot down these words: “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

How do you see the world?

One Man’s Junk is Another Man’s Treasure

27 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by dianasschwenk in Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, In My Opinion

≈ 24 Comments

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200 words, broken, community, creativity, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, garbage, ideas, imagination, inventions, junk, Life's like that, Purpose

junk

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison, quite possibly, was the most prolific American inventor of all time, having invented many things including the phonograph, motion picture camera and the long-lasting electric light bulb. I’m guessing he may have been a bit of a collector too, perhaps even an hoarder.

I stand in awe of his powerful imagination, yet I am also curious about his pile of junk. Junk, by definition is discarded material, items that have worn out, don’t work anymore or are broken.

We need to be imaginative and creative in life, not only to invent, but to solve problems, manage projects and live and work together as families, teams and community. And if imagination is necessary, might we not also have a need for junk, i.e., those broken ideas or materials that did not necessarily work for their original purpose, but with some imaginative creativity could be the answer to some other question?

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Did you know that before Listerine was used to combat bad breath, it was created as a surgical antiseptic, a cure for gonorrhea, sweaty feet and a treatment for dandruff?

When Inspiration Begins To Reveal Herself

07 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by dianasschwenk in Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, In My Opinion

≈ 14 Comments

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200 words, bigger purpose, creativity, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, hard work, helpful, inspiration, mission, teamwork

IMG_6475-Recovered

Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.

Pablo Picasso

Maybe your mom used to tell you that idle hands were the devil’s workshop. She may have felt that if you weren’t working on something productive you would end up getting into some kind of trouble.

I’m sure we can all recall times when we longed for our muse to inspire us, hoped for that next great idea that would catapult us into fame, desperately tried to move past the latest round of writer’s block…

So when I read the above quote it reminded me that inspiration doesn’t just present itself to you on a silver platter. Inspiration typically hits after a long and arduous period of hard work and/or an I-wanna–poke-my-eye-out-with-a-screwdriver monotonous time period.

It’s while we’re living our lives, doing those mundane tasks with loved ones, co-workers and sharing our thoughts and hopes and dreams with each other.  It’s when we do something, anything that is productive while letting the inkling of ideas turn themselves over and ruminate and bloom in the back of our minds that inspiration begins to reveal herself.

Inspiration does exist but it must find you working.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

Dear Canada Post: WTF?

18 Wednesday Dec 2013

Posted by dianasschwenk in Hump Day Chronicles, In My Opinion

≈ 36 Comments

Tags

beehive mentality, creativity, Diana Schwenk, drone, Hump Day Chronicles, ideas, missed opportunity, narrow mindedness, outside-the-box, rant

stampSorry for dropping the *‘F bomb’  but nothing else seems to articulate as clearly how miffed I am!

I’ve been known to say, “If I wanted to just do my job and it leave it there when I go home, I’d work for Canada Post.”

That’s because they do what they do pretty much in the same way they’ve always done it. If everything stayed the same forever, Canada Post has the perfect plan to run their organization.

Their beehive mentality and procedural methods work in a world where there is no change in demand for services.

But HELLO!!! Nothing stays the same forever!

Canada Post recently announced that they are ceasing door-to-door delivery for 1/3 of Canadians in urban areas.

Thousands of postal workers will lose their jobs.

Postage stamps that presently cost $0.65 will go up to $0.85 each when a book of stamps is purchased, and an astonishing, unbelievable rate of $1.00 when purchasing a singular stamp!

Canada Post states that it has lost millions in the last quarter and if they continue this way they will lose billions in a matter of a few short years.

Look. I understand cutbacks, really I do but I want to point out something important.

And that is the words: ‘if they continue this way’

Listen up Canada Post. This situation isn’t something that suddenly happened. You should have picked up this ball 20 years ago. You should have been asking yourself what’s going to happen to us with the dawn of the internet? You should have let your CEO go and hired a mover and shaker!

“The best time to plant an Oak tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is right now,”

Maybe it’s not too late!

Give the old guy the boot. Get a ‘Steve Jobs’  type in there and remind us of the joy we had when we received a handwritten letter. Start a movement that touches our hearts and saves the jobs of thousands! If you don’t do it, someone else will.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

* As you may have noticed, this post is a deviation from the usual uplifting style you have grown accustomed to. I promise to deliver my usual optimism and rose-coloured-glass’ismness tomorrow in a special bonus post! 🙂

Related articles
  • Canada Post to end home delivery (bnn.ca)

In 1973 God blew a Big Bazooka Bubble

23 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by dianasschwenk in Hump Day Chronicles, My Stories

≈ 52 Comments

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angels, Art, caring, children, Christmas, creativity, Diana Schwenk, Eric Schachter, Events, generosity, God, growing up, imagination, joy, kindness, memories, music, parents, teacher

He helped me spread out my wings and taught me to fly..

For me the 1973/74 school year is one I will always remember fondly.

I was incredibly shy back then – painfully so. Up until the 5th grade my only wish was to blend in, to be invisible.

But Grade 5 would change all that. Grade 5 would give me an opportunity to spread my wings.

Enter Mr. Schachter – a 28 year-old, long and curly-haired, brilliant and unconventional teacher.

Eric, as he insisted we call him, brought me out of my shell and taught me to love the Arts. autoharp-1lg

While all the other teachers focussed on the 3 R’s (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic), Eric inspired us to write long and imaginative compositions.

He taught us to play musical instruments like the autoharp and guitar.

Other times we would sit and listen to records with our eyes closed and once we had a dancing contest, in which I won a 45 – Smokin’ in the Boys Room.

I also joined the after school video club where we created animated films by shooting a few frames, changing the position of paper cut-out characters or clay figures, and then shooting a few more frames and so on.

Or we would make people appear or disappear using the same method. These shorts films were magical and so satisfying to create!

My favourite memory though, has to be the Christmas play we produced.

We had been divided into groups of 4 -6 kids and each group was tasked with the responsibility of creating a short skit that portrayed what Christmas meant to us.

My group did a family scene. I was the mother and Mr. Schachter was thrilled with my costume, saying he knew he could count on me to come up with something excellent.

I had stuffed one of Mom’s bras and wore a turtleneck, skirt and low-heeled shoes – that’s what Moms in the 70s looked like, right?

All the groups had practiced our skits but none of us knew how the play would come together. All we knew was our own skit and that we would all sing a song we’d practiced in class at the end.

When the stage curtains opened on the night of the play, the audience was greeted by none other than God (a football player-sized black boy who blew a big Bazooka Gum bubble)bubblegum

I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that Vance, who played God, improvised his entire part.

One-by-one our little groups went out onto the stage and performed our skits and Vance, a-hem – I mean God, would share his thoughts about the goings-on after each group was done.

In the end, the theme that had threaded itself throughout the play was love.

When you strip away everything else – love remains.

Then we sang our finale – All you need is love by the Beatles.

It wasn’t a traditional Christmas play. It wasn’t what our parents were expecting, I’m sure.

Later I’d learned that Dad had turned to Mom and asked who that guitar-playing hippy was.

“That’s Diana’s teacher,” Mom said.

To which Dad just raised his eyebrows in bewildered amusement.

Many times since then I’ve searched for Eric Schachter.

You see, he left before the year ended. I’m guessing he was a little too unconventional for some folks at that time.

I can still remember the Monday morning that we showed up to find the Vice Principal was our substitute teacher.

He didn’t tell us why…

only that Mr. Schachter was gone and that he had left a little something for each of us in our desks.

I reached into my desk and found a Neil Diamond Album. It came with a card.

Dearest Diana,

ericcard

I was thrilled to find that I’d kept this card!

I’d send you a horse for Christmas but I can’t find a big enough envelope. I’m sure that you have had a good year, you are a person who is strong and able to make the best of life. I often see your warm and smiling face in my imagination. Even if we never meet again I shall always feel for you and be wishing God to smile down on you. You are probably as tall as me by now, and a lot prettier!

All my best wishes for the new year and the changing seasons.

All my love, Eric

I still google his name every now and then but remain unsuccessful in my search.

Eric Schachter, if you’re out there somewhere and happen to read this post…

I just want to say THANK YOU for helping me spread out my wings and teaching me to fly.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

There are people who like angels come into your life for a brief time yet manage to colour your world beautiful and change your life forever.

I’d love to hear about your angels in the comment section.

Talk to Diana


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